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PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XI. The Same Pronoun should not refer to Different antecedents in the same sentence; as, "He (Philip) wrote to that distinguished philosopher in terms polite and flattering, begging of him (Aristotle) to come and undertake his (Alexander's) education, and to bestow on him (Alexander) those useful lessons of magnanimity and virtue which every great man ought to possess, and which his (Philip's) numerous avocations rendered impossible for him (Philip)."-GOLDSMITH.

Note I.-The same or a similar form of the pronoun should be preserved throughout the sentence: "Pain! pain! be as importunate as you please, I shall never own that thou art an evil." Here either thou or you should be preserved throughout.

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XI. (PERSONAL PRONOUNS.)

RULE XI.-a. He pursued the fugitive with his man-at-arms; but he, proving treacherous, deserted, and consequently he made his escape. F. S.

b. She was devoted to the welfare of her daughter, and furnished her with an accomplished governess, but she became discontented, and sought another home.

Note I.-a. Thirk me not lost, for thee I Heaven implore,

Thy guardian angel, though a wife no more;

I, when abstracted from the world you seem,

Hint the pure thought, and frame the heavenly dream. F. S.

F. S.

b. Thou shalt be required to lie down in death, to go to the bar of God, and give up your account. F. S.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XII.-The Pronoun and the Antecedent must not be introduced together as subjects of the same verb; as, "My trees they are planted." There are in the language, as written and spoken, numerous exceptions to this rule. See Sections CCCCLXXXI. and

DLXXX.

Note I.-When the name of a person is employed in apposition with a pronoun in the way of explanation, as in formal writings, the two are subjects of the same verb, and the pronoun precedes the name; as, "I, John Hancock, of Bolton ;" "Seest thou, Lorenzo, where hangs all our hope."

Note II. The pronoun sometimes precedes the noun which it represents in the same clause; as, "She was seated outside of the dcor, the young actress."-BULWER. Note III.-The pronoun ME is sometimes used as an expletive, and is equivalent to for me; as, "Rob me the exchequer." This expletive use of ME occurs more frequently in the Latin than the English, and more frequently in the Greek than in the Latin. As the dative case existed in the Anglo-Saxon, so GUEST has shown, by a large induction, that it is found in the Old English, though the inflections in Anglo-Saxon had disappeared. Certain forms of the current English like the one quoted indicate the dative case; as, "Now play me, Nestor;" "I will roar you as gently as a sucking dove."

Note IV.—The personal pronoun THEM is sometimes improperly used for the demonstrative pronouns THOSE OF THESE; as, "Give me them books."

Note V.-Personal pronouns are improperly used in the wrong case. See exercises.

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XII. (PERSONAL PRONOUNS.) RULE XII.-a. The commander of the detachment was killed, and the soldiers they have all fled. F. S.

b. The lamb thy riot doom'd to bleed to-day,

Had he thy reason, would he skip and play? C. S.

Note I.-I, Louis Napoleon, Emperor of the French.
Note II. -a. It curled not Tweed alone that breeze. C. S.

b. It is gone, that sensibility of principle, that chastity of honour, which felt a stain like a wound, which inspired courage while it mitigated ferocity, which ennobled whatever it touched, and under which vice lost half its evil by losing all its grossness.-BURKE. It here represents the "sensibility of principle and the chastity of honour."

Note IV.

Note III.-Villain, knock me at this gate,

And rap me well.-Taming of the Shrew. C. S.

Do you see them soldiers escorting the Queen to the Palace? F. S. Note V. -a. Gentle reader, let you and I, in like manner, endeavour to improve the inclosure of the car.-SOUTHEY. Here I should be changed to me.

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When all slept sound, save she who bore them both.-ROGERS.

Here the nominative she should be changed to the objective her.

c. It is not fit for such as us to sit with the rulers of the land.-SCOTT. Here "such should be changed to "such as we."

as us

d. Stimulated in turn by their approbation, and that of better judges than them were, he turned to their literature with redoubled energy.-Quarterly Review. It should stand "better judges than they were," not "than them were."

