The need of pronouns.
72. When we wish to speak of a name several times in
succession, it is clumsy and tiresome to repeat the noun. For instance, instead
of saying, "The pupil will succeed in the pupil's efforts if
the pupil is ambitious," we improve the sentence by shortening it
thus, "The pupil will succeed in his efforts if he is
ambitious."
Again,
if we wish to know about the ownership of a house, we evidently cannot state
the owner's name, but by a question we say, "Whose house is
that?" thus placing a word instead of the name till we learn the name.
This
is not to be understood as implying that pronouns were invented because
nouns were tiresome, since history shows that pronouns are as old as nouns and
verbs. The use of pronouns must have sprung up naturally, from a necessity for
short, definite, and representative words.
Definition.
A
pronoun is a reference word, standing for a name, or for a person or
thing, or for a group of persons or things.
73. Pronouns may be grouped in five classes:—
(1)
Personal pronouns, which distinguish person by their form (Sec. 76).
(2)
Interrogative pronouns, which are used to ask questions about persons or
things.
(3)
Relative pronouns, which relate or refer to a noun, pronoun, or other
word or expression, and at the same time connect two statements They are also
called conjunctive.
(4)
Adjective pronouns, words, primarily adjectives, which are classed as
adjectives when they modify nouns, but as pronouns when they stand for nouns.
(5)
Indefinite pronouns, which cannot be used as adjectives, but stand for
an indefinite number of persons or things.
Numerous
examples of all these will be given under the separate classes hereafter
treated.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS..
Person in grammar.
74. Since pronouns stand for persons as well as names, they
must represent the person talking, the person or thing spoken to, and the
person or thing talked about.
This
gives rise to a new term, "the distinction of person."
Person of nouns.
75. This distinction was not needed in discussing nouns, as
nouns have the same form, whether representing persons and things spoken
to or spoken of. It is evident that a noun could not represent the person
speaking, even if it had a special form.
From analogy to pronouns, which have forms for
person, nouns are sometimes spoken of as first or second person by their use;
that is, if they are in apposition with a pronoun of the first or second
person, they are said to have person by agreement.
But
usually nouns represent something spoken of.
Three persons of pronouns.
76. Pronouns naturally are of three persons:—
(1)
First person, representing the person speaking.
(2)
Second person, representing a person or thing spoken to.
(3)
Third person, standing for a person or thing spoken of.
FORMS OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
77. Personal pronouns are inflected thus:—
|
FIRST
PERSON.
|
|||
|
Singular.
|
Plural.
|
||
|
Nom.
|
I
|
we
|
|
|
Poss.
|
mine, my
|
our, ours
|
|
|
Obj.
|
me
|
us
|
|
|
SECOND
PERSON.
|
|||
|
Singular.
|
|||
|
Old Form
|
Common
Form.
|
||
|
Nom.
|
thou
|
you
|
|
|
Poss.
|
thine, thy
|
your, yours
|
|
|
Obj.
|
thee
|
you
|
|
|
Plural.
|
|||
|
Nom.
|
ye
|
you
|
|
|
Poss.
|
your, yours
|
your, yours
|
|
|
Obj.
|
you
|
you
|
|
|
THIRD
PERSON.
|
|||
|
Singular.
|
|||
|
Masc.
|
Fem.
|
Neut..
|
|
|
Nom.
|
he
|
she
|
it
|
|
Poss.
|
his
|
her, hers
|
its
|
|
Obj.
|
him
|
her
|
it
|
|
Plur. of
all Three.
|
|||
|
Nom.
|
they
|
||
|
Poss.
|
their, theirs
|
||
|
Obj.
|
them
|
||
Remarks on These Forms.
First and second persons without
gender.
78. It will be noticed that the pronouns of the first and
second persons have no forms to distinguish gender. The speaker may be either
male or female, or, by personification, neuter; so also with the person or
thing spoken to.
Third person singular has gender.
But
the third person has, in the singular, a separate form for each gender, and
also for the neuter.
