374. Here are to be noticed certain sentences seemingly complex, with a noun clause in apposition with it; but logically they are nothing but simple sentences. But since they are complex in form, attention is called to them here; for example,—

"Alas! it is we ourselves that are getting buried alive under this avalanche of earthly impertinences."

To divide this into two clauses—(a) It is we ourselves, (b) that are ... impertinences—would be grammatical; but logically the sentence is, We ourselves are getting ... impertinences, and it is ... that is merely a framework used to effect emphasis. The sentence shows how it may lose its pronominal force.

Other examples of this construction are,—

"It is on the understanding, and not on the sentiment, of a nation, that all safe legislation must be based."

"Then it is that deliberative Eloquence lays aside the plain attire of her daily occupation."

Exercise.

Tell how each noun clause is used in these sentences:—

1. I felt that I breathed an atmosphere of sorrow.

2. But the fact is, I was napping.

3. Shaking off from my spirit what must have been a dream, I scanned more narrowly the aspect of the building.

4. Except by what he could see for himself, he could know nothing.

5. Whatever he looks upon discloses a second sense.

6. It will not be pretended that a success in either of these kinds is quite coincident with what is best and inmost in his mind.

7. The reply of Socrates, to him who asked whether he should choose a wife, still remains reasonable, that, whether he should choose one or not, he would repent it.

8. What history it had, how it changed from shape to shape, no man will ever know.

9. Such a man is what we call an original man.

10. Our current hypothesis about Mohammed, that he was a scheming impostor, a falsehood incarnate, that his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be no longer tenable to any one.

Adjective Clauses.

375. As the office of an adjective is to modify, the only use of an adjective clause is to limit or describe some noun, or equivalent of a noun: consequently the adjective may modify any noun, or equivalent of a noun, in the sentence.

The adjective clause may be introduced by the relative pronouns who, which, that, but, as; sometimes by the conjunctions when, where, whither, whence, wherein, whereby, etc.

Frequently there is no connecting word, a relative pronoun being understood.

[Sidenote: Examples of adjective clauses.]

376. Adjective clauses may modify—

(1) The subject: "The themes it offers for contemplation are too vast for their capacities;" "Those who see the Englishman only in town, are apt to form an unfavorable opinion of his social character."

(2) The object: "From this piazza Ichabod entered the hall, which formed the center of the mansion."

(3) The complement: "The animal he bestrode was a broken-down plow-horse, that had outlived almost everything but his usefulness;" "It was such an apparition as is seldom to be met with in broad daylight."

(4) Other words: "He rode with short stirrups, which brought his knees nearly up to the pommel of the saddle;" "No whit anticipating the oblivion which awaited their names and feats, the champions advanced through the lists;" "Charity covereth a multitude of sins, in another sense than that in which it is said to do so in Scripture."

Exercise.

Pick out the adjective clauses, and tell what each one modifies; i.e., whether subject, object, etc.

1. There were passages that reminded me perhaps too much of Massillon.

2. I walked home with Calhoun, who said that the principles which I had avowed were just and noble.

3. Other men are lenses through which we read our own minds.

4. In one of those celestial days when heaven and earth meet and adorn each other, it seems a pity that we can only spend it once.

5. One of the maidens presented a silver cup, containing a rich mixture of wine and spice, which Rowena tasted.

6. No man is reason or illumination, or that essence we were looking for.

7. In the moment when he ceases to help us as a cause, he begins to help us more as an effect.

8. Socrates took away all ignominy from the place, which could not be a prison whilst he was there.

9. This is perhaps the reason why we so seldom hear ghosts except in our long-established Dutch settlements.

10. From the moment you lose sight of the land you have left, all is vacancy.

11. Nature waited tranquilly for the hour to be struck when man should arrive.

Adverbial Clauses.

377. The adverb clause takes the place of an adverb in modifying a verb, a verbal, an adjective, or an adverb. The student has met with many adverb clauses in his study of the subjunctive mood and of subordinate conjunctions; but they require careful study, and will be given in detail, with examples.

378. Adverb clauses are of the following kinds:

(1) TIME: "As we go, the milestones are grave-stones;" "He had gone but a little way before he espied a foul fiend coming;" "When he was come up to Christian, he beheld him with a disdainful countenance."

(2) PLACE: "Wherever the sentiment of right comes in, it takes precedence of everything else;" "He went several times to England, where he does not seem to have attracted any attention."

(3) REASON, or CAUSE: "His English editor lays no stress on his discoveries, since he was too great to care to be original;" "I give you joy that truth is altogether wholesome."

(4) MANNER: "The knowledge of the past is valuable only as it leads us to form just calculations with respect to the future;" "After leaving the whole party under the table, he goes away as if nothing had happened."

(5) DEGREE, or COMPARISON: "They all become wiser than they were;" "The right conclusion is, that we should try, so far as we can, to make up our shortcomings;" "Master Simon was in as chirping a humor as a grasshopper filled with dew [is];" "The broader their education is, the wider is the horizon of their thought." The first clause in the last sentence is dependent, expressing the degree in which the horizon, etc., is wider.

(6) PURPOSE: "Nature took us in hand, shaping our actions, so that we might not be ended untimely by too gross disobedience."

(7) RESULT, or CONSEQUENCE: "He wrote on the scale of the mind itself, so that all things have symmetry in his tablet;" "The window was so far superior to every other in the church, that the vanquished artist killed himself from mortification."

(8) CONDITION: "If we tire of the saints, Shakespeare is our city of refuge;" "Who cares for that, so thou gain aught wider and nobler?" "You can die grandly, and as goddesses would die were goddesses mortal."

(9) CONCESSION, introduced by indefinite relatives, adverbs, and adverbial conjunctions,—whoever, whatever, however, etc.: "But still, however good she may be as a witness, Joanna is better;" "Whatever there may remain of illiberal in discussion, there is always something illiberal in the severer aspects of study."

These mean no matter how good, no matter what remains, etc.

Exercise.

Pick out the adverbial clauses in the following sentences; tell what kind each is, and what it modifies:—

1. As I was clearing away the weeds from this epitaph, the little sexton drew me on one side with a mysterious air, and informed me in a low voice that once upon a time, on a dark wintry night, when the wind was unruly, howling and whistling, banging about doors and windows, and twirling weathercocks, so that the living were frightened out of their beds, and even the dead could not sleep quietly in their graves, the ghost of honest Preston was attracted by the well-known call of "waiter," and made its sudden appearance just as the parish clerk was singing a stave from the "mirrie garland of Captain Death."

2. If the children gathered about her, as they sometimes did, Pearl would grow positively terrible in her puny wrath, snatching up stones to fling at them, with shrill, incoherent exclamations, that made her mother tremble because they had so much the sound of a witch's anathemas.

3. The spell of life went forth from her ever-creative spirit, and communicated itself to a thousand objects, as a torch kindles a flame wherever it may be applied.

ANALYZING COMPLEX SENTENCES.

379. These suggestions will be found helpful:—

(1) See that the sentence and all its parts are placed in the natural order of subject, predicate, object, and modifiers.

(2) First take the sentence as a whole; find the principal subject and principal predicate; then treat noun clauses as nouns, adjective clauses as adjectives modifying certain words, and adverb clauses as single modifying adverbs.

(3) Analyze each clause as a simple sentence. For example, in the sentence, "Cannot we conceive that Odin was a reality?" we is the principal subject; cannot conceive is the principal predicate; its object is that Odin was a reality, of which clause Odin is the subject, etc.

380. It is sometimes of great advantage to map out a sentence after analyzing it, so as to picture the parts and their relations. To take a sentence:—

"I cannot help thinking that the fault is in themselves, and that if the church and the cataract were in the habit of giving away their thoughts with that rash generosity which characterizes tourists, they might perhaps say of their visitors, 'Well, if you are those men of whom we have heard so much, we are a little disappointed, to tell the truth.'"

This may be represented as follows:—

I cannot help thinking ____ _____ (_a_) THAT THE FAULT IS IN THEMSELVES, AND (_b_) [THAT] THEY MIGHT (PERHAPS) SAY OF THEIR VISITORS ____ ______ ______ (_a_) We are (a little) disappointed O _____ O b ____ b j M j e o (_b_) If you are those men e c d _ c t i _____ t f M i o Of whom we have heard so much. e d. r __________ M o (_a_) If the church and ... that rash generosity d __ i f _________ i e (_b_) Which characterizes tourists. r

OUTLINE

381. (1) Find the principal clause.

(2) Analyze it according to Sec. 364.

(3) Analyze the dependent clauses according to Sec. 364. This of course includes dependent clauses that depend on other dependent clauses, as seen in the "map" (Sec. 380). 107

Exercises.

(a) Analyze the following complex sentences:—

1. Take the place and attitude which belong to you.

2. That mood into which a friend brings us is his dominion over us.

3. True art is only possible on the condition that every talent has its apotheosis somewhere.

4. The deep eyes, of a light hazel, were as full of sorrow as of inspiration.

5. She is the only church that has been loyal to the heart and soul of man, that has clung to her faith in the imagination.

6. She has never lost sight of the truth that the product human nature is composed of the sum of flesh and spirit.

7. But now that she has become an establishment, she begins to perceive that she made a blunder in trusting herself to the intellect alone.