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

RULE XIII.-Personal pronouns are employed without any antecedents when the nouns which they represent are assumed to be well known. Thus the pronouns I, THOU, YOU, YE, and WE, representing either the persons speaking or the persons spoken of, are employed without having any antecedents expressed.

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You is used indefinitely for any person who may read the work in which the word is thus used; as, "You may trust an honest man.' HE and THEY are used in the same indefinite manner; as, "He seldom lives frugally who lives by chance;" "Blessed are they that mourn, for they shall be comforted.”

Note I.-The pronoun ME is often incorrectly substituted for I; as, "Who is there? me" "Is she as tall as me?" The reason of this erroneous practice seems to lie in the fact that there is less consciousness of personality indicated in the objective me than in the subjective I. Grammatically, too, it seems to us as if I always requires something to follow it.

Note II. Instead of the true nominative YE, we use, with few exceptions, the objective case; as, "You speak," "You two are speaking." In this we substitute one case for another. Instead of the true pronoun of the second person singular THOU, we use, with few exceptions, the pronoun of the second person plural YE, and that in the objective rather than in the nominative case. We not only say ye instead of thou, but you instead of ye. GUEST remarks that, at one time, the two forms ye and you seem to have been nearly changing place in our language:

"What gain you by forbidding it to tease ye,

It now can neither trouble you nor please ye."-Dryden.

YE, in the accusative, is now sometimes used by poets. Its use should not be encouraged. See Section CCLXXXIX.

Note III.-The use of one number for another is current throughout the Gothic languages, as YOU for thou in the English. A pronoun thus used has been termed pronomen reverentice, a pronoun used in the way of respect for the person addressed. In the German and the Danish, the pronomen reverentia is got at by a change, not of number alone, but of number and person. The pronoun of the third person is used instead of that of the second, just as if in English we should say, Will they walk will you walk; will ye walk; wilt thou walk. Expressions of respect, like " 'your Honour," "your Excellency," "your Highness,"

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are followed more generally by pronouns of the third person, but sometimes by pronouns of the second person.

Note IV. The tenth rule with respect to gender applies only to pronouns of the third person, HE, SHE, IT. I, THOU, WE, YOU, THEY, have the same form for the several genders.

Note V.-a. Ir is used with verbs called impersonal; as, no antecedent.

"It rains." Here there is

b. It is used to introduce a sentence, preceding a verb as the nominative, but representing a clause that comes afterward; as, "It is well known that the Jews were at this. time under the dominion of the Romans." Here it represents the whole sentence, except the clause in which it stands.

c. It is used as the representative of the subject of a proposition when the subject is placed last; as, "It is to be hoped that we shall succeed.' Here that we shall succeed

is the subject which it represents.

d. Ir is used to represent a plural noun; as, "It was the Romans that aimed at the conquest of the world."

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e. It is used to represent a pronoun of the first, or the second, or the third person; "It is I;" "it is you;" "it is he."

f. Ir is used to represent a noun in the masculine or the feminine gender; as, was Judas who betrayed his Master."

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"It

g. It is used to express a general condition or state; as, "How is it with you?" h. It is used after intransitive verbs in an indefinite way; as, "Whether the charmer sinner it or saint it," "The mole courses it not on the ground.'

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When the sentence admits of two nominatives, we now make it the subject of the verb. Anciently it was the predicate.

"It am I

That loveth so hot Emilie the bright,

That I would die present in her sight."-CHAUCER

Note VI.-ITs is probably a secondary genitive, and is of late origin in the language." The Anglo-Saxon was his, the genitive of he, for the neuter and the masculine equally. Hence when, in the old writers, we meet his where we expect its, we must not suppose that any personification takes place, but simply that the old genitive common to the two genders is used in preference to the modern one, limited to the neuter and irregularly formed. Thus, "The apoplexy is, as I take it, a kind of lethargy. I have read the cause. of his effects in Galen; it is a kind of deafness."-2 Henry IV. i. 2. "If the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be seasoned? It is neither fit for the land, nor yet for the dunghill; but men cast it out."-Luke xiv. 34, 35.