In
Old English these three were formed from the same root; namely, masculine hē,
feminine hēo, neuter hit.
The
form hit (for it) is still heard in vulgar English, and hoo
(for hēo) in some dialects of England.
The
plurals were hī, heora, heom, in Old English; the forms they,
their, them, perhaps being from the English demonstrative, though
influenced by the cognate Norse forms.
Second person always plural in
ordinary English.
79. Thou, thee, etc., are old forms which are now
out of use in ordinary speech. The consequence is, that we have no singular
pronoun of the second person in ordinary speech or prose, but make the plural you
do duty for the singular. We use it with a plural verb always, even when
referring to a single object.
Two uses of the old singulars.
80. There are, however, two modern uses of thou, thy,
etc.:—
(1)
In elevated style, especially in poetry; as,—
With thy clear keen joyance Languor
cannot be; Shadow of annoyance Never came near thee; Thou lovest;
but ne'er knew love's sad satiety. —Shelley.
(2)
In addressing the Deity, as in prayers, etc.; for example,—
Oh,
thou Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort thy people of old, to
thy care we commit the helpless.—Beecher.
The form its.
81. It is worth while to consider the possessive its.
This is of comparatively recent growth. The old form was his (from the
nominative hit), and this continued in use till
the sixteenth century. The transition from the old his to the modern its
is shown in these sentences:—
1
He anointed the altar and all his vessels.—Bible
Here
his refers to altar, which is a neuter noun. The quotation
represents the usage of the early sixteenth century.
2
It's had it head bit off by it young—Shakespeare
Shakespeare
uses his, it, and sometimes its, as possessive of it.
In
Milton's poetry (seventeenth century) its occurs only three times.
3
See heaven its sparkling portals wide display—Pope
A relic of the olden time.
82. We have an interesting relic in such sentences as this from
Thackeray: "One of the ways to know 'em is to watch the scared
looks of the ogres' wives and children."
As
shown above, the Old English objective was hem (or heom), which
was often sounded with the h silent, just as we now say, "I saw 'im
yesterday" when the word him is not emphatic. In spoken English,
this form 'em has survived side by side with the literary them.
Use of the pronouns in
personification.
83. The pronouns he and she are often used in
poetry, and sometimes in ordinary speech, to personify objects (Sec. 34).
CASES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
I The Nominative.
Nominative forms.
84. The nominative forms of personal pronouns have the same
uses as the nominative of nouns (see Sec. 58). The case
of most of these pronouns can be determined more easily than the case of nouns,
for, besides a nominative use, they have a nominative form. The words I,
thou, he, she, we, ye, they, are very
rarely anything but nominative in literary English, though ye is
occasionally used as objective.
Additional nominatives in spoken
English.
85. In spoken English, however, there are some others that are
added to the list of nominatives: they are, me, him, her, us,
them, when they occur in the predicate position. That is, in such
a sentence as, "I am sure it was him," the literary language
would require he after was; but colloquial English regularly uses
as predicate nominatives the forms me, him, her, us,
them, though those named in Sec. 84 are always subjects. Yet careful
speakers avoid this, and follow the usage of literary English.
II. The Possessive.
Not a separate class.
86. The forms my, thy, his, her, its,
our, your, their, are sometimes grouped separately as
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, but it is better to speak of them as the possessive case
of personal pronouns, just as we speak of the possessive case of nouns, and not
make more classes.
Absolute personal pronouns.
The
forms mine, thine, yours, hers, theirs,
sometimes his and its, have a peculiar use, standing apart from
the words they modify instead of immediately before them. From this use they
are called ABSOLUTE PERSONAL PRONOUNS, or, some say, ABSOLUTE POSSESSIVES.
'Twas
mine, 'tis his, and has been slave to thousands. —Shakespeare.
And
since thou own'st that praise, I spare thee mine.—Cowper.
My
arm better than theirs can ward it off.—Landor.
Thine are the city and the people of Granada.—Bulwer.
Old use of mine and thine.
