Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/308



OBS. 8.--The pronoun what is usually applied to things only. It has a twofold relation, and is often used (by ellipsis of the noun) both as antecedent and as relative, in the form of a single word; being equivalent to that which, or the thing which,--those which, or the things which. In this double relation, what represents two cases at the same time: as, "He is ashamed of what he has done;" that is, "of what [thing or action] he has done;"--or, "of that [thing or action] which he has done." Here are two objectives. The two cases are sometimes alike, sometimes different; for either of them may be the nominative, and either, the objective. Examples: "The dread of censure ought not to prevail over what is proper."--''Kames, El. of Crit.'', Vol. i, p. 252. "The public ear will not easily bear what is slovenly and incorrect."--Blair's Rhet., p. 12. "He who buys what he does not need, will often need what he cannot buy."--Student's Manual, p. 290. "What is just, is honest; and again, what is honest, is just."--Cicero. "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches."--Rev., ii, 7, 11, 17, 29; iii, 6, 13, 22.

OBS. 9.--This pronoun, what, is usually of the singular number, though sometimes plural: as, "I must turn to the faults, or what appear such to me."--Byron. "All distortions and mimicries, as such, are what raise aversion instead of pleasure."--Steele. "Purified indeed from what appear to be its real defects."--Wordsworth's Pref., p. xix. "Every single impression, made even by the same object, is distinguishable from what have gone before, and from what succeed."--''Kames, El. of Crit.'', Vol. i, p. 107. "Sensible people express no thoughts but what make some figure."--Ib., Vol. i, p. 399. The following example, which makes what both singular and plural at once, is a manifest solecism: "What has since followed are but natural consequences."--J. C. CALHOUN, Speech in U. S. Senate, March 4, 1850. Here has should be have; or else the form should be this: "What has since followed, is but a natural consequence."

OBS. 10.--The common import of this remarkable pronoun, what, is, as we see in the foregoing examples, twofold; but some instances occur, in which it does not appear to have this double construction, but to be simply declaratory; and many, in which the word is simply an adjective: as, "What a strange run of luck I have had to-day!"--Columbian Orator, p. 293. Here what is a mere adjective; and, in the following examples, a pronoun indefinite:--

"I tell thee what, corporal, I could tear her."--Shak.

"He knows what's what, and that's as high   As metaphysic wit can fly."--Hudibras.

OBS. 11.--What is sometimes used both as an adjective and as a relative at the same time, and is placed before the noun which it represents; being equivalent to the adjective any or all, and the simple relative ''who, which[190] or that: as, "What'' money we had, was taken away." That is, "All the money that we had, was taken away." "What man but enters, dies." That is, "Any man who enters, dies." "It was agreed that what goods were aboard his vessels, should be landed."--Mickle's India, p. 89. "What appearances of worth afterwards succeeded, were drawn from thence."--Internal Policy of Great Britain, p. 196. That is, "All the appearances of worth, which afterwards succeeded."--Priestley's Gram., p. 93. Indeed, this pronoun does not admit of being construed after a noun, as a simple relative: none but the most illiterate ever seriously use it so. What put for who or which, is therefore a ludicrous vulgarism; as, "The aspiring youth what fired the Ephesian dome."--Jester. The word used as above, however, does not always preclude the introduction of a personal pronoun before the subsequent verb; as,[191]

"What god but enters yon forbidden field,   Who yields assistance, or but wills to yield,    Back to the skies with shame he shall be driven,    Gash'd with dishonest wounds, the scorn of heaven."--Pope's Homer.

OBS. 12.--The compound whatever or whatsoever has the same peculiarities of construction as has the simpler word what: as, "Whatever word expresses an affirmation, or assertion, is a verb; or thus, Whatever word, with a noun or pronoun before or after it, makes full sense, is a verb."--Adam's Latin Gram., p. 78. That is, "Any word which expresses," &c. "We will certainly do whatsoever thing goeth forth out of our own mouth."--Jeremiah, xliv, 17. That is--"any thing, or every thing, which." "Whatever sounds are difficult in pronunciation, are, in the same proportion, harsh and painful to the ear."--Blair's Rhet., p. 121; Murray's Gram., p. 325. "Whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning."--Romans, xv, 4. In all these examples, the word whatever or whatsoever appears to be used both adjectively and relatively. There are instances, however, in which the relation of this term is not twofold, but simple: as, "Whatever useful or engaging endowments we possess, virtue is requisite in order to their shining with proper lustre."--English Reader, p. 23. Here whatever is simply an adjective. "The declarations contained in them [the Scriptures] rest on the authority of God himself; and there can be no appeal