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XIII. (PERSONAL PRONOUNS.)

RULE XIII.- -a. Thou and I will attend church to-day. C. S.

b. You may hunt through the nation without finding his equal. C. S.

c. He is the wise man who selects the best means for obtaining the best ends. C. S. d. He is the freeman whom the truth makes free.

C. S.

e. They are worthy of confidence from men who have given their hearts to God.

C. S.

Note I.-Unless, as I said, messieurs, you are the masters, and not me.
Note II.-a. Are you two travellers on your way to Cornwall? C. S.

F. S.

b. You, William, when you return to Manchester, will proceed to Liverpool. C. S. (Give the two nominatives.)

c. Yet for my sons, I thank ye gods, 'tis well.

Well have they perish'd, for in fight they fell.

What is ye used for in this example?
Note III.-a.

form.)

Will they ride? (Give the English equivalent for this German

b. Will your worship furnish me with the opinion of the court? C. S. Note IV.-I, thou, we, ye, you, they love. He, she, it loves.

Note V.-a. It snows, and the night is cold.

b. It was supposed that the French army were marching out of Spain. c. It is desirable that he should return home.

d. Who went to York on that business? It was I.

e. It was Murat who led the cavalry in that battle.

f. How is it with our general this morning?

g. In their pride they lorded it over the land.

h. Come and trip it as you go,

On the light fantastic toe.

PERSONAL FRONOUNS

RULE XIV.-Two or more Antecedents, united in construction by the conjunction and, require their representative pronoun to be in the Plural Number; as, "Socrates and Plato were wise; they were the most eminent philosophers of Greece."

Note I.-But if the Antecedents describe one person or thing, though connected by and, they are in apposition, and do not require a plural pronoun; as, "That philosopher and poet spent his life in the service or mankind.”

Note II.-If the Singular Antecedents united in construction are of several persons, the second person takes precedence of the third, and the first of both, in forming the plural of the representative pronoun; as, "Thou and he shared it between you;" 66 James, and thou, and I are attached to our country."

Note III. In the Classical languages, the pronoun of the First person is deemed more worthy than that of the Second, and the Second than that of the Third. But though we in like manner place the pronoun of the second person before that of the third, we modestly place the pronoun of the first person after those of the second and third. When a Roman would say, Si tu et Tullia valetis, ego et Cicero valemus, we should say, "If you and Tullia are well, Cicero and I are well."

Cardinal Wolsey, in conformity with the Latin idiom, wrote, Ego et rex meus, "I and my king;" but it gave offence, as if he wished to take precedence of his sovereign.

Note IV. When two antecedents in the Singular number connected by the conjunction and are contrasted with each other, they do not require a plural pronoun; as, "The captain, and not the lieutenant, was, by the court-martial, removed from his office."

Note V.-When two or more antecedents in the Singular Number are connected by the conjunction and and preceded by each or every, they do not require a plural pronoun; as, "Each plant and each animal has its peculiar character."

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RULE XIV.-a. Virtue and truth is in itself convincing. F. S.

b. Chatham, Fox, and Burke are now numbered with the illustrious dead. They were distinguished patriots and statesmen. C. S.

c. Demosthenes and Cicero were the most distinguished orators of classic times. Their eloquence has ever been admired by the learned world. They were both eminent patriots. C. S.

Note I.-a. My guide, philosopher, and friend, as Pope calls Bolingbroke, devoted his splendid talents to the service of infidelity. C. S.

b. That superficial scholar and critic, like some renowned critics of our own, have furnished most decisive proofs that they knew not the characters of the Hebrew language. F. S.

Note II.-a. In the arrangements thou and he will suit themselves. F. S.

b. Thou, and the gardener, and the huntsmen must share this business among them. F. S.