Formerly
mine and thine stood before their nouns, if the nouns began with
a vowel or h silent; thus,—
Shall
I not take mine ease in mine inn?—Shakespeare.
Give
every man thine ear, but few thy voice.—Id.
If
thine eye offend thee, pluck it out.—Bible.
My
greatest apprehension was for mine eyes.—Swift.
This
usage is still preserved in poetry.
Double and triple possessives.
87. The forms hers, ours, yours, theirs,
are really double possessives, since they add the possessive s to what
is already a regular possessive inflection.
Besides
this, we have, as in nouns, a possessive phrase made up of the preposition of
with these double possessives, hers, ours, yours, theirs,
and with mine, thine, his, sometimes its.
Their uses.
Like
the noun possessives, they have several uses:—
(1)
To prevent ambiguity, as in the following:—
I
have often contrasted the habitual qualities of that gloomy friend of theirs
with the astounding spirits of Thackeray and Dickens.—J. T. Fields.
No
words of ours can describe the fury of the conflict.—J. F. Cooper.
This
thing of yours that you call a Pardon of Sins, it is a bit of rag-paper
with ink.—Carlyle.
This
ancient silver bowl of mine, it tells of good old times. —Holmes.
(3)
To express contempt, anger, or satire; for example,—
"Do
you know the charges that unhappy sister of mine and her family have put
me to already?" says the Master.—Thackeray.
He
[John Knox] had his pipe of Bordeaux too, we find, in that old Edinburgh house of
his.—Carlyle.
"Hold
thy peace, Long Allen," said Henry Woodstall, "I tell thee that
tongue of thine is not the shortest limb about thee."—Scott.
(4)
To make a noun less limited in application; thus,—
A
favorite liar and servant of mine was a man I once had to drive a
brougham.—Thackeray.
In
New York I read a newspaper criticism one day, commenting upon a letter of
mine.—Id.
What
would the last two sentences mean if the word my were written instead of
of mine, and preceded the nouns?
About the case of absolute pronouns.
88. In their function, or use in a sentence, the absolute
possessive forms of the personal pronouns are very much like adjectives used as
nouns.
In
such sentences as, "The good alone are great," "None but the
brave deserves the fair," the words italicized have an
adjective force and also a noun force, as shown in Sec. 20.
So
in the sentences illustrating absolute pronouns in Sec. 86: mine stands
for my property, his for his property, in the first
sentence; mine stands for my praise in the
second. But the first two have a nominative use, and mine in the second
has an objective use.
They
may be spoken of as possessive in form, but nominative or objective in use, according
as the modified word is in the nominative or the objective.
III. The Objective.
The old dative case.
89. In Old English there was one case which survives in use,
but not in form. In such a sentence as this one from Thackeray, "Pick me
out a whip-cord thong with some dainty knots in it," the word me is
evidently not the direct object of the verb, but expresses for whom, for
whose benefit, the thing is done. In pronouns, this dative use, as
it is called, was marked by a separate case.
Now the objective.
In
Modern English the same use is frequently seen, but the form is
the same as the objective. For this reason a word thus used is called a dative-objective.
The
following are examples of the dative-objective:—
Give
me neither poverty nor riches.—Bible.
Curse
me this people.—Id.
Both
joined in making him a present.—Macaulay
Is
it not enough that you have burnt me down three houses with your dog's
tricks, and be hanged to you!—Lamb
I
give thee this to wear at the collar.—Scott
Other uses of the objective.
90. Besides this use of the objective, there are others:—
(1)
As the direct object of a verb.
They
all handled it.—Lamb
Time
is behind them and before them.—Carlyle.
(3)
In apposition.
She
sate all last summer by the bedside of the blind beggar, him that so
often and so gladly I talked with.—De Quincey.
SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Indefinite use of you and your.
91. The word you, and its possessive case yours
are sometimes used without reference to a particular person spoken to. They
approach the indefinite pronoun in use.
Your mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of
the rod, was passed by with indulgence.—Irving
To
empty here, you must condense there.—Emerson.
