Higher Lessons in English by Alonzo Reed and Brainerd Kellogg (small books to read TXT) 📖

many, one, other, etc. are called +Indefinite+ pronouns because they do not point out and particularize like the demonstratives. Each, either, and neither are also called +Distributives+.

But for the fact that such words as brave, good, etc. in the phrases the brave, the good, etc. describe—which pronouns never do—we might call them adjective pronouns. They may be treated as nouns, or as adjectives modifying nouns to be supplied.

Some adjectives preceded by the are abstract nouns; as, the grand, the sublime, the beautiful.]

The word, phrase, or clause in the place of which a pronoun is used is called an +Antecedent+.

+Direction+.—_Point out the pronouns and their antecedents in these sentences_:—

Jack was rude to Tom, and always knocked off his hat when he met him. To lie is cowardly, and every boy should know it. Daniel and his companions were fed on pulse, which was to their advantage. To lie is to be a coward, which one should scorn to be. To sleep soundly, which is a blessing, is to repair and renew the body.

+Remark+.—When the interrogatives who, which, and what introduce indirect questions, it is not always easy to distinguish them from relatives whose antecedents are omitted. For example—I found who called and what he wanted; I saw what was done. The first sentence does not mean, I found the person who called and the thing that he wanted. “Who called” and “what he wanted” here suggest questions—questions referred to but not directly asked. I saw what was done = I saw the thing that was done. No question is suggested.

It should be remembered that which and what may also be interrogative adjectives; as, Which side won? What news have you?

+Direction+.—_Analyze these sentences, and parse all the pronouns_:—

1. Who steals my purse steals trash. 2. I myself know who stole my purse. 3. They knew whose house was robbed. 4. He heard what was said. 5. You have guessed which belongs to me. 6. Whom the gods would destroy they first make mad. 7. What was said, and who said it? 8. It is not known to whom the honor belongs. 9. She saw one of them, but she cannot positively tell which. 10. Whatever is done must be done quickly.

 

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LESSON 86.

CONSTRUCTION OF PRONOUNS.

TO THE TEACHER.—In the recitation of all Lessons containing errors for correction, the pupils’ books should be closed, and the examples should be read by you. To insure care in preparation, and close attention in the class, read some of the examples in their correct form. Require specific reasons.

+Caution+.—Avoid he, it, they, or any other pronoun when its reference to an antecedent would not be clear. Repeat the noun instead, quote the speaker’s exact words, or recast the sentence.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and relieve these sentences of their ambiguity_:—

+Model+.—The lad cannot leave his father; for, if he should leave him, he would die = The lad cannot leave his father; for, if he should leave his father, his father would die. Lysias promised his father never to abandon his friends = Lysias gave his father this promise: “I will never abandon your (or my) friends.”

1. Dr. Prideaux says that, when he took his commentary to the bookseller, he told him it was a dry subject. 2. He said to his friend that, if he did not feel better soon, he thought he had better go home.

(This sentence may have four meanings. Give them all, using what you may suppose were the speaker’s words.)

3. A tried to see B in the crowd, but could not because he was so short. 4. Charles’s duplicity was fully made known to Cromwell by a letter of his to his wife, which he intercepted. 5. The farmer told the lawyer that his bull had gored his ox, and that it was but fair that he should pay him for his loss.

+Caution+.—Do not use pronouns needlessly.

+Direction+.—_Write, these sentences, omitting needless pronouns_:—

1. It isn’t true what he said. 2. The father he died, the mother she followed, and the children they were taken sick. 3. The cat it mewed, and the dogs they barked, and the man he shouted. 4. Let every one turn from his or her evil ways. 5. Napoleon, Waterloo having been lost, he gave himself up to the English.

+Caution+.—In addressing a person, do not, in the same sentence, use the two styles of the pronoun.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. Thou art sad, have you heard bad news? 2. You cannot always have thy way. 3. Bestow thou upon us your blessing. 4. Love thyself last, and others will love you.

