Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/563

 our ancestors did so before us."--Philological Museum, i, 641. Both these particular rules are useless, because the general rules for the cases, as given in chapter third above, are applicable to relatives, sufficient to all the purpose, and not liable to any exceptions.

OBS. 21.--In syntactical parsing, each word, in general, is to be resolved by some one rule; but the parsing of a pronoun commonly requires two; one for its agreement with the noun or nouns for which it stands, and an other for its case. The rule of agreement will be one of the four which are embraced in this present chapter; and the rule for the case will be one of the seven which compose chapter third. So that the whole syntax of pronouns requires the application of eleven different rules, while that of nouns or verbs is embraced in six or seven, and that of any other part of speech, in one only. In respect to their cases, relatives and interrogatives admit of every construction common to nouns, or to the personal pronouns, except apposition. This is proved by the following examples:

1. Nominatives by Rule 2d: "I who write;--Thou who writest;--He who writes;--The animal which runs."--Dr. Adam. "He that spareth his rod, hateth his son."--Solomon. "He who does any thing which he knows is wrong, ventures on dangerous ground."--"What will become of us without religion?"--Blair. "Here I determined to wait the hand of death; which, I hope, when at last it comes, will fall lightly upon me."--Dr. Johnson. "What is sudden and unaccountable, serves to confound."--Crabb. "They only are wise, who are wise to salvation."--Goodwin.

2. Nominatives by Rule 6th: (i.e., words parsed as nominatives after the verbs, though mostly transposed:) "Who art thou?"--Bible. "What were we?"--Ib. "Do not tell them who I am."--"Let him be who he may, he is not the honest fellow that he seemed."--"The general conduct of mankind is neither what it was designed, nor what it ought to be."

3. Nominatives absolute by Rule 8th: "There are certain bounds to imprudence, which being transgressed, there remains no place for repentance in the natural course of things."--''Bp. Butler''. "Which being so, it need not be any wonder, why I should."--Walker's Particles, Pref., p. xiv. "He offered an apology, which not being admitted, he became submissive."--Murray's Key, p. 202. This construction of the relative is a Latinism, and very seldom used by the best English writers.

4. Possessives by Rule 4th: "The chief man of the island, whose name was Publius."--Acts. "Despair, a cruel tyrant, from whose prisons none can escape."--Dr. Johnson. "To contemplate on Him whose yoke is easy and whose burden is light."--Steele.

5. Objectives by Rule 5th: "Those whom she persuaded."--Dr. Johnson. "The cloak that I left at Troas."--St. Paul. "By the things which he suffered."--Id. "A man whom there is reason to suspect."--"What are we to do?"--Burke. "Love refuses nothing that love sends."--Gurnall. "The first thing, says he, is, to choose some maxim or point of morality; to inculcate which, is to be the design of his work."--Blair's Rhet., p. 421. "Whomsoever you please to appoint."--Lowth. "Whatsover [sic--KTH] he doeth, shall prosper."--Bible. "What we are afraid to do before men, we should be afraid to think before God."--Sibs. "Shall I hide from Abraham that thing which I do?"--Gen., xviii, 32. "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am going to do?"--"Call imperfection what thou fanciest such."--Pope.

6. Objectives by Rule 6th: (i.e., pronouns parsed as objectives after neuter verbs, though they stand before them:) "He is not the man that I took him to be."--"Whom did you suppose me to be?"--"If the lad ever become what you wish him to be."

7. Objectives by Rule 7th: "To whom shall we go?"--Bible. "The laws by which the world is governed, are general."--''Bp. Butler''. "Whom he looks upon as his defender."--Addison. "That secret heaviness of heart which unthinking men are subject to."--Id. "I cannot but think the loss of such talents as the man of whom I am speaking was master of, a more melancholy instance."--Steele. "Grammar is the solid foundation upon which all other science rests."--Buchanan's Eng. Synt., p. xx.

OBS. 22.--In familiar language, the relative of the objective case is frequently understood; as, "The man [whom] I trust."--Cowper. "Here is the letter [which] I received." So in the following sentences: "This is the man they hate. These are the goods they bought. Are these the Gods they worship? Is this the woman you saw?"--Ash's Gram., p. 96. This ellipsis seems allowable only in the familiar style. In grave writing, or deliberate discourse, it is much better to express this relative. The omission of it is often attended with some obscurity; as, "The next error [that] I shall mention [,] is a capital one."--''Kames, El. of Crit.'', ii, 157. "It is little [that] we know of the divine perfections."--Scougal, p. 94. "The faith [which] we give to memory, may be thought, on a superficial view, to be resolvable into consciousness, as well as that [which] we give to the immediate impressions of sense."--Campbell's Rhet., p. 53. "We speak that [which] we do know, and testify that [which] we have seen."--John, iii, 11. The omission of a relative in the nominative case, is almost always inelegant; as, "This is the worst thing [that] could happen."--"There were several things [which] brought it upon me."--Pilgrim's Progress, p. 162. The latter ellipsis may occur after but or than, and it is also sometimes allowed in poetry; as, [There is] "No person of reflection but [who] must be sensible, that an incident makes a stronger impression on an eye-witness, than when heard at second hand."--''Kames, El. of Crit.'', ii, 257. "In this 'tis God directs, in that 'tis man."--Pope, on Man.

"Abuse on all he lov'd, or lov'd him, spread."--Id., to Arbuthnot.

"There's nothing blackens like the ink of fools."--Id., to Augustus.