The
peasants take off their hats as you pass; you sneeze, and they
cry, "God bless you!" The thrifty housewife shows you into her
best chamber. You have oaten cakes baked some months before.—Longfellow
Uses of it.
92. The pronoun it has a number of uses:—
(1)
To refer to some single word preceding; as,—
Ferdinand
ordered the army to recommence its march.—Bulwer.
Society, in this century, has not made its progress, like
Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in trifles.—D. Webster.
(2)
To refer to a preceding word group; thus,—
If
any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet it is but
like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other.—Bacon.
Here
it refers back to the whole sentence before it, or to the idea,
"any man's doing wrong merely out of ill nature."
(3) As a grammatical subject, to stand for the real,
logical subject, which follows the verb; as in the sentences,—
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion.
—Emerson.
It is this haziness of intellectual vision which is the
malady of all classes of men by nature.—Newman.
It is a pity that he has so much learning, or that he has
not a great deal more.—Addison.
(4)
As an impersonal subject in certain expressions which need no other subject;
as,—
It is finger-cold, and prudent farmers get in their barreled
apples.—Thoreau.
And
when I awoke, it rained.—Coleridge.
For
when it dawned, they dropped their arms.—Id.
It was late and after midnight.—De Quincey.
(5)
As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a preposition; as in
the following sentences:—
(a)
Michael Paw, who lorded it over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia.—Irving.
I
made up my mind to foot it.—Hawthorne.
A
sturdy lad ... who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms
it, peddles it, keeps a school.—Emerson.
(b)
"Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it."—Irving.
There
was nothing for it but to return.—Scott.
An
editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is an end of
it.—Holmes.
Poor
Christian was hard put to it.—Bunyan.
Reflexive use of the personal
pronouns.
93. The personal pronouns in the objective case are often used reflexively;
that is, referring to the same person as the subject of the accompanying verb.
For example, we use such expressions as, "I found me a good
book," "He bought him a horse," etc.
This reflexive use of the dative-objective is very common in spoken and
in literary English.
The
personal pronouns are not often used reflexively, however, when they are direct
objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose; as,—
Now
I lay me down to sleep.—Anon.
I
set me down and sigh.—Burns.
And millions in those solitudes,
since first The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last
sleep. —Bryant.
REFLEXIVE OR COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Composed of the personal pronouns
with -self, -selves.
94. The REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS, or COMPOUND PERSONAL, as they are
also called, are formed from the personal pronouns by adding the word self,
and its plural selves.
They
are myself, (ourself), ourselves, yourself, (thyself),
yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves.
Of
the two forms in parentheses, the second is the old form of the second person,
used in poetry.
Ourself is used to follow the word we when this represents a
single person, especially in the speech of rulers; as,—
Methinks he seems no better than a
girl; As girls were once, as we ourself have been. —Tennyson.
Origin of these reflexives.
95. The question might arise, Why are himself and themselves
not hisself and theirselves, as in vulgar English, after the
analogy of myself, ourselves, etc.?
The
history of these words shows they are made up of the dative-objective forms,
not the possessive forms, with self. In Middle English the forms meself, theself, were changed into the
possessive myself, thyself, and the others were formed by analogy
with these. Himself and themselves are the only ones retaining a
distinct objective form.
In
the forms yourself and yourselves we have the possessive your
marked as singular as well as plural.
Use of the reflexives.
96. There are three uses of reflexive pronouns:—
(1)
As object of a verb or preposition, and referring to the same person or
thing as the subject; as in these sentences from Emerson:—
He
who offers himself a candidate for that covenant comes up like an
Olympian.
I
should hate myself if then I made my other friends my asylum.
We
fill ourselves with ancient learning.
What
do we know of nature or of ourselves?
(2)
To emphasize a noun or pronoun; for example,—
The
great globe itself ... shall dissolve.—Shakespeare.
Threats to all; To you yourself,
to us, to every one. —Id.