8. Before long his talk would wander into all the universe, where it was uncertain what game you would catch, or whether any.

9. The night proved unusually dark, so that the two principals had to tie white handkerchiefs round their elbows in order to descry each other.

10. Whether she would ever awake seemed to depend upon an accident.

11. Here lay two great roads, not so much for travelers that were few, as for armies that were too many by half.

12. It was haunted to that degree by fairies, that the parish priest was obliged to read mass there once a year.

13. More than one military plan was entered upon which she did not approve.

14. As surely as the wolf retires before cities, does the fairy sequester herself from the haunts of the licensed victualer.

15. M. Michelet is anxious to keep us in mind that this bishop was but an agent of the English.

16. Next came a wretched Dominican, that pressed her with an objection, which, if applied to the Bible, would tax every miracle with unsoundness.

17. The reader ought to be reminded that Joanna D'Arc was subject to an unusually unfair trial.

18. Now, had she really testified this willingness on the scaffold, it would have argued nothing at all but the weakness of a genial nature.

19. And those will often pity that weakness most, who would yield to it least.

20. Whether she said the word is uncertain.

21. This is she, the shepherd girl, counselor that had none for herself, whom I choose, bishop, for yours.

22. Had they been better chemists, had we been worse, the mixed result, namely, that, dying for them, th107 e flower should revive for us, could not have been effected.

23. I like that representation they have of the tree.

24. He was what our country people call an old one.

25. He thought not any evil happened to men of such magnitude as false opinion. 107 26. These things we are forced to say, if we must consider the effort of Plato to dispose of Nature, which will not be disposed of.

27. He showed one who was afraid to go on foot to Olympia, that it was no more than his daily walk, if continuously extended, would easily reach.

28. What can we see or acquire but what we are?

29. Our eyes are holden that we cannot see things that stare us in the face, until the hour arrives when the mind is ripened.

30. There is good reason why we should prize this liberation.

(b) First analyze, then map out as in Sec. 380, the following complex sentences:—

1. The way to speak and write what shall not go out of fashion, is to speak and write sincerely.

2. The writer who takes his subject from his ear, and not from his heart, should know that he has lost as much as he has gained.

3. "No book," said Bentley, "was ever written down by any but itself."

4. That which we do not believe, we cannot adequately say, though we may repeat the words never so often.

5. We say so because we feel that what we love is not in your will, but above it.

6. It makes no difference how many friends I have, and what content I can find in conversing with each, if there be one to whom I am not equal.

7. In every troop of boys that whoop and run in each yard and square, a new-comer is as well and accurately weighed in the course of a few days, and stamped with his right number, as if he had undergone a formal trial of his strength, speed, and temper.



COMPOUND SENTENCES.

[Sidenote: How formed.]

382. The compound sentence is a combination of two or more simple or complex sentences. While the complex sentence has only one main clause, the compound has two or more independent clauses making statements, questions, or commands. Hence the definition,—

[Sidenote: Definition.]

383. A compound sentence is one which contains two or more independent clauses.

This leaves room for any number of subordinate clauses in a compound sentence: the requirement is simply that it have at least two independent clauses.

Examples of compound sentences:—

[Sidenote: Examples.]

(1) Simple sentences united: "He is a palace of sweet sounds and sights; he dilates; he is twice a man; he walks with arms akimbo; he soliloquizes."

(2) Simple with complex: "The trees of the forest, the waving grass, and the peeping flowers have grown intelligent; and he almost fears to trust them with the secret which they seem to invite."

(3) Complex with complex: "The power which resides in him is new in nature, and none but he knows what that is which he can do, nor does he know until he has tried."

384. From this it is evident that nothing new is added to the work of analysis already done.

The same analysis of simple sentences is repeated in (1) and (2) above, and what was done in complex sentences is repeated in (2) and (3).

The division into members will be easier, for the cooerdinate independent statements are readily taken apart with the subordinate clauses attached, if there are any.

Thus in (1), the semicolons cut apart the independent members, which are simple statements; in (2), the semicolon separates the first, a simple member, from the second, a complex member; in (3), and connects the first and second complex members, and nor the second and third complex members.

[Sidenote: Connectives.]

385. The cooerdinate conjunctions and, nor, or but, etc., introduce independent clauses (see Sec. 297).

But the conjunction is often omitted in copulative and adversative clauses, as in Sec. 383 (1). Another example is, "Only the star dazzles; the planet has a faint, moon-like ray" (adversative).

[Sidenote: Study the thought.]

386. The one point that will give trouble is the variable use of some connectives; as but, for, yet, while (whilst), however, whereas, etc. Some of these are now conjunctions, now adverbs or prepositions; others sometimes cooerdinate, sometimes subordinate conjunctions.

The student must watch the logical connection of the members of the sentence, and not the form of the connective.

Exercise.

Of the following illustrative sentences, tell which are compound, and which complex:—

1. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.

2. I no longer wish to meet a good I do not earn, for example, to find a pot of buried gold.

3. Your goodness must have some edge to it—else it is none.

4. Man does not stand in awe of man, nor is his genius admonished to stay at home, but it goes abroad to beg a cup of water of the urns of other men.

5. A man cannot speak but he judges himself.

6. In your metaphysics you have denied personality to the Deity, yet when the devout motions of the soul come, yield to them heart and life.

7. I thought that it was a Sunday morning in May; that it was Easter Sunday, and as yet very early in the morning.

8. We denote the primary wisdom as intuition, whilst all later teachings are tuitions.

9. Whilst the world is thus dual, so is every one of its parts.

10. They measure the esteem of each other by what each has, and not by what each is.

11. For everything you have missed, you have gained something else; and for everything you gain, you lose something.

12. I sometimes seemed to have lived for seventy or one hundred years in one night; nay, I sometimes had feelings representative of a millennium, passed in that time, or, however, of a duration far beyond the limits of experience.

13. However some may think him wanting in zeal, the most fanatical can find no taint of apostasy in any measure of his.

14. In this manner, from a happy yet often pensive child, he grew up to be a mild, quiet, unobtrusive boy, and sun-browned with labor in the fields, but with more intelligence than is seen in many lads from the schools.



OUTLINE FOR ANALYZING COMPOUND SENTENCES.

387. (i) Separate it into its main members. (2) Analyze each complex member as in Sec. 381. (3) Analyze each simple member as in Sec. 364.

Exercise.

Analyze the following compound sentences:—

1. The gain is apparent; the tax is certain.

2. If I feel overshadowed and outdone by great neighbors, I can yet love; I can still receive; and he that loveth maketh his own the grandeur that he loves.

3. Love, and thou shalt be loved.

4. All loss, all pain, is particular; the universe remains to the heart unhurt.

5. Place yourself in the middle of the stream of power and wisdom which animates all whom it floats, and you are without effort impelled to truth.

6. He teaches who gives, and he learns who receives.

7. Whatever he knows and thinks, whatever in his apprehension is worth doing, that let him communicate, or men will never know and honor him aright.

8. Stand aside; give those merits room; let them mount and expand.

9. We see the noble afar off, and they repel us; why should we intrude?

10. We go to Europe, or we pursue persons, or we read books, in the instinctive faith that these will call it out and reveal us to ourselves.

11. A gay and pleasant sound is the whetting of the scythe in the mornings of June, yet what is more lonesome and sad than the sound of a whetstone or mower's rifle when it is too late in the season to make hay?

12. "Strike," says the smith, "the iron is white;" "keep the rake," says the haymaker, "as nigh the scythe as you can, and the cart as nigh the rake."

13. Trust men, and they will be true to you; treat them greatly, and they will show themselves great, though they make an exception in your favor to all their rules of trade.

14. On the most profitable lie the course of events presently lays a destructive tax; whilst frankness invites frankness, puts the parties on a convenient footing, and makes their business a friendship.

15. The sturdiest offender of your peace and of the neighborhood, if you rip up his claims, is as thin and timid as any; and the peace of society is often kept, because, as children, one is afraid, and the other dares not.

16. They will shuffle and crow, crook and hide, feign to confess here, only that they may brag and conquer there, and not a thought has enriched either party, and not an emotion of bravery, modesty, or hope.

17. The magic they used was the ideal tendencies, which always make the Actual ridiculous; but the tough world had its revenge the moment they put their horses of the sun to plow in its furrow.

18. Come into port greatly, or sail with God the seas.

19. When you have chosen your part, abide by it, and do not weakly try to reconcile yourself with the world.

20. Times of heroism are generally times of terror, but the day never shines in which this element may not work.

21. Life is a train of moods like a string of beads, and as we pass through them they prove to be many-colored lenses which paint the world their own hue, and each shows only what lies at its focus.

22. We see young men who owe us a new world, so readily and lavishly they promise, but they never acquit the debt; they die young, and dodge the account; or, if they live, they lose themselves in the crowd.

23. So does culture with us; it ends in headache.

24. Do not craze yourself with thinking, but go about your business anywhere.

25. Thus journeys the mighty Ideal before us; it never was known to fall into the rear.



PART III.

SYNTAX.



INTRODUCTORY.

[Sidenote: By way of introduction.]

