OBS. 7.-When the antecedent is put by metonymy for a noun of different properties, the pronoun sometimes agrees with it in the figurative, and sometimes in the literal sense; as, "The wolf, who [that] from the nightly fold, Fierce drags the bleating prey, ne'er drunk her milk, A hero perish or a sparrow fall."-Pope. "And heaven beholds its image in his breast."—Id. OBS. 8. When the antecedent is put by synecdoche for more or less than it literally signifies, the pronoun agrees with it in the figurative, and not in the literal sense; as, "A dauntless soul erect, who smiled on death."-Thomson. "But, to the generous still improving mind, That gives the hopeless heart to sing for joy, To him the long review of ordered life Is inward rapture only to be felt."-Id. Ors. 9.-Pronouns usually follow the words which they represent; but this order is sometimes reversed: as, "Whom the cap fits, let him put it on." "Hark! they whisper; angels say," &c. OBS. 10.-A pronoun sometimes represents a phrase or sentence; and in this case, the pronoun is always in the third person singular neuter: as, "She is very handsome; and she has the misfortune to know it."-"Yet men can go on to vilify or disregard Christianity; which is to talk and act as if they had a demonstration of its falsehood."-Bp. Butler. OBS. 11.-When a pronoun follows two words, having a neuter verb between them, and both referring to the same thing, it may represent either of them, but not with the same meaning; as, 1. "I am the man who command:" here, who command belongs to the subject I, and the meaning is, "I who command, am the man." (The latter expression places the relative nearer to its antecedent, and is therefore preferable.) 2. "I am the man who commands:" here, who commands belongs to the predicate man, and the meaning is, "I am the commander." OBS. 12.-After the expletive it, which may be employed to introduce a noun or pronoun of any person, number, or gender, the above-mentioned distinction is generally disregarded; and the relative is made to agree with the latter word: as, "It is not I that do it." The propriety of this construction is questionable. OBS. 13.-The pronoun it frequently refers to something mentioned in the subsequent part of the sentence. This pronoun is a necessary expletive at the commencement of a sentence in which the verb is followed by a clause which, by transposition, may be made the subject of the verb; as, “It is impossible to please every one."- "It was requisite that the papers should be sent." OBS. 14.-Relative and interrogative pronouns are placed at or near the beginning of their own clauses; and the learner must observe that, through all their cases, they almost invariably retain this situation in the sentence, and are often found before their verbs when the order of construction would reverse this arrangement: as, "He who preserves me, to whom I owe my being, whose I am, and whom I serve, is eternal."-Murray. "Who but God can tell us who they are?"-Pope. "He whom you seek."-Lowth. OBS. 15.-Every relative pronoun, being the representative of some antecedent word or phrase, derives from this relation its person, number, and gender, but not its case. By taking an other relation of case, it helps to form an other clause; and, by retaining the essential meaning of its antecedent, serves to connect this clause to that in which the antecedent is found. Relatives, therefore, cannot be used in an independent simple sentence, nor with a subjunctive verb; but, like other connectives, they belong at the head of a clause in a compound sentence, and they exclude conjunctions, except when two such clauses are to be joined together: as, "Blessed is the man, who feareth the Lord, and who keepeth his commandments." OBS. 16.-The special rules commonly given by the grammarians, for the construction of relatives, are both unnecessary and faulty. It usually takes two rules to parse a pronoun; one for its agreement with the noun or nouns which it represents, and the other for its case. But neither relatives nor interrogatives require any special rules for the construction of their cases, because the general rules for the cases apply to pronouns as well as to nouns. And both relatives and interrogatives generally admit every construction common to nouns, except apposition. Let the learner parse the following examples: 1. Nominatives by Rule 2d: "I who write;-Thou who writest ;-He who writes; the animal which runs."-Dr. Adam. "He that spareth his rod, heteth his son."-Solomon. "He who does any thing which he knows is ong, is a sinner.". "What will become of us without religion?"—Blair. Here I determined to wait the hand of death; which, I hope, when at last it comes, will fall lightly upon me."-Dr. Johnson. "What is sudden and u accountable, serves to confound."