C. S.

F. S.

Note III.-I, and John, and you were present at the inauguration.
Note IV.-a. Principle and not profession is demanded.
b. Good order in our affairs, not mean savings, produce great profits. F. S.
Note V.-Every leaf, every twig, every drop of water teem with life.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

F. S.

RULE XV.-Two or more Antecedents in the Singular Number, separated in construction by the Disjunctive Conjunction or, or in any other way, require the pronoun to be in the singular number; as, "John or James will send his book;" ""The Bible, and not the Koran, is read there: its influence is salutary;" "Every tree and every plant produces others after its kind."

Note I.-A Plural antecedent and a Singular antecedent, connected by or or nor, require the pronoun to be in the plural number; as, "Neither the captain nor his men showed themselves."

EXERCISES UNDER RULE XV. (PERSONAL PRONOUNS.)

RULE XV.- -a. Henry or William will give us their company. F. S.

b. When did we ever find a well-educated Englishman or Frenchman embarrassed by an ignorance of their respective languages? F. S.

Note I.-a. Neither the general nor his officers showed himself. F. S.

b. Neither the sovereign nor the members of the cabinet avow that they are in favour of the measure. C. S.

SECTION D.-SYNTAX OF THE WORD SELF."

RULE XVI.-The word SELF is used as a Reflective Personal Pronoun, for the want of some word in English equivalent to the Latin se, the German sich, and the Scandinavian sik and sig; as, "I hurt myself;" "he loves himself;" "they wounded themselves."

Note I.-The constructions of the word SELF are three-fold :

a. GOVERNMENT.-In my-self, thy-self, our-selves, and your-selves, the construction is that of a common substantive, with an adjective or genitive case. b. APPOSITION.-In him-self and them-selves, when accusative, the construction is that of a substantive in apposition with a pronoun. c. COMPOSITION.-When they are used as nominatives, the construction can be explained on another principle. The only logical view that can be taken of the matter is to consider the words himself, themselves, not as two words, but as a single word compounded. Herself is ambiguous. Its construction is one of the preceding; which, however, is uncertain, since her may be either a so-called genitive, like my, or an objective, like him. Itself is also ambiguous. The s may represent either the s in self, or the s in its.

Note II.-As the word SELF, now called a pronoun, was originally a substantive, so its compounds take the inflection of substantives in the plural; as, Ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Myself, thyself, himself, itself, and herself, are naturally singular, and can under no circumstances become plural. Themselves is naturally plural, and under no circumstances can become singular. Ourselves and yourselves are naturally plural, yet under certain circumstances may become singular. a. Just as men say we for I, may they say our for my. b. Just as men say you for thou, so may they say your for thy.

Note III.-When the adjective own intervenes between SELF and its personal pronoun, the personal pronoun is always put in the genitive case; as, His own self, not him own self; their own selves, not them own selves.

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Note IV.-When MYSELF or THYSELF stands alone, the verb that follows is usually in the first or second person, though sometimes in the third; as, Myself am hell." MILTON. "And that myself am blind."-POPE. When myself or thyself are preceded by I or thou, the verb that follows is in the first person or second: I myself am (not is) weak; thou thyself art (not is) weak.

me.

Note V.-MYSELF is often incorrectly used instead of the nominative I and the objective Its legitimate usage is either as a Reflective pronoun, or for the sake of Distinction and some particular emphasis; as when Juliet cries, "Romeo, doff thy name; and for that name, which is no part of thee, take all myself." Or in the opening of the paradisiacal hymn: "These are thy glorious works, Parent of good, Almighty! thine this universal frame thus wondrous fair! Thyself how wondrous then!" Here there is an evident contrast. Where there is no such emphasis, or purpose of bringing out a distinction or contrast, the simple pronoun is the right one. Instead of saying my father and myself, my brother and myself, the old song, beginning "My father, my mother, and I," may teach us what is the idiomatic, and also the correct usage. In expressions like the following: Mrs. Tompkins and myself will be happy to take dinner; Mrs. Johnson and myself have been writing to each other; myself is incorrectly used for the pronoun I.

Note VI.-The simple pronoun is sometimes used reflectively :

"E'en now, where Alpine solitudes ascend,

I sit me down a weary hour to spend."-GOLDSMITH. "He sat him down at a pillar's base."-BYRON.

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