388. Syntax is from a Greek word meaning order or arrangement.

Syntax deals with the relation of words to each other as component parts of a sentence, and with their proper arrangement to express clearly the intended meaning.

[Sidenote: Ground covered by syntax.]

380. Following the Latin method, writers on English grammar usually divide syntax into the two general heads,—agreement and government.

Agreement is concerned with the following relations of words: words in apposition, verb and subject, pronoun and antecedent, adjective and noun.

Government has to do with verbs and prepositions, both of which are said to govern words by having them in the objective case.

390. Considering the scarcity of inflections in English, it is clear that if we merely follow the Latin treatment, the department of syntax will be a small affair. But there is a good deal else to watch in addition to the few forms; for there is an important and marked difference between Latin and English syntax. It is this:—

Latin syntax depends upon fixed rules governing the use of inflected forms: hence the position of words in a sentence is of little grammatical importance.

[Sidenote: Essential point in English syntax.]

English syntax follows the Latin to a limited extent; but its leading characteristic is, that English syntax is founded upon the meaning and the logical connection of words rather than upon their form: consequently it is quite as necessary to place words properly, and to think clearly of the meaning of words, as to study inflected forms.

For example, the sentence, "The savage here the settler slew," is ambiguous. Savage may be the subject, following the regular order of subject; or settler may be the subject, the order being inverted. In Latin, distinct forms would be used, and it would not matter which one stood first.

[Sidenote: Why study syntax?]

391. There is, then, a double reason for not omitting syntax as a department of grammar,—

First, To study the rules regarding the use of inflected forms, some of which conform to classical grammar, while some are idiomatic (peculiar to our own language).

Second, To find out the logical methods which control us in the arrangement of words; and particularly when the grammatical and the logical conception of a sentence do not agree, or when they exist side by side in good usage.

As an illustration of the last remark, take the sentence, "Besides these famous books of Scott's and Johnson's, there is a copious 'Life' by Sheridan." In this there is a possessive form, and added to it the preposition of, also expressing a possessive relation. This is not logical; it is not consistent with the general rules of grammar: but none the less it is good English.

Also in the sentence, "None remained but he," grammatical rules would require him instead of he after the preposition; yet the expression is sustained by good authority.

[Sidenote: Some rules not rigid.]

392. In some cases, authorities—that is, standard writers—differ as to which of two constructions should be used, or the same writer will use both indifferently. Instances will be found in treating of the pronoun or noun with a gerund, pronoun and antecedent, sometimes verb and subject, etc.

When usage varies as to a given construction, both forms will be given in the following pages.

[Sidenote: The basis of syntax.]

393. Our treatment of syntax will be an endeavor to record the best usage of the present time on important points; and nothing but important points will be considered, for it is easy to confuse a student with too many obtrusive don'ts.

The constructions presented as general will be justified by quotations from modern writers of English who are regarded as "standard;" that is, writers whose style is generally acknowledged as superior, and whose judgment, therefore, will be accepted by those in quest of authoritative opinion.

Reference will also be made to spoken English when its constructions differ from those of the literary language, and to vulgar English when it preserves forms which were once, but are not now, good English.

It may be suggested to the student that the only way to acquire correctness is to watch good usage everywhere, and imitate it.



NOUNS.

394. Nouns have no distinct forms for the nominative and objective cases: hence no mistake can be made in using them. But some remarks are required concerning the use of the possessive case.

[Sidenote: Use of the possessive. Joint possession.]

395. When two or more possessives modify the same noun, or indicate joint ownership or possession, the possessive sign is added to the last noun only; for example,—

Live your king and country's best support.—ROWE.

Woman, sense and nature's easy fool.—BYRON.

Oliver and Boyd's printing office.—MCCULLOCH.

Adam and Eve's morning hymn.—MILTON.

In Beaumont and Fletcher's "Sea Voyage," Juletta tells, etc.—EMERSON.

[Sidenote: Separate possession.]

396. When two or more possessives stand before the same noun, but imply separate possession or ownership, the possessive sign is used with each noun; as,—

He lands us on a grassy stage, Safe from the storm's and prelate's rage.—MARVELL

Where were the sons of Peers and Members of Parliament in Anne's and George's time?—THACKERAY.

Levi's station in life was the receipt of custom; and Peter's, the shore of Galilee; and Paul's, the antechamber of the High Priest.—RUSKIN.

Swift did not keep Stella's letters. He kept Bolingbroke's, and Pope's, and Harley's, and Peterborough's.—THACKERAY.

An actor in one of Morton's or Kotzebue's plays.—MACAULAY.

Putting Mr. Mill's and Mr. Bentham's principles together. —Id.

397. The possessive preceding the gerund will be considered under the possessive of pronouns (Sec. 408).



PRONOUNS.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

I. NOMINATIVE AND OBJECTIVE FORMS.

398. Since most of the personal pronouns, together with the relative who, have separate forms for nominative and objective use, there are two general rules that require attention.

[Sidenote: General rules.]

(1) The nominative use is usually marked by the nominative form of the pronoun.

(2) The objective use is usually marked by the objective form of the pronoun.

These simple rules are sometimes violated in spoken and in literary English. Some of the violations are universally condemned; others are generally, if not universally, sanctioned.

[Sidenote: Objective for the nominative.]



399. The objective is sometimes found instead of the nominative in the following instances:—

(1) By a common vulgarism of ignorance or carelessness, no notice is taken of the proper form to be used as subject; as,—

He and me once went in the dead of winter in a one-hoss shay out to Boonville.—WHITCHER, Bedott Papers.

It seems strange to me that them that preach up the doctrine don't admire one who carrys it out.—Josiah Allens Wife.

(2) By faulty analysis of the sentence, the true relation of the words is misunderstood; for example, "Whom think ye that I am?" (In this, whom is the complement after the verb am, and should be the nominative form, who.) "The young Harper, whom they agree was rather nice-looking" (whom is the subject of the verb was).

Especially is this fault to be noticed after an ellipsis with than or as, the real thought being forgotten; thus,—

But the consolation coming from devotion did not go far with such a one as her.—TROLLOPE.

This should be "as she," because the full expression would be "such a one as she is."

400. Still, the last expression has the support of many good writers, as shown in the following examples:—

She was neither better bred nor wiser than you or me.—THACKERAY.

No mightier than thyself or me.—SHAKESPEARE.

Lin'd with Giants deadlier than 'em all.—POPE.

But he must be a stronger than thee.—SOUTHEY.

Not to render up my soul to such as thee.—BYRON.

I shall not learn my duty from such as thee.—FIELDING.

[Sidenote: A safe rule.]

It will be safer for the student to follow the general rule, as illustrated in the following sentences:—

If so, they are yet holier than we.—RUSKIN.

Who would suppose it is the game of such as he?—DICKENS.

Do we see The robber and the murd'rer weak as we? —MILTON.

I have no other saint than thou to pray to.—LONGFELLOW.

[Sidenote: "Than whom."]

401. One exception is to be noted. The expression than whom seems to be used universally instead of "than who." There is no special reason for this, but such is the fact; for example,—

One I remember especially,—one than whom I never met a bandit more gallant.—THACKERAY.

The camp of Richard of England, than whom none knows better how to do honor to a noble foe.—SCOTT.

She had a companion who had been ever agreeable, and her estate a steward than whom no one living was supposed to be more competent.—PARTON.

[Sidenote: "It was he" or "It was him"?]

402. And there is one question about which grammarians are not agreed, namely, whether the nominative or the objective form should be used in the predicate after was, is, are, and the other forms of the verb be.

It may be stated with assurance that the literary language prefers the nominative in this instance, as,—

For there was little doubt that it was he.—KINGSLEY.

But still it is not she.—MACAULAY.

And it was he That made the ship to go. —COLERIDGE.

In spoken English, on the other hand, both in England and America, the objective form is regularly found, unless a special, careful effort is made to adopt the standard usage. The following are examples of spoken English from conversations:—

"Rose Satterne, the mayor's daughter?"—"That's her."—KINGSLEY.

"Who's there?"—"Me, Patrick the Porter."—WINTHROP.

"If there is any one embarrassed, it will not be me."—WM. BLACK.

The usage is too common to need further examples.

Exercise.

Correct the italicized pronouns in the following sentences, giving reasons from the analysis of the sentence:—

1. Whom they were I really cannot specify.

2. Truth is mightier than us all.

3. If there ever was a rogue in the world, it is me.

4. They were the very two individuals whom we thought were far away.

5. "Seems to me as if them as writes must hev a kinder gift fur it, now."

6. The sign of the Good Samaritan is written on the face of whomsoever opens to the stranger.

7. It is not me you are in love with.

8. You know whom it is that you thus charge.

9. The same affinity will exert its influence on whomsoever is as noble as these men and women.

10. It was him that Horace Walpole called a man who never made a bad figure but as an author.

11. We shall soon see which is the fittest object of scorn, you or me.

[Sidenote: Me in exclamations.]

403. It is to be remembered that the objective form is used in exclamations which turn the attention upon a person; as,—

Unhappy me! That I cannot risk my own worthless life.—KINGSLEY

Alas! miserable me! Alas! unhappy Senors!—Id.

Ay me! I fondly dream—had ye been there.—MILTON.