-Crabb. They only are wise, who are w. e to salvation."-Goodwin. 66 Nominatives by Rule 21st: "Who art thou ?"" IVhat were we ?"-Bible. "]o not tell t who I am."--"Let him be who he may, he is not the eemed."-"The general conduct of mankind is neither nor what it ought to be." hoi est fello who it we 3. Nomi absolute by Rule 25th: "There are certain bounds to imprudence an misbehaviour, which being transgressed, there remains no place for repentance in the natural course of things."-Bp. Butler. This construction of the relative is a Latinism, and very seldom used by the best English writes. 4. Possessives by Rule 19th: "The chief man of the island, whose name was. 'ublius."-Acts. "Despair, a cruel tyrant, from whose prisons nono can es cape."-Dr. Johnson. "To contemplate on Him whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light."-Steele. 5. Objectives by Rule 20th: "Those whom she persuaded."-Dr. Johnson. "The cloak that I left at Troas."-St. Paul. "By the things which he suffered."-Id. "A man whom there is reason to suspect."-"What are we to do?"-Burke. "Love refuseth nothing that love sends."-Gurnall. "Whomsoever you please to appoint."-Lowth. "Whatsoever he doeth, shall prosper."-Bible."What we are afraid to do before men, we should be afraid to think before God."--Sibs. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?"-Gen., xviii, 32. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I do?""Call imperfection what thou fanciest such."-Pope. 6. Objectives by Rule 21st: "He is not the man that I took him to be.""Whom did you suppose me to be?"-"Let the lad become what you wish him to be." 7. Objectives by Rule 22d: "To whom shall we go?"--Bible. "The laws by which the world is governed, are general."--Butler. "Whom he looks upon as his defender."-Addison. "That secret heaviness of heart which unthinking men are subject to."-Id. "I cannot but think the loss of such talents as the man of whom I am speaking was master of, a more melancholy instance."-Steele. OBS. 17.—In familiar language, the relative in the objective case is fṛequently understood; as, "Here is the letter [which] I received." The omission of the relative in the nominative case, is inelegant; as, "This is the worst thing [that] could happen." The latter ellipsis sometimes occurs in poetry; as, "In this 'tis God-directs, in that 'tis man."-Pope. OBS. 18.-The antecedent is sometimes suppressed, especially in poetry; as, "How shall I curse [him or them] whom God hath not cursed."Numb., xxiii, 8. [He] "Who lives to nature, rarely can be poor; He Who lives to fancy, never can be ricli."-Young. OBS. 19.- What is sometimes used adverbially; as, "Though I forbear, what am I eased?"-Job, xvi, 6.-That is, how much? or wherein? "The enemy having his country wasted, what by himself and what by the soldiers, findeth succour in no place."-Spenser. Here what means partly,—“ wasted partly by himself and partly by the soldiers." OBS. 20.- What is sometimes used as a mere interjection; as, "What! this a sleeve? 'tis like a demi-cannon."-Shakspeare, NOTES TO RULE V. NOTE I.-A pronoun should not be introduced in connexion with words that belong more properly to the antecedent, or to an other pronoun; as, "My banks they are furnished with bees."-Shenstone. OBS.-This is only an example of pleonasm, which is allowable and frequent in animated discourse, but inelegant in any other. [See Pleonasm, in PART IV.] NOTE II-A change of number in the second person, is in◄ elegant and improper; as, "You wept, and I for thee." OBS.-Poets have sometimes adopted this solecism, to avoid the harshness of the verb in the second person singular; as, 66 As, in that lov'd Athenian bower, You learn'd an all commanding power, Can well recall what then it heard."-Collins. NOTE III. The relative who is applied only to persons, and to animals personified; and which, to brute animals and inanimate things: as, "The judge who presided;"-"The old crab who advised the young one;"-"The horse which ran ;”—“ The book which was given me." "Our OBS.-Which, as well as who, was formerly applied to persons; as, Father which art in heaven."-Bible. It may still be applied to a young. child; as, "The child which died."-Or even to adults, when they are spoken of without regard to a distinct personality or identity; as, "Which of you will go?"-"Crabb knoweth not which is which, himself or his parodist." -Leigh Hunt. NOTE IV.-Nouns of multitude, unless they express persons directly as such, should not be represented by the relative who: to say, "The family whom I visited," would hardly be proper; that would here be better. When such nouns are strictly of the neuter gender, which may represent them; as, "The committees which were appointed.' NOTE V.