Who would not sing for Lycidas! he
knew Himself to sing, and build the lofty rhyme. —Milton.
NOTE.—In
such sentences the pronoun is sometimes omitted, and the reflexive modifies the
pronoun understood; for example,—
Only
itself can inspire whom it will.—Emerson.
My
hands are full of blossoms plucked before, Held dead within them till myself
shall die.—E. B. Browning.
As
if it were thyself that's here, I shrink with pain.—Wordsworth.
Lord
Altamont designed to take his son and myself.—De Quincey.
Victories
that neither myself nor my cause always deserved.—B. Franklin.
For
what else have our forefathers and ourselves been taxed?—Landor.
Years
ago, Arcturus and myself met a gentleman from China who knew the
language.—Thackeray.
Exercises on Personal Pronouns.
(a)
Bring up sentences containing ten personal pronouns, some each of masculine,
feminine, and neuter.
(b)
Bring up sentences containing five personal pronouns in the possessive, some of
them being double possessives.
(c)
Tell which use each it has in the following sentences:—
1.
Come and trip it as we go, On the
light fantastic toe.
2.
Infancy conforms to nobody; all conform to it.
3.
It is an ill wind that blows nobody good.
4.
Courage, father, fight it out.
5.
And it grew wondrous cold.
6.
To know what is best to do, and how to do it, is wisdom.
7.
If any phenomenon remains brute and dark, it is because the corresponding
faculty in the observer is not yet active.
8.
But if a man do not speak from within the veil, where the word is one with that
it tells of, let him lowly confess it.
9.
It behooved him to keep on good terms with his pupils.
10.
Biscuit is about the best thing I know; but it is the soonest spoiled; and one
would like to hear counsel on one point, why it is that a touch of water
utterly ruins it.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.
Three now in use.
97. The interrogative pronouns now in use are who (with
the forms whose and whom), which, and what.
One obsolete.
There
is an old word, whether, used formerly to mean which of two, but now
obsolete. Examples from the Bible:—
Whether of them twain did the will of his father?
Whether is greater, the gold, or the temple?
From
Steele (eighteenth century):—
It
may be a question whether of these unfortunate persons had the greater
soul.
Use of who and its forms.
98. The use of who, with its possessive and objective,
is seen in these sentences:—
Who is she in bloody coronation robes from Rheims?—De Quincey.
Whose was that gentle voice, that, whispering sweet, Promised,
methought, long days of bliss sincere? —Bowles.
What
doth she look on? Whom doth she behold?—Wordsworth.
From
these sentences it will be seen that interrogative who refers to persons
only; that it is not inflected for gender or number, but for case alone,
having three forms; it is always third person, as it always asks about
somebody.
Use of which.
99. Examples of the use of interrogative which:—
Which of these had speed enough to sweep between the question and
the answer, and divide the one from the other?—De Quincey.
Which of you, shall we say, doth love us most?—Shakespeare.
Which of them [the sisters] shall I take?—Id.
As shown here, which is not inflected for gender,
number, or case; it refers to either persons or things; it is selective, that
is, picks out one or more from a number of known persons or objects.
Use of what.
100. Sentences showing the use of interrogative what:—
Since I from Smaylho'me tower have
been, What did thy lady do? —Scott.
What is so rare as a day in June?—Lowell.
What wouldst thou do, old man?—Shakespeare.
These
show that what is not inflected for case; that it is always singular and
neuter, referring to things, ideas, actions, etc., not to persons.
DECLENSION OF INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.
101. The following are all the interrogative forms:—
|
SING. AND PLUR.
|
SING. AND PLUR.
|
SINGULAR
|
|
|
Nom.
|
who?
|
which?
|
what?
|
|
Poss.
|
whose?
|
—
|
—
|
|
Obj.
|
whom?
|
which?
|
what?
|
In
spoken English, who is used as objective instead of whom; as,
"Who did you see?" "Who did he speak to?"
To tell the case of interrogatives.