[Sidenote: Nominative for the objective.]

404. The rule for the objective form is wrongly departed from—

(1) When the object is far removed from the verb, verbal, or preposition which governs it; as, "He that can doubt whether he be anything or no, I speak not to" (he should be him, the object of to); "I saw men very like him at each of the places mentioned, but not he" (he should be him, object of saw).

(2) In the case of certain pairs of pronouns, used after verbs, verbals, and prepositions, as this from Shakespeare, "All debts are cleared between you and I" (for you and me); or this, "Let thou and I the battle try" (for thee and me, or us).

(3) By forgetting the construction, in the case of words used in apposition with the object; as, "Ask the murderer, he who has steeped his hands in the blood of another" (instead of "him who," the word being in apposition with murderer).

[Sidenote: Exception 1, who interrogative.]

405. The interrogative pronoun who may be said to have no objective form in spoken English. We regularly say, "Who did you see?" or, "Who were they talking to?" etc. The more formal "To whom were they talking?" sounds stilted in conversation, and is usually avoided.

In literary English the objective form whom is preferred for objective use; as,—

Knows he now to whom he lies under obligation?—SCOTT.

What doth she look on? Whom doth she behold?—WORDSWORTH.

Yet the nominative form is found quite frequently to divide the work of the objective use; for example,—

My son is going to be married to I don't know who.—GOLDSMITH.

Who have we here?—Id.

Who should I meet the other day but my old friend.—STEELE.

He hath given away half his fortune to the Lord knows who.—KINGSLEY.

Who have we got here?—SMOLLETT.

Who should we find there but Eustache?—MARRVAT.

Who the devil is he talking to?—SHERIDAN.

[Sidenote: Exception 2, but he, etc.]

406. It is a well-established usage to put the nominative form, as well as the objective, after the preposition but (sometimes save); as,—

All were knocked down but us two.—KINGSLEY.

Thy shores are empires, changed in all save thee.—BYRON.

Rich are the sea gods:—who gives gifts but they?—EMERSON.

The Chieftains then Returned rejoicing, all but he. —SOUTHEY

No man strikes him but I.—KINGSLEY.

None, save thou and thine, I've sworn, Shall be left upon the morn.

BYRON.

Exercise.

Correct the italicized pronouns in the following, giving reasons from the analysis of the quotation:—

1. Thou, Nature, partial Nature, I arraign.

2. Let you and I look at these, for they say there are none such in the world.

3. "Nonsense!" said Amyas, "we could kill every soul of them in half an hour, and they know that as well as me."

4. Markland, who, with Jortin and Thirlby, Johnson calls three contemporaries of great eminence.

5. They are coming for a visit to she and I.

6. They crowned him long ago; But who they got to put it on Nobody seems to know.

7. I experienced little difficulty in distinguishing among the pedestrians they who had business with St. Bartholomew.

8. The great difference lies between the laborer who moves to Yorkshire and he who moves to Canada.

9. Besides my father and Uncle Haddock—he of the silver plates.

10. Ye against whose familiar names not yet The fatal asterisk of death is set, Ye I salute.

11. It can't be worth much to they that hasn't larning.

12. To send me away for a whole year—I who had never crept from under the parental wing—was a startling idea.



II. POSSESSIVE FORMS.

[Sidenote: As antecedent of a relative.]

407. The possessive forms of personal pronouns and also of nouns are sometimes found as antecedents of relatives. This usage is not frequent. The antecedent is usually nominative or objective, as the use of the possessive is less likely to be clear.

We should augur ill of any gentleman's property to whom this happened every other day in his drawing room.—RUSKIN.

For their sakes whose distance disabled them from knowing me.—C.B. BROWN.

Now by His name that I most reverence in Heaven, and by hers whom I most worship on earth.—SCOTT.

He saw her smile and slip money into the man's hand who was ordered to ride behind the coach.—THACKERAY.

He doubted whether his signature whose expectations were so much more bounded would avail.—DE QUINCEY.

For boys with hearts as bold As his who kept the bridge so well. —MACAULAY.

[Sidenote: Preceding a gerund,—possessive, or objective?]

408. Another point on which there is some variance in usage is such a construction as this: "We heard of Brown studying law," or "We heard of Brown's studying law."

That is, should the possessive case of a noun or pronoun always be used with the gerund to indicate the active agent? Closely scrutinizing these two sentences quoted, we might find a difference between them: saying that in the first one studying is a participle, and the meaning is, We heard of Brown, [who was] studying law; and that in the second, studying is a gerund, object of heard of, and modified by the possessive case as any other substantive would be.

[Sidenote: Why both are found.]

But in common use there is no such distinction. Both types of sentences are found; both are gerunds; sometimes the gerund has the possessive form before it, sometimes it has the objective. The use of the objective is older, and in keeping with the old way of regarding the person as the chief object before the mind: the possessive use is more modern, in keeping with the disposition to proceed from the material thing to the abstract idea, and to make the action substantive the chief idea before the mind.

In the examples quoted, it will be noticed that the possessive of the pronoun is more common than that of the noun.

[Sidenote: Objective.]

The last incident which I recollect, was my learned and worthy patron falling from a chair.—SCOTT.

He spoke of some one coming to drink tea with him, and asked why it was not made.—THACKERAY.

The old sexton even expressed a doubt as to Shakespeare having been born in her house.—IRVING.

The fact of the Romans not burying their dead within the city walls proper is a strong reason, etc.—BREWER.

I remember Wordsworth once laughingly reporting to me a little personal anecdote.—DE QUINCEY.

Here I state them only in brief, to prevent the reader casting about in alarm for my ultimate meaning.—RUSKIN.

We think with far less pleasure of Cato tearing out his entrails than of Russell saying, as he turned away from his wife, that the bitterness of death was past.—MACAULAY.

There is actually a kind of sacredness in the fact of such a man being sent into this earth.—CARLYLE.

[Sidenote: Possessive.]

There is no use for any man's taking up his abode in a house built of glass.—CARLYLE.

As to his having good grounds on which to rest an action for life.—DICKENS.

The case was made known to me by a man's holding out the little creature dead.—DE QUINCEY.

There may be reason for a savage's preferring many kinds of food which the civilized man rejects.—THOREAU.

It informs me of the previous circumstances of my laying aside my clothes.—C. BROCKDEN BROWN.

The two strangers gave me an account of their once having been themselves in a somewhat similar condition.—AUDUBON.

There was a chance of their being sent to a new school, where there were examinations.—RUSKIN

This can only be by his preferring truth to his past apprehension of truth.—EMERSON



III. PERSONAL PRONOUNS AND THEIR ANTECEDENTS.

409. The pronouns of the third person usually refer back to some preceding noun or pronoun, and ought to agree with them in person, number, and gender.

[Sidenote: Watch for the real antecedent.]

There are two constructions in which the student will need to watch the pronoun,—when the antecedent, in one person, is followed by a phrase containing a pronoun of a different person; and when the antecedent is of such a form that the pronoun following cannot indicate exactly the gender. Examples of these constructions are,—

Those of us who can only maintain themselves by continuing in some business or salaried office.—RUSKIN.

Suppose the life and fortune of every one of us would depend on his winning or losing a game of chess.—HUXLEY.

If any one did not know it, it was his own fault.—CABLE.

Everybody had his own life to think of.—DEFOE.

410. In such a case as the last three sentences,—when the antecedent includes both masculine and feminine, or is a distributive word, taking in each of many persons,—the preferred method is to put the pronoun following in the masculine singular; if the antecedent is neuter, preceded by a distributive, the pronoun will be neuter singular.

The following are additional examples:—

The next correspondent wants you to mark out a whole course of life for him.—HOLMES.

Every city threw open its gates.—DE QUINCEY.

Every person who turns this page has his own little diary.—THACKERAY.

The pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death. —BRYANT.

[Sidenote: Avoided: By using both pronouns.]

Sometimes this is avoided by using both the masculine and the feminine pronoun; for example,—

Not the feeblest grandame, not a mowing idiot, but uses what spark of perception and faculty is left, to chuckle and triumph in his or her opinion.—EMERSON.

It is a game which has been played for untold ages, every man and woman of us being one of the two players in a game of his or her own.—HUXLEY.

By using the plural pronoun.

411. Another way of referring to an antecedent which is a distributive pronoun or a noun modified by a distributive adjective, is to use the plural of the pronoun following. This is not considered the best usage, the logical analysis requiring the singular pronoun in each case; but the construction is frequently found when the antecedent includes or implies both genders. The masculine does not really represent a feminine antecedent, and the expression his or her is avoided as being cumbrous.

Notice the following examples of the plural:—

Neither of the sisters were very much deceived.—THACKERAY.

Every one must judge of their own feelings.—BYRON.

Had the doctor been contented to take my dining tables, as anybody in their senses would have done.—AUSTEN.

If the part deserve any comment, every considering Christian will make it themselves as they go.—DEFOE.

Every person's happiness depends in part upon the respect they meet in the world.—PALEY.

Every nation have their refinements—STERNE.

Neither gave vent to their feelings in words.—SCOTT.

Each of the nations acted according to their national custom.—PALGRAVE.

The sun, which pleases everybody with it and with themselves.—RUSKIN.