-A proper name taken merely as a name, or an appellative taken in any sense not strictly personal, must be represented by which, and not by who; as, "Herod-which is but another name for cruelty." "In every prescription of duty, God proposeth himself as a rewarder; which he is only to those that please him.”—Dr. J. Owen. NOTE VI. The relative that may be applied either to per sons or to things. In the following cases, it is generally preferable to who or which, unless it be necessary to use a prepo sition before the relative:-1. After an adjective of the superlative degree, when the relative clause is restrictive; as, "He was the first that came."-2. After the adjective same, to explain its import; as, "This is the same person that I met before."-3. After the antecedent who; as, "Who that has common sense, can think so?"-4. After a joint reference to persons and things; as, "He spoke of the men and things that he had seen."-5. After an unlimited antecedent, which the relative and its verb are to restrict; as, Thoughts that breathe, and words that burn."-6. After an antecedent introduced by the expletive it; as, "It is you that command.”—“ It was 1 that did it."-7. And, in general, where the propriety of who or which is doubtful; as, "The little child that was placed in the midst." 66 NOTE VII.-When several relative clauses come in succes. sion, and have a similar dependence in respect to the antece dent, the same pronoun must be employed in each; as, “O thou who art, and who wast, and who art to come!"-"And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the lost of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshipped."-Jer., viii, 2. NOTE VIII.-The relative, and the preposition governing it, should not be omitted, when they are necessary to give connexion to the sentence; as, "He is still in the situation [in which] you saw him.” NOTE IX.-An adverb should not be used where a preposition and a relative pronoun would better express the relation of the terms; as, "A cause where [for in which] justice is so much concerned." NOTE X.-Where a pronoun or a pronominal adjective will not express the meaning clearly, the noun must be repeated, or inserted in stead of it. Example: "We see the beautiful variety of colour in the rainbow, and are led to consider the cause of it'' [-that variety]. NOTE XI. To prevent ambiguity or obscurity, the relative should be placed as near as possible to the antecedent. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "He is like a beast of prey, that is void of compassion." Better: "IIe that is void of compassion, is like a beast of prey." 66 NOTE XII.-The pronoun what should never be used in stead of the conjunction that; as, "He will not believe but what I am to blame." What should be that. NOTE XIII.-A pronoun should not be used to represent an adjective; because it can neither express a concrete quality as such, nor convert it properly into an abstract. Example: "Be attentive; without which you will learn nothing." Better: "Be attentive; for without attention you will learn nothing.” FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE V.-PRONOUNS. No person should be censured for being careful of their utation. rep [FORMULE.-Not proper, because the pronoun their is of the plural number, and does not correctly represent its antecedent noun person, which is of the third person, singular, masculine. But, according to Rule 5th, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender." Therefore, their should be his thus, No person should be censured for being careful of his reputation.] Every one must judge of their own feelings.-Byron. Can any person, on their entrance into the world, be fully secure that they shall not be deceived? He cannot see one in prosperity without envying them. Rebecca took goodly raiment, and put them on Jacob. Let each esteem others better than themselves. A person may make themselves happy without riches. The mind of man should not be left without something on which to employ his energies. An idler is a watch that wants both hands, Under Note 1.-Pronouns Wrong or Needless. Many words they darken speech. These praises he then seemed inclined to retract them. These people they are all very ignorant. Asa his heart was perfect with the Lord. Who, in stead of going about doing good, they are perpetually intent upon doing mischief.-Tillotson. Whom ye delivered up, and denied him in the presence of Pontius Pilate.-Acts, iii, 13. Whom, when they had washed, they laid her in an upper chamber.-Acts, ix, 37. What I have mentioned, there are witnesses of the fact. The empress, approving these conditions, she immediately ratified them. This incident, though it appears improbable, yet I cannot doubt the author's veracity. Under Note 2.-Change of Number. Thou art my father's brother, else would I reprove you. |