102. The interrogative who has a separate form for each
case, consequently the case can be told by the form of the word; but the case
of which and what must be determined exactly as in nouns,—by the use
of the words.
For
instance, in Sec. 99, which is nominative in the first sentence, since
it is subject of the verb had; nominative in the second also, subject of
doth love; objective in the last, being the direct
object of the verb shall take.
Further treatment of who, which and what.
103. Who, which, and what are also relative
pronouns; which and what are sometimes adjectives; what
may be an adverb in some expressions.
They
will be spoken of again in the proper places, especially in the treatment of
indirect questions (Sec. 127).
RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
Function of the relative pronoun.
104. Relative pronouns differ from both personal and
interrogative pronouns in referring to an antecedent, and also in having a
conjunctive use. The advantage in using them is to unite short statements into
longer sentences, and so to make smoother discourse. Thus we may say, "The
last of all the Bards was he. These bards sang of Border chivalry." Or, it
may be shortened into,—
"The last of all the Bards was
he, Who sung of Border chivalry."
In
the latter sentence, who evidently refers to Bards, which is called
the antecedent of the relative.
The antecedent.
105. The antecedent of a pronoun is the noun, pronoun, or
other word or expression, for which the pronoun stands. It usually precedes the
pronoun.
Personal
pronouns of the third person may have antecedents also, as they take the place
usually of a word already used; as,—
The
priest hath his fee who comes and shrives us.—Lowell
In
this, both his and who have the antecedent priest.
The pronoun which may have its antecedent following,
and the antecedent may be a word or a group of words, as will be shown in the
remarks on which below.
Two kinds.
106. Relatives may be SIMPLE or INDEFINITE.
When
the word relative is used, a simple relative is meant. Indefinite
relatives, and the indefinite use of simple relatives, will be discussed
further on.
The
SIMPLE RELATIVES are who, which, that, what.
Who and its forms.
107. Examples of the relative who and its forms:—
1.
Has a man gained anything who has received a hundred favors and rendered
none?—Emerson.
2.
That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force
upon the plain of Marathon.—Dr Johnson.
3.
For her enchanting son, Whom
universal nature did lament. —Milton.
4.
The nurse came to us, who were sitting in an adjoining apartment.—Thackeray.
5.
Ye mariners of England, That guard
our native seas; Whose flag has braved, a thousand years, The battle and
the breeze! —Campbell.
6.
The men whom men respect, the women whom women approve, are the
men and women who bless their species.—Parton
Which and its forms.
108. Examples of the relative which and its forms:—
1.
They had not their own luster, but the look which is not of the earth.—Byron.
2.
The embattled portal arch he pass'd,
Whose ponderous grate and massy bar Had oft roll'd back the tide of war.
—Scott.
4.
The origin of language is divine, in the same sense in which man's
nature, with all its capabilities ..., is a divine creation.—W. D. Whitney.
5.
(a)
This gradation ... ought to be kept in view; else this description will seem
exaggerated, which it certainly is not.—Burke.
(b)
The snow was three inches deep and still falling, which prevented him
from taking his usual ride.—Irving.
That.
109. Examples of the relative that:—
1.
The man that hath no music in
himself,... Is fit for treasons, stratagems, and spoils. —Shakespeare
2.
The judge ... bought up all the pigs that could be had.—Lamb
3.
Nature and books belong to the eyes that see them.—Emerson.
4.
For the sake of country a man is told to yield everything that makes the
land honorable.—H. W. Beecher
5.
Reader, that do not pretend to have leisure for very much scholarship,
you will not be angry with me for telling you.—De Quincey.
6.
The Tree Igdrasil, that has its roots down in the kingdoms of Hela and
Death, and whose boughs overspread the highest heaven!—Carlyle.
What.
110. Examples of the use of the relative what:—
1.
Its net to entangle the enemy seems to be what it chiefly trusts to, and
what it takes most pains to render as complete as possible.—Goldsmith.
2.
For what he sought below is passed above, Already done is all that he
would do.—Margaret Fuller.
3.