Urging every one within reach of your influence to be neat, and giving them means of being so.—Id.

Everybody will become of use in their own fittest way.—Id.

Everybody said they thought it was the newest thing there.—WENDELL PHILLIPS.

Struggling for life, each almost bursting their sinews to force the other off.—PAULDING.

Whosoever hath any gold, let them break it off.—Bible.

Nobody knows what it is to lose a friend, till they have lost him.—FIELDING.

Where she was gone, or what was become of her, no one could take upon them to say.—SHERIDAN.

I do not mean that I think any one to blame for taking due care of their health.—ADDISON.

Exercise.—In the above sentences, unless both genders are implied, change the pronoun to agree with its antecedent.

RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

I. RESTRICTIVE AND UNRESTRICTIVE RELATIVES.

[Sidenote: What these terms mean.]

412. As to their conjunctive use, the definite relatives who, which, and that may be cooerdinating or restrictive.

A relative, when cooerdinating, or unrestrictive, is equivalent to a conjunction (and, but, because, etc.) and a personal pronoun. It adds a new statement to what precedes, that being considered already clear; as, "I gave it to the beggar, who went away." This means, "I gave it to the beggar [we know which one], and he went away."

A relative, when restrictive, introduces a clause to limit and make clear some preceding word. The clause is restricted to the antecedent, and does not add a new statement; it merely couples a thought necessary to define the antecedent: as, "I gave it to a beggar who stood at the gate." It defines beggar.

413. It is sometimes contended that who and which should always be cooerdinating, and that always restrictive; but, according to the practice of every modern writer, the usage must be stated as follows:—

[Sidenote: A loose rule the only one to be formulated.]

Who and which are either cooerdinating or restrictive, the taste of the writer and regard for euphony being the guide.

That is in most cases restrictive, the cooerdinating use not being often found among careful writers.

Exercise.

In the following examples, tell whether who, which, and that are restrictive or not, in each instance:—

[Sidenote: Who.]

1. "Here he is now!" cried those who stood near Ernest.—HAWTHORNE.

2. He could overhear the remarks of various individuals, who were comparing the features with the face on the mountain side.—Id.

3. The particular recording angel who heard it pretended not to understand, or it might have gone hard with the tutor.—HOLMES.

4. Yet how many are there who up, down, and over England are saying, etc.—H.W. BEECHER

5. A grizzly-looking man appeared, whom we took to be sixty or seventy years old.—THOREAU.

[Sidenote: Which.]

6. The volume which I am just about terminating is almost as much English history as Dutch.—MOTLEY.

7. On hearing their plan, which was to go over the Cordilleras, she agreed to join the party.—DE QUINCEY.

8. Even the wild story of the incident which had immediately occasioned the explosion of this madness fell in with the universal prostration of mind.—Id.

9. Their colloquies are all gone to the fire except this first, which Mr. Hare has printed.—CARLYLE.

10. There is a particular science which takes these matters in hand, and it is called logic.—NEWMAN.

[Sidenote: That.]

11. So different from the wild, hard-mouthed horses at Westport, that were often vicious.—DE QUINCEY.

12. He was often tempted to pluck the flowers that rose everywhere about him in the greatest variety.—ADDISON.

13. He felt a gale of perfumes breathing upon him, that grew stronger and sweeter in proportion as he advanced.—Id.

14. With narrow shoulders, long arms and legs, hands that dangled a mile out of his sleeves.—IRVING.



II. RELATIVE AND ANTECEDENT.

[Sidenote: The rule.]

414. The general rule is, that the relative pronoun agrees with its antecedent in person and number.

[Sidenote: In what sense true.]

This cannot be true as to the form of the pronoun, as that does not vary for person or number. We say I, you, he, they, etc., who; these or that which, etc. However, the relative carries over the agreement from the antecedent before to the verb following, so far as the verb has forms to show its agreement with a substantive. For example, in the sentence, "He that writes to himself writes to an eternal public," that is invariable as to person and number, but, because of its antecedent, it makes the verb third person singular.

Notice the agreement in the following sentences:—

There is not one of the company, but myself, who rarely speak at all, but speaks of him as that sort, etc.—ADDISON.

O Time! who know'st a lenient hand to lay Softest on sorrow's wound.—BOWLES.

Let us be of good cheer, remembering that the misfortunes hardest to bear are those which never come.—LOWELL.

[Sidenote: A disputed point.]

415. This prepares the way for the consideration of one of the vexed questions,—whether we should say, "one of the finest books that has been published," or, "one of the finest books that have been published."

[Sidenote: One of ... [plural] that who, or which ... [singular or plural.]]

The pale realms of shade, where each shall take His chamber in the silent halls of death. —BRYANT.

Both constructions are frequently found, the reason being a difference of opinion as to the antecedent. Some consider it to be one [book] of the finest books, with one as the principal word, the true antecedent; others regard books as the antecedent, and write the verb in the plural. The latter is rather more frequent, but the former has good authority.

The following quotations show both sides:—

[Sidenote: Plural.]

He was one of the very few commanders who appear to have shown equal skill in directing a campaign, in winning a battle, and in improving a victory.—LECKY.

He was one of the most distinguished scientists who have ever lived.—J.T.MORSE, Jr., Franklin.

It is one of those periods which shine with an unnatural and delusive splendor.—MACAULAY.

A very little encouragement brought back one of those overflows which make one more ashamed, etc.—HOLMES.

I am one of those who believe that the real will never find an irremovable basis till it rests on the ideal.—LOWELL.

French literature of the eighteenth century, one of the most powerful agencies that have ever existed.—M. ARNOLD.

What man's life is not overtaken by one or more of those tornadoes that send us out of our course?—THACKERAY.

He is one of those that deserve very well.—ADDISON.

[Sidenote: Singular.]

The fiery youth ... struck down one of those who was pressing hardest.—SCOTT.

He appeared to me one of the noblest creatures that ever was, when he derided the shams of society.—HOWELLS.

A rare Roundabout performance,—one of the very best that has ever appeared in this series.—THACKERAY.

Valancourt was the hero of one of the most famous romances which ever was published in this country.—Id.

It is one of the errors which has been diligently propagated by designing writers.—IRVING.

"I am going to breakfast with one of these fellows who is at the Piazza Hotel."—DICKENS.

The "Economy of the Animal Kingdom" is one of those books which is an honor to the human race.—EMERSON.

Tom Puzzle is one of the most eminent immethodical disputants of any that has fallen under my observation.—ADDISON.

The richly canopied monument of one of the most earnest souls that ever gave itself to the arts.—RUSKIN.

III. OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE.

416. Although the omission of the relative is common when it would be the object of the verb or preposition expressed, there is an omission which is not frequently found in careful writers; that is, when the relative word is a pronoun, object of a preposition understood, or is equivalent to the conjunction when, where, whence, and such like: as, "He returned by the same route [by which] he came;" "India is the place [in which, or where] he died." Notice these sentences:—

In the posture I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.—SWIFT.

This is he that should marshal us the way we were going.—EMERSON.

But I by backward steps would move; And, when this dust falls to the urn, In that same state I came, return.—VAUGHAN.

Welcome the hour my aged limbs Are laid with thee to rest.—BURNS.

The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning.—GOLDSMITH.

The same day I went aboard we set sail.—DEFOE.

The vulgar historian of a Cromwell fancies that he had determined on being Protector of England, at the time he was plowing the marsh lands of Cambridgeshire.—CARLYLE.

To pass under the canvas in the manner he had entered required time and attention.—SCOTT.

Exercise.—In the above sentences, insert the omitted conjunction or phrase, and see if the sentence is made clearer.



IV. THE RELATIVE AS AFTER SAME.

417. It is very rarely that we find such sentences as,—

He considered...me as his apprentice, and accordingly expected the same service from me as he would from another.—FRANKLIN.

This has the same effect in natural faults as maiming and mutilation produce from accidents.—BURKE.

[Sidenote: The regular construction.]

[Sidenote: Caution.]

The usual way is to use the relative as after same if no verb follows as; but, if same is followed by a complete clause, as is not used, but we find the relative who, which, or that. Remember this applies only to as when used as a relative.

Examples of the use of as in a contracted clause:—

Looking to the same end as Turner, and working in the same spirit, he, with Turner, was a discoverer, etc.—R.W. CHURCH.

They believe the same of all the works of art, as of knives, boats, looking-glasses.—ADDISON.

Examples of relatives following same in full clauses:—

[Sidenote: Who.]

This is the very same rogue who sold us the spectacles. —GOLDSMITH.

The same person who had clapped his thrilling hands at the first representation of the Tempest.—MACAULAY.

[Sidenote: That.]

I rubbed on some of the same ointment that was given me at my first arrival.—SWIFT.

[Sidenote: Which.]

For the same sound is in my ears Which in those days I heard.—WORDSWORTH.

With the same minuteness which her predecessor had exhibited, she passed the lamp over her face and person.—SCOTT.



V. MISUSE OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: Anacoluthic use of which.]

418. There is now and then found in the pages of literature a construction which imitates the Latin, but which is usually carefully avoided. It is a use of the relative which so as to make an anacoluthon, or lack of proper connection between the clauses; for example,—

Which, if I had resolved to go on with, I might as well have staid at home.—DEFOE

Which if he attempted to do, Mr. Billings vowed that he would follow him to Jerusalem.—THACKERAY.

