Page:The grammar of English grammars.djvu/566

 and words that burn."--Gray. "Music that accords with the present tone of mind, is, on that account, doubly agreeable."--Kames, El. of Crit., ii, 311. "For Theocritus descends sometimes into ideas that are gross and mean."--Blair's Rhet., p. 393. (6.) After any antecedent introduced by the expletive it; as, "It is you that suffer."--"It was I, and not he, that did it."--Churchill's Gram., p. 142. "It was not he[384] that they were so angry with."--Murray's Exercises, R. 17. "It was not Gavius alone that Verres meant to insult."--Blair's Rhet., p. 325. (7.) And, in general, wherever the propriety of who or which is doubtful; as, "The little child that was placed in the midst."

NOTE VII.--When two or more relative clauses connected by a conjunction have a similar dependence in respect to the antecedent, the same pronoun must be employed in each; as, "O thou, who art, and who wast, and who art to come!"--"And they shall spread them before the sun, and the moon, and all the host of heaven, whom they have loved, and whom they have served, and after whom they have walked, and whom they have sought, and whom they have worshiped."--Jer., viii, 2. NOTE VIII.--The relative, and the preposition governing it, should not be omitted, when they are necessary to the sense intended, or to a proper connexion of the parts of the sentence; as, "He is still in the situation you saw him." Better thus: "He is still in the situation in which you saw him."

NOTE IX.--After certain nouns, of time, place, manner, or cause, the conjunctive adverbs when, where, whither, whence, how, and why, are a sort of special relatives; but no such adverb should be used where a preposition and a relative pronoun would better express the relation of the terms: as, "A cause where justice is so much concerned." Say, "A cause in which." See Etymology, Obs. 6th, 7th, and 8th, on the Classes of Adverbs.

NOTE X.--Where a pronoun or a pronominal adjective will not express the meaning clearly, the noun must be repeated, or inserted in stead of it: as, "We see the beautiful variety of colour in the rainbow, and are led to consider the cause of it." Say,--"the cause of that variety;" because the it may mean the variety, the colour, or the rainbow.

NOTE XI.--To prevent ambiguity or obscurity, the relative should, in general, be placed as near as possible to the antecedent. The following sentence is therefore faulty: "He is like a beast of prey, that is void of compassion." Better thus: "He that is void of compassion, is like a beast of prey."

NOTE XII.--The pronoun what should never be used in stead of the conjunction that; as, "Think no man so perfect but what he may err." This is a vulgar fault. Say,--"but that he may err."

NOTE XIII.--A pronoun should never be used to represent an adjective,--except the pronominal adjectives, and others taken substantively; because a pronoun can neither express a concrete quality as such, nor convert it properly into an abstract: as, "Be attentive; without which you will learn nothing." Better thus: "Be attentive; for without attention you will learn nothing."

NOTE XIV.--Though the relative which may in some instances stand for a phrase or a sentence, it is seldom, if ever, a fit representative of an indicative assertion; as, "The man opposed me, which was anticipated."-- Nixon's Parser, p. 127. Say,--"but his opposition was anticipated." Or: "The man opposed me, as was anticipated." Or:--"as I expected he would." Again: "The captain disobeys orders, which is punished."--Ib., p. 128. This is an other factitious sentence, formed after the same model, and too erroneous for correction: none but a conceited grammatist could ever have framed such a construction.

NOTE XV.--The possessive pronouns, my, thy, his, her, its, &c.,