Some of our readers may have seen in India a crowd of crows picking a sick
vulture to death, no bad type of what often happens in that country.—Macaulay
[To
the Teacher.—If pupils work over the above sentences carefully, and test
every remark in the following paragraphs, they will get a much better
understanding of the relatives.]
REMARKS ON THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
Who.
111. By reading carefully the sentences in Sec. 107, the
following facts will be noticed about the relative who:—
(1)
It usually refers to persons: thus, in the first sentence, Sec. 107, a
man...who; in the second, that man...whose; in the third, son,
whom; and so on.
(2)
It has three case forms,—who, whose, whom.
(3)
The forms do not change for person or number of the antecedent. In sentence 4, who
is first person; in 5, whose is second person; the others are all third
person. In 1, 2, and 3, the relatives are singular; in 4, 5, and 6, they are
plural.
Who referring to animals.
112. Though in most cases who refers to persons there are
instances found where it refers to animals. It has been seen (Sec. 24) that
animals are referred to by personal pronouns when their characteristics or
habits are such as to render them important or interesting to man. Probably on
the same principle the personal relative who is used not infrequently in
literature, referring to animals.
Witness
the following examples:—
And
you, warm little housekeeper [the cricket], who class With those who
think the candles come too soon.—Leigh Hunt.
The
robins...have succeeded in driving off the bluejays who used to build in
our pines.—Lowell.
The
little gorilla, whose wound I had dressed, flung its arms around my
neck.—Thackeray.
While
we had such plenty of domestic insects who infinitely excelled the
former, because they understood how to weave as well as to spin.—Swift.
My
horse, who, under his former rider had hunted the buffalo, seemed as
much excited as myself.—Irving.
Other
examples might be quoted from Burke, Kingsley, Smollett, Scott, Cooper, Gibbon,
and others.
Which.
113. The sentences in Sec. 108 show that—
(1)
Which refers to animals, things, or ideas, not persons.
(2)
It is not inflected for gender or number.
(3)
It is nearly always third person, rarely second (an example of its use as
second person is given in sentence 32, p. 96).
(4)
It has two case forms,—which for the nominative and objective, whose
for the possessive.
Examples of whose, possessive case of which.
114. Grammarians sometimes object to the statement that whose
is the possessive of which, saying that the phrase of which
should always be used instead; yet a search in literature shows that the
possessive form whose is quite common in prose as well as in poetry: for
example,—
I
swept the horizon, and saw at one glance the glorious elevations, on whose
tops the sun kindled all the melodies and harmonies of light.—Beecher.
Men
may be ready to fight to the death, and to persecute without pity, for a religion
whose creed they do not understand, and whose precepts they
habitually disobey.—Macaulay
Beneath
these sluggish waves lay the once proud cities of the plain, whose grave
was dug by the thunder of the heavens.—Scott.
Many
great and opulent cities whose population now exceeds that of Virginia
during the Revolution, and whose names are spoken in the remotest corner
of the civilized world.—Mcmaster.
Through
the heavy door whose bronze network closes the place of his rest, let us
enter the church itself.—Ruskin.
This
moribund '61, whose career of life is just coming to its terminus.—Thackeray.
So
in Matthew Arnold, Kingsley, Burke, and numerous others.
Which and its antecedents.
115. The last two sentences in Sec. 108 show that which
may have other antecedents than nouns and pronouns. In 5 (a) there is a
participial adjective used as the antecedent; in 5 (b) there is a
complete clause employed as antecedent. This often occurs.
Sometimes,
too, the antecedent follows which; thus,—
And, which is worse, all you have
done Hath been but for a wayward son. —Shakespeare.
Primarily,
which is very notable and curious, I observe that men of business rarely
know the meaning of the word "rich."—Ruskin.
I
demurred to this honorary title upon two grounds,—first, as being one toward
which I had no natural aptitudes or predisposing advantages; secondly (which
made her stare), as carrying with it no real or enviable distinction.—De
Quincey.
That.