We know not the incantation of the heart that would wake them;—which if they once heard, they would start up to meet us in the power of long ago.—RUSKIN.

He delivered the letter, which when Mr. Thornhill had read, he said that all submission was now too late.—GOLDSMITH.

But still the house affairs would draw her thence; Which ever as she could with haste dispatch, She'd come again.—SHAKESPEARE.

As the sentences stand, which really has no office in the sentence: it should be changed to a demonstrative or a personal pronoun, and this be placed in the proper clause.

Exercise.—Rewrite the above five sentences so as to make the proper grammatical connection in each.

[Sidenote: And who, and which, etc.]

419. There is another kind of expression which slips into the lines of even standard authors, but which is always regarded as an oversight and a blemish.

The following sentence affords an example: "The rich are now engaged in distributing what remains among the poorer sort, and who are now thrown upon their compassion." The trouble is that such conjunctions as and, but, or, etc., should connect expressions of the same kind: and who makes us look for a preceding who, but none is expressed. There are three ways to remedy the sentence quoted: thus, (1) "Among those who are poor, and who are now," etc.; (2) "Among the poorer sort, who are now thrown," etc.; (3) "Among the poorer sort, now thrown upon their," etc. That is,—

[Sidenote: Direction for rewriting.]

Express both relatives, or omit the conjunction, or leave out both connective and relative.

Exercise.

Rewrite the following examples according to the direction just given:—

[Sidenote: And who.]

1. Hester bestowed all her means on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them.—HAWTHORNE.

2. With an albatross perched on his shoulder, and who might be introduced to the congregation as the immediate organ of his conversion.—DE QUINCEY.

3. After this came Elizabeth herself, then in the full glow of what in a sovereign was called beauty, and who would in the lowest walk of life have been truly judged to possess a noble figure.—SCOTT.

4. This was a gentleman, once a great favorite of M. le Conte, and in whom I myself was not a little interested.—THACKERAY.

[Sidenote: But who.]

5. Yonder woman was the wife of a certain learned man, English by name, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam.—HAWTHORNE.

6. Dr. Ferguson considered him as a man of a powerful capacity, but whose mind was thrown off its just bias.—SCOTT.

[Sidenote: Or who.]

7. "What knight so craven, then," exclaims the chivalrous Venetian, "that he would not have been more than a match for the stoutest adversary; or who would not have lost his life a thousand times sooner than return dishonored by the lady of his love?"—PRESCOTT.

[Sidenote: And which.]

8. There are peculiar quavers still to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard a mile off.—IRVING.

9. The old British tongue was replaced by a debased Latin, like that spoken in the towns, and in which inscriptions are found in the western counties.—PEARSON.

10. I shall have complete copies, one of signal interest, and which has never been described.—MOTLEY.

[Sidenote: But which.]

11. "A mockery, indeed, but in which the soul trifled with itself!"—HAWTHORNE.

12. I saw upon the left a scene far different, but which yet the power of dreams had reconciled into harmony.—DE QUINCEY.

[Sidenote: Or which.]

13. He accounted the fair-spoken courtesy, which the Scotch had learned, either from imitation of their frequent allies, the French, or which might have arisen from their own proud and reserved character, as a false and astucious mark, etc.—SCOTT.

[Sidenote: That ... and which, etc.]

420. Akin to the above is another fault, which is likewise a variation from the best usage. Two different relatives are sometimes found referring back to the same antecedent in one sentence; whereas the better practice is to choose one relative, and repeat this for any further reference.

Exercise.

Rewrite the following quotations by repeating one relative instead of using two for the same antecedent:—

[Sidenote: That ... who.]

1. Still in the confidence of children that tread without fear every chamber in their father's house, and to whom no door is closed.—DE QUINCEY.

2. Those renowned men that were our ancestors as much as yours, and whose examples and principles we inherit.—BEECHER.

3. The Tree Igdrasil, that has its roots down in the kingdoms of Hela and Death, and whose boughs overspread the highest heaven!—CARLYLE.

[Sidenote: That ... which.]

4. Christianity is a religion that reveals men as the object of God's infinite love, and which commends him to the unbounded love of his brethren.—W.E. CHANNING.

5. He flung into literature, in his Mephistopheles, the first organic figure that has been added for some ages, and which will remain as long as the Prometheus.—EMERSON.

6. Gutenburg might also have struck out an idea that surely did not require any extraordinary ingenuity, and which left the most important difficulties to be surmounted.—HALLAM.

7. Do me the justice to tell me what I have a title to be acquainted with, and which I am certain to know more truly from you than from others.—SCOTT.

8. He will do this amiable little service out of what one may say old civilization has established in place of goodness of heart, but which is perhaps not so different from it.—HOWELLS.

9. In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, was a bustling wharf,—but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses.—HAWTHORNE.

10. His recollection of what he considered as extreme presumption in the Knight of the Leopard, even when he stood high in the roles of chivalry, but which, in his present condition, appeared an insult sufficient to drive the fiery monarch into a frenzy of passion.—SCOTT

[Sidenote: That which ... what.]

11. He, now without any effort but that which he derived from the sill, and what little his feet could secure the irregular crevices, was hung in air.—W.G. SIMMS.

[Sidenote: Such as ... which.]

12. It rose into a thrilling passion, such as my heart had always dimly craved and hungered after, but which now first interpreted itself to my ear.—DE QUINCEY.

13. I recommend some honest manual calling, such as they have very probably been bred to, and which will at least give them a chance of becoming President.—HOLMES.

[Sidenote: Such as ... whom.]

14. I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me, and to whom I do not belong.—EMERSON.

[Sidenote: Which ... that ... that.]

15. That evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house, that hurried me into the wild and undigested notion of making my fortune, and that impressed these conceits so forcibly upon me.—DEFOE.



ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: Each other, one another.]

421. The student is sometimes troubled whether to use each other or one another in expressing reciprocal relation or action. Whether either one refers to a certain number of persons or objects, whether or not the two are equivalent, may be gathered from a study of the following sentences:—

They [Ernest and the poet] led one another, as it were, into the high pavilion of their thoughts.—HAWTHORNE.

Men take each other's measure when they meet for the first time.—EMERSON.

You ruffian! do you fancy I forget that we were fond of each other?—THACKERAY.

England was then divided between kings and Druids, always at war with one another, carrying off each other's cattle and wives.—BREWER

The topics follow each other in the happiest order.—MACAULAY.

The Peers at a conference begin to pommel each other.—Id.

We call ourselves a rich nation, and we are filthy and foolish enough to thumb each other's books out of circulating libraries.—RUSKIN.

The real hardships of life are now coming fast upon us; let us not increase them by dissension among each other.—GOLDSMITH.

In a moment we were all shaking hands with one another.—DICKENS.

The unjust purchaser forces the two to bid against each other.—RUSKIN.

[Sidenote: Distributives either and neither.]

422. By their original meaning, either and neither refer to only two persons or objects; as, for example,—

Some one must be poor, and in want of his gold—or his corn. Assume that no one is in want of either.—RUSKIN

Their [Ernest's and the poet's] minds accorded into one strain, and made delightful music which neither could have claimed as all his own.—HAWTHORNE.

[Sidenote: Use of any.]

Sometimes these are made to refer to several objects, in which case any should be used instead; as,—

Was it the winter's storm? was it hard labor and spare meals? was it disease? was it the tomahawk? Is it possible that neither of these causes, that not all combined, were able to blast this bud of hope?—EVERETT.

Once I took such delight in Montaigne ...; before that, in Shakespeare; then in Plutarch; then in Plotinus; at one time in Bacon; afterwards in Goethe; even in Bettine; but now I turn the pages of either of them languidly, whilst I still cherish their genius.—EMERSON.

[Sidenote: Any usually plural.]

423. The adjective pronoun any is nearly always regarded as plural, as shown in the following sentences:—

If any of you have been accustomed to look upon these hours as mere visionary hours, I beseech you, etc.—BEECHER

Whenever, during his stay at Yuste, any of his friends had died, he had been punctual in doing honor to their memory.—STIRLING.

But I enjoy the company and conversation of its inhabitants, when any of them are so good as to visit me.—FRANKLIN.

Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead?—THACKERAY.

In earlier Modern English, any was often singular; as,—

If any, speak; for him have I offended.—SHAKESPEARE.

If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.—Bible.

Very rarely the singular is met with in later times; as,—

Here is a poet doubtless as much affected by his own descriptions as any that reads them can be.—BURKE.

[Sidenote: Caution.]

The above instances are to be distinguished from the adjective any, which is plural as often as singular.

[Sidenote: None usually plural.]

424. The adjective pronoun none is, in the prose of the present day, usually plural, although it is historically a contraction of ne an (not one). Examples of its use are,—

In earnest, if ever man was; as none of the French philosophers were.—CARLYLE.

None of Nature's powers do better service.—PROF. DANA

One man answers some question which none of his contemporaries put, and is isolated.—EMERSON.

None obey the command of duty so well as those who are free from the observance of slavish bondage.—SCOTT.

Do you think, when I spoke anon of the ghosts of Pryor's children, I mean that any of them are dead? None are, that I know of.—THACKERAY.

Early apples begin to be ripe about the first of August; but I think none of them are so good to eat as some to smell.—THOREAU.

The singular use of none is often found in the Bible; as,—

None of them was cleansed, saving Naaman the Syrian.—LUKE iv 27

Also the singular is sometimes found in present-day English in prose, and less rarely in poetry; for example,—

Perhaps none of our Presidents since Washington has stood so firm in the confidence of the people.—LOWELL

In signal none his steed should spare.—SCOTT

Like the use of any, the pronoun none should be distinguished from the adjective none, which is used absolutely, and hence is more likely to confuse the student.

Compare with the above the following sentences having the adjective none:—

Reflecting a summer evening sky in its bosom, though none [no sky] was visible overhead.—THOREAU

The holy fires were suffered to go out in the temples, and none [no fires] were lighted in their own dwellings.—PRESCOTT

[Sidenote: All singular and plural.]

425. The pronoun all has the singular construction when it means everything; the plural, when it means all persons: for example,—

[Sidenote: Singular.]

The light troops thought ... that all was lost.—PALGRAVE

All was won on the one side, and all was lost on the other.—BAYNE

Having done all that was just toward others.—NAPIER

[Sidenote: Plural.]

But the King's treatment of the great lords will be judged leniently by all who remember, etc.—PEARSON.

When all were gone, fixing his eyes on the mace, etc.—LINGARD

All who did not understand French were compelled, etc.—McMASTER.

[Sidenote: Somebody's else, or somebody else's?]

426. The compounds somebody else, any one else, nobody else, etc., are treated as units, and the apostrophe is regularly added to the final word else instead of the first. Thackeray has the expression somebody's else, and Ford has nobody's else, but the regular usage is shown in the following selections:—

A boy who is fond of somebody else's pencil case.—G. ELIOT.

A suit of clothes like somebody else's.—THACKERAY.

Drawing off his gloves and warming his hands before the fire as benevolently as if they were somebody else's.—DICKENS.

Certainly not! nor any one else's ropes.—RUSKIN.

Again, my pronunciation—like everyone else's—is in some cases more archaic.—SWEET.

Then everybody wanted some of somebody else's.—RUSKIN.

His hair...curled once all over it in long tendrils, unlike anybody else's in the world.—N.P. WILLIS.

"Ye see, there ain't nothin' wakes folks up like somebody else's wantin' what you've got."—MRS. STOWE.



ADJECTIVES.

AGREEMENT OF ADJECTIVES WITH NOUNS.

[Sidenote: These sort, all manner of, etc.]

427. The statement that adjectives agree with their nouns in number is restricted to the words this and that (with these and those), as these are the only adjectives that have separate forms for singular and plural; and it is only in one set of expressions that the concord seems to be violated,—in such as "these sort of books," "those kind of trees," "all manner of men;" the nouns being singular, the adjectives plural. These expressions are all but universal in spoken English, and may be found not infrequently in literary English; for example,—

These kind of knaves I know, which in this plainness Harbor more craft, etc.—SHAKESPEARE

All these sort of things.—SHERIDAN.

I hoped we had done with those sort of things.—MULOCH.

You have been so used to those sort of impertinences.—SYDNEY SMITH.

Whitefield or Wesley, or some other such great man as a bishop, or those sort of people.—FIELDING.

I always delight in overthrowing those kind of schemes.—AUSTEN.

There are women as well as men who can thoroughly enjoy those sort of romantic spots.—Saturday Review, London.

The library was open, with all manner of amusing books.—RUSKIN.

According to the approved usage of Modern English, each one of the above adjectives would have to be changed to the singular, or the nouns to the plural.

[Sidenote: History of this construction.]

The reason for the prevalence of these expressions must be sought in the history of the language: it cannot be found in the statement that the adjective is made plural by the attraction of a noun following.

[Sidenote: At the source.]

In Old and Middle English, in keeping with the custom of looking at things concretely rather than in the abstract, they said, not "all kinds of wild animals," but "alles cunnes wilde deor" (wild animals of-every-kind). This the modern expression reverses.

[Sidenote: Later form.]

But in early Middle English the modern way of regarding such expressions also appeared, gradually displacing the old.

[Sidenote: The result.]

Consequently we have a confused expression. We keep the form of logical agreement in standard English, such as, "This sort of trees should be planted;" but at the same time the noun following kind of is felt to be the real subject, and the adjective is, in spoken English, made to agree with it, which accounts for the construction, "These kind of trees are best."

[Sidenote: A question.]

The inconvenience of the logical construction is seen when we wish to use a predicate with number forms. Should we say, "This kind of rules are the best," or "This kind of rules is the best?" Kind or sort may be treated as a collective noun, and in this way may take a plural verb; for example, Burke's sentence, "A sort of uncertain sounds are, when the necessary dispositions concur, more alarming than a total silence."



COMPARATIVE AND SUPERLATIVE FORMS.

[Sidenote: Use of the comparative degree.]

428. The comparative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used when we wish to compare two objects or sets of objects, or one object with a class of objects, to express a higher degree of quality; as,—

Which is the better able to defend himself,—a strong man with nothing but his fists, or a paralytic cripple encumbered with a sword which he cannot lift?—MACAULAY.

Of two such lessons, why forget The nobler and the manlier one? —BYRON.

We may well doubt which has the stronger claim to civilization, the victor or the vanquished.—PRESCOTT.

A braver ne'er to battle rode.—SCOTT.

He is taller, by almost the breadth of my nail, than any of his court.—SWIFT.

[Sidenote: Other after the comparative form.]

429. When an object is compared with the class to which it belongs, it is regularly excluded from that class by the word other; if not, the object would really be compared with itself: thus,—

The character of Lady Castlewood has required more delicacy in its manipulation than perhaps any other which Thackeray has drawn.—TROLLOPE.

I used to watch this patriarchal personage with livelier curiosity than any other form of humanity.—HAWTHORNE.

Exercise.

See if the word other should be inserted in the following sentences:—

1. There was no man who could make a more graceful bow than Mr. Henry.—WIRT.

2. I am concerned to see that Mr. Gary, to whom Dante owes more than ever poet owed to translator, has sanctioned, etc.—MACAULAY.

3. There is no country in which wealth is so sensible of its obligations as our own.—LOWELL.

4. This is more sincerely done in the Scandinavian than in any mythology I know.—CARLYLE.

5. In "Thaddeus of Warsaw" there is more crying than in any novel I remember to have read.—THACKERAY.

6. The heroes of another writer [Cooper] are quite the equals of Scott's men; perhaps Leather-stocking is better than any one in "Scott's lot."—Id.

[Sidenote: Use of the superlative degree.]

430. The superlative degree of the adjective (or adverb) is used regularly in comparing more than two things, but is also frequently used in comparing only two things.

Examples of superlative with several objects:—

It is a case of which the simplest statement is the strongest.—MACAULAY.

Even Dodd himself, who was one of the greatest humbugs who ever lived, would not have had the face.—THACKERAY.

To the man who plays well, the highest stakes are paid.—HUXLEY.

[Sidenote: Superlative with two objects.]

Compare the first three sentences in Sec. 428 with the following:—

Which do you love best to behold, the lamb or the lion? —THACKERAY.

Which of these methods has the best effect? Both of them are the same to the sense, and differ only in form.—DR BLAIR.

Rip was one of those ... who eat white bread or brown, whichever can be got easiest.—IRVING.

It is hard to say whether the man of wisdom or the man of folly contributed most to the amusement of the party.—SCOTT.

There was an interval of three years between Mary and Anne. The eldest, Mary, was like the Stuarts—the younger was a fair English child.—MRS. OLIPHANT.

Of the two great parties which at this hour almost share the nation between them, I should say that one has the best cause, and the other contains the best men.—EMERSON.

In all disputes between States, though the strongest is nearly always mainly in the wrong, the weaker is often so in a minor degree.—RUSKIN.

She thought him and Olivia extremely of a size, and would bid both to stand up to see which was the tallest.—GOLDSMITH.

These two properties seem essential to wit, more particularly the last of them.—ADDISON.

"Ha, ha, ha!" roared Goodman Brown when the wind laughed at him. "Let us see which will laugh loudest."—HAWTHORNE.

[Sidenote: Double comparative and superlative.]

431. In Shakespeare's time it was quite common to use a double comparative and superlative by using more or most before the word already having -er or -est. Examples from Shakespeare are,—

How much more elder art thou than thy looks!—Merchant of Venice.

Nor that I am more better than Prospero.—Tempest.

Come you more nearer.—Hamlet.

With the most boldest and best hearts of Rome.—J. Caesar.

Also from the same period,—

Imitating the manner of the most ancientest and finest Grecians.—BEN JONSON.

After the most straitest sect of our religion.—Bible, 1611.

Such expressions are now heard only in vulgar English. The following examples are used purposely, to represent the characters as ignorant persons:—

The artful saddler persuaded the young traveler to look at "the most convenientest and handsomest saddle that ever was seen."—BULWER.