116. In the sentences of Sec. 109, we notice that—
(1)
That refers to persons, animals, and things.
(2)
It has only one case form, no possessive.
(3)
It is the same form for first, second, and third persons.
(4)
It has the same form for singular and plural.
It sometimes borrows the possessive whose, as in
sentence 6, Sec. 109, but this is not sanctioned as good usage.
What.
117. The sentences of Sec. 110 show that—
(1)
What always refers to things; is always neuter.
(2)
It is used almost entirely in the singular.
(3)
Its antecedent is hardly ever expressed. When expressed, it usually follows,
and is emphatic; as, for example,—
What
I would, that do I not; but what I hate, that do I.—Bible
What
fates impose, that men must needs abide.—Shakespeare.
What
a man does, that he has.—Emerson.
Compare
this:—
Alas!
is it not too true, what we said?—Carlyle.
DECLENSION OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
118. These are the forms of the simple relatives:—
|
SINGULAR AND PLURAL.
|
||||
|
Nom.
|
who
|
which
|
that
|
what
|
|
Poss.
|
whose
|
whose
|
—
|
—
|
|
Obj.
|
whom
|
which
|
that
|
what
|
HOW TO PARSE RELATIVES.
119. The gender, number, and person of the
relatives who, which, and that must be determined by those
of the antecedent; the case depends upon the function of the relative in
its own clause.
"He
uttered truths that wrought upon and molded the lives of those who
heard him."
Since
the relatives hold the sentence together, we can, by taking them out, let the
sentence fall apart into three divisions: (1) "He uttered truths;"
(2) "The truths wrought upon and molded the lives of the people;" (3)
"These people heard him."
That evidently refers to truths, consequently is neuter,
third person, plural number. Who plainly stands for those or the
people, either of which would be neuter, third person, plural number. Here
the relative agrees with its antecedent.
We
cannot say the relative agrees with its antecedent in case. Truths
in sentence (2), above, is subject of wrought upon and molded; in (1),
it is object of uttered. In (2), people is the object of the
preposition of; in (3), it is subject of the verb heard. Now, that
takes the case of the truths in (2), not of truths which is
expressed in the sentence: consequently that is in the nominative case.
In the same way who, standing for the people understood, subject
of heard, is in the nominative case.
Exercise.
First
find the antecedents, then parse the relatives, in the following sentences:—
1.
How superior it is in these respects to the pear, whose blossoms are neither
colored nor fragrant!
2.
Some gnarly apple which I pick up in the road reminds me by its fragrance of
all the wealth of Pomona.
3.
Perhaps I talk with one who is selecting some choice barrels for filling an
order.
5.
Alas! it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under this avalanche of
earthly impertinences.
6.
This method also forces upon us the necessity of thinking, which is, after all,
the highest result of all education.
7.
I know that there are many excellent people who object to the reading of novels
as a waste of time.
8.
I think they are trying to outwit nature, who is sure to be cunninger than
they.
Parsing what, the simple relative.
120. The relative what is handled differently, because it
has usually no antecedent, but is singular, neuter, third person. Its case is
determined exactly as that of other relatives. In the sentence, "What
can't be cured must be endured," the verb must be endured is the
predicate of something. What must be endured? Answer, What can't be cured.
The whole expression is its subject. The word what, however, is subject
of the verb can't be cured, and hence is in the nominative case.
"What
we call nature is a certain self-regulated motion or change." Here the
subject of is, etc., is what we call nature; but of this, we
is the subject, and what is the direct object of the verb call,
so is in the objective case.
Another way.
Some
prefer another method of treatment. As shown by the following sentences, what
is equivalent to that which:—
It
has been said that "common souls pay with what they do, nobler
souls with that which they are."—Emerson.
That
which is pleasant often appears under the
name of evil; and what is disagreeable to nature is called good and
virtuous.—Burke.
Hence
some take what as a double relative, and parse that in the first
clause, and which in the second clause; that is,
"common souls pay with that [singular, object of with] which
[singular, object of do] they do."
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