"There's nothing comes out but the most lowest stuff in nature; not a bit of high life among them."—GOLDSMITH.

THREE FIRST OR FIRST THREE?

432. As to these two expressions, over which a little war has so long been buzzing, we think it not necessary to say more than that both are in good use; not only so in popular speech, but in literary English. Instances of both are given below.

The meaning intended is the same, and the reader gets the same idea from both: hence there is properly a perfect liberty in the use of either or both.

[Sidenote: First three, etc.]

For Carlyle, and Secretary Walsingham also, have been helping them heart and soul for the last two years.—KINGSLEY.

The delay in the first three lines, and conceit in the last, jar upon us constantly.—RUSKIN.

The last dozen miles before you reach the suburbs.—DE QUINCEY.

Mankind for the first seventy thousand ages ate their meat raw.—LAMB.

The first twenty numbers were expressed by a corresponding number of dots. The first five had specific names.—PRESCOTT.

[Sidenote: Three first, etc.]

These are the three first needs of civilized life.—RUSKIN.

He has already finished the three first sticks of it.—ADDISON.

In my two last you had so much of Lismahago that I suppose you are glad he is gone.—SMOLLETT.

I have not numbered the lines except of the four first books. —COWPER.

The seven first centuries were filled with a succession of triumphs.—GIBBON.



ARTICLES.

[Sidenote: Definite article.]

433. The definite article is repeated before each of two modifiers of the same noun, when the purpose is to call attention to the noun expressed and the one understood. In such a case two or more separate objects are usually indicated by the separation of the modifiers. Examples of this construction are,—

[Sidenote: With a singular noun.]

The merit of the Barb, the Spanish, and the English breed is derived from a mixture of Arabian blood.—GIBBON.

The righteous man is distinguished from the unrighteous by his desire and hope of justice.—RUSKIN.

He seemed deficient in sympathy for concrete human things either on the sunny or the stormy side.—CARLYLE.

It is difficult to imagine a greater contrast than that between the first and the second part of the volume.—The Nation, No. 1508.

[Sidenote: With a plural noun.]

There was also a fundamental difference of opinion as to whether the earliest cleavage was between the Northern and the Southern languages.—TAYLOR, Origin of the Aryans.

434. The same repetition of the article is sometimes found before nouns alone, to distinguish clearly, or to emphasize the meaning; as,—

In every line of the Philip and the Saul, the greatest poems, I think, of the eighteenth century.—MACAULAY.

He is master of the two-fold Logos, the thought and the word, distinct, but inseparable from each other.—NEWMAN.

The flowers, and the presents, and the trunks and bonnet boxes ... having been arranged, the hour of parting came.—THACKERAY.

[Sidenote: The not repeated. One object and several modifiers, with a singular noun.]

435. Frequently, however, the article is not repeated before each of two or more adjectives, as in Sec. 433, but is used with one only; as,—

Or fanciest thou the red and yellow Clothes-screen yonder is but of To-day, without a Yesterday or a To-morrow?—CARLYLE.

The lofty, melodious, and flexible language.—SCOTT.

The fairest and most loving wife in Greece.—TENNYSON.

[Sidenote: Meaning same as in Sec. 433, with a plural noun.]

Neither can there be a much greater resemblance between the ancient and modern general views of the town.—HALLIWELL-PHILLIPPS.

At Talavera the English and French troops for a moment suspended their conflict.—MACAULAY.

The Crusades brought to the rising commonwealths of the Adriatic and Tyrrhene seas a large increase of wealth.—Id.

Here the youth of both sexes, of the higher and middling orders, were placed at a very tender age.—PRESCOTT.

[Sidenote: Indefinite article.]

436. The indefinite article is used, like the definite article, to limit two or more modified nouns, only one of which is expressed. The article is repeated for the purpose of separating or emphasizing the modified nouns. Examples of this use are,—

We shall live a better and a higher and a nobler life.—BEECHER.

The difference between the products of a well-disciplined and those of an uncultivated understanding is often and admirably exhibited by our great dramatist.—S.T. COLERIDGE.

Let us suppose that the pillars succeed each other, a round and a square one alternately.—BURKE.

As if the difference between an accurate and an inaccurate statement was not worth the trouble of looking into the most common book of reference.—MACAULAY.

To every room there was an open and a secret passage.—JOHNSON.

Notice that in the above sentences (except the first) the noun expressed is in contrast with the modified noun omitted.

[Sidenote: One article with several adjectives.]

437. Usually the article is not repeated when the several adjectives unite in describing one and the same noun. In the sentences of Secs. 433 and 436, one noun is expressed; yet the same word understood with the other adjectives has a different meaning (except in the first sentence of Sec. 436). But in the following sentences, as in the first three of Sec. 435, the adjectives assist each other in describing the same noun. It is easy to see the difference between the expressions "a red-and-white geranium," and "a red and a white geranium."

Examples of several adjectives describing the same object:—

To inspire us with a free and quiet mind.—B. JONSON.

Here and there a desolate and uninhabited house.—DICKENS.

James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy.—MACAULAY.

So wert thou born into a tuneful strain, An early, rich, and inexhausted vein. —DRYDEN.

[Sidenote: For rhetorical effect.]

438. The indefinite article (compare Sec. 434) is used to lend special emphasis, interest, or clearness to each of several nouns; as,—

James was declared a mortal and bloody enemy, a tyrant, a murderer, and a usurper.—MACAULAY.

Thou hast spoken as a patriot and a Christian.—BULWER.

He saw him in his mind's eye, a collegian, a parliament man—a Baronet perhaps.—THACKERAY.



VERBS.

CONCORD OF VERB AND SUBJECT IN NUMBER.

[Sidenote: A broad and loose rule.]

439. In English, the number of the verb follows the meaning rather than the form of its subject.

It will not do to state as a general rule that the verb agrees with its subject in person and number. This was spoken of in Part I., Sec. 276, and the following illustrations prove it.

The statements and illustrations of course refer to such verbs as have separate forms for singular and plural number.

[Sidenote: Singular verb.]

440. The singular form of the verb is used—

[Sidenote: Subject of singular form.]

(1) When the subject has a singular form and a singular meaning.

Such, then, was the earliest American land.—AGASSIZ.

He was certainly a happy fellow at this time.—G. ELIOT.

He sees that it is better to live in peace.—COOPER.

[Sidenote: Collective noun of singular meaning.]

(2) When the subject is a collective noun which represents a number of persons or things taken as one unit; as,—

The larger breed [of camels] is capable of transporting a weight of a thousand pounds.—GIBBON.

Another school professes entirely opposite principles.—The Nation.

In this work there was grouped around him a score of men.—W. PHILLIPS

A number of jeweled paternosters was attached to her girdle.—FROUDE.

Something like a horse load of books has been written to prove that it was the beauty who blew up the booby.—CARLYLE

This usage, like some others in this series, depends mostly on the writer's own judgment. Another writer might, for example, prefer a plural verb after number in Froude's sentence above.

[Sidenote: Singulars connected by or or nor.]

(3) When the subject consists of two or more singular nouns connected by or or nor; as,—

It is by no means sure that either our literature, or the great intellectual life of our nation, has got already, without academies, all that academies can give.—M. ARNOLD.

Jesus is not dead, nor John, nor Paul, nor Mahomet. —EMERSON.

[Sidenote: Plural form and singular meaning.]

(4) When the subject is plural in form, but represents a number of things to be taken together as forming one unit; for example,—

Thirty-four years affects one's remembrance of some circumstances.—DE QUINCEY.

Between ourselves, three pounds five shillings and two pence is no bad day's work.—GOLDSMITH.

Every twenty paces gives you the prospect of some villa; and every four hours, that of a large town.—MONTAGUE

Two thirds of this is mine by right.—SHERIDAN

The singular form is also used with book titles, other names, and other singulars of plural form; as,—

Politics is the only field now open for me.—WHITTIER.

"Sesame and Lilies" is Ruskin's creed for young girls.—Critic, No. 674

The Three Pigeons expects me down every moment.—GOLDSMITH.

[Sidenote: Several singular subjects to one singular verb.]

(5) With several singular subjects not disjoined by or or nor, in the following cases:—

(a) Joined by and, but considered as meaning about the same thing, or as making up one general idea; as,—

In a word, all his conversation and knowledge has been in the female world—ADDISON.

The strength and glare of each [color] is considerably abated.—BURKE

To imagine that debating and logic is the triumph.—CARLYLE

In a world where even to fold and seal a letter adroitly is not the least of accomplishments.—DE QUINCEY

The genius and merit of a rising poet was celebrated.—GIBBON.

When the cause of ages and the fate of nations hangs upon the thread of a debate.—J.Q. ADAMS.

(b) Not joined by a conjunction, but each one emphatic, or considered as appositional; for example,—

The unbought grace of life, the cheap defense of nations, the nurse of manly sentiment and heroic enterprise, is gone.—BURKE.

A fever, a mutilation, a cruel disappointment, a loss of wealth, a loss of friends, seems at the moment unpaid loss.—EMERSON

The author, the wit, the partisan, the fine gentleman, does not take the place of the man.—Id.

To receive presents or a bribe, to be guilty of collusion in any way with a suitor, was punished, in a judge, with death.—PRESCOTT.