+Caution+.—The pronoun them should not be used for the adjective those, nor the pronoun what for the conjunction that. [Footnote: What properly introduces a noun clause expressing a direct or an indirect question, but a declarative noun clause is introduced by the conjunction that. But may be placed before this conjunction to give a negative force to the noun clause.

This use of but requires careful discrimination. For example—“I have no fear that he will do it”; “I have no fear but that he will do it.” The former indicates certainty that he will not do it, and the latter certainty that he will do it. “No one doubts but that he will do it” is incorrect, for it contains three negatives—no, doubts, and but. Two negatives may be used to affirm, but not three. The intended meaning is, “No one doubts that he will do it,” or “No one believes but that he will do it,” or “Every one believes that he will do it.”

But what, for but that or but, is also incorrectly used to connect an adverb clause; as, “He is not so bad but what he might be worse.” For this office of but or but that in an adverb clause, see Lesson 109, fourth “Example” of the uses of but.]

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. Hand me them things. 2. Who knows but what we may fail? 3. I cannot believe but what I shall see them men again. 4. We ought to have a great regard for them that are wise and good.

+Caution+.—The relative who should always represent persons; which, brute animals and inanimate things; that, persons, animals, and things; and what, things. The antecedent of what should not be expressed.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. Those which say so are mistaken. 2. He has some friends which I know. 3. He told that what he knew. 4. The dog who was called Fido went mad. 5. The lion whom they were exhibiting broke loose. 6. All what he saw he described. 7. The horse whom Alexander rode was named Bucephalus.

+Direction+.—_Write correct sentences illustrating every point in these five Cautions_.

LESSON 87.

CONSTRUCTION OF PRONOUNS—CONTINUED.

+Caution+.—Several connected relative clauses relating to the same antecedent require the same relative pronoun.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. It was Joseph that was sold into Egypt, who became governor of the land, and which saved his father and brothers from famine. 2. He who lives, that moves, and who has his being in God should not forget him. 3. This is the horse which started first, and that reached the stand last. 4. The man that fell overboard, and who was drowned was the first mate.

+Caution+.—When the relative clause is not restrictive, [Footnote: See Lesson 61.] who or which, and not that, is generally used.

+Example+.—Water, which is composed of hydrogen and oxygen, covers three-fourths of the earth’s surface.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. The earth is enveloped by an ocean of air, that is a compound of oxygen. and nitrogen. 2. Longfellow, that is the most popular American poet, has written beautiful prose. 3. Time, that is a precious gift, should not be wasted. 4. Man, that is born of woman, is of few days and full of trouble.

+Caution+.—The relative that [Footnote: That is almost always restrictive. However desirable it may seem to confine who and which to unrestrictive clauses, they are not confined to them in actual practice.

The wide use of who and which in restrictive clauses is not accounted for by saying that they occur after this, these, those, and that, and hence are used to avoid disagreeable repetitions of sounds. This may frequently be the reason for employing who and which in restrictive clauses; but usage authorizes us to affirm (1) that who and which stand in such clauses oftener without, than with, this, these, those, or that preceding them, and (2) that they so stand oftener than that itself does. Especially may this be said of which.] should be used instead of who or which (1) when the antecedent names both persons and things; (2) when that would prevent ambiguity; and (3) when it would sound better than who or which, e. g., after that, same, very, all, the interrogative who, the indefinite it, and adjectives expressing quality in the highest degree.

+Example+.—He lived near a pond that was a nuisance. (That relates to pond—the pond was a nuisance. Which might have, for its antecedent, pond, or the whole clause He lived near a pond; and so its use here would be ambiguous.)

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. The wisest men who ever lived made mistakes. 2. The chief material which is used now in building is brick. 3. Who who saw him did not pity him? 4. He is the very man whom we want. 5. He is the same who he has ever been. 6. He sent his boy to a school which did him good. 7. All who knew him respected him. 8. It was not I who did it. 9. That man that you just met is my friend.

+Caution+.—The relative clause should be placed as near as possible to the word which it modifies.

+Direction+.—_Correct these errors_:—

1. The pupil will receive a reward from his teacher who is diligent. 2. Her hair hung in ringlets, which was dark and glossy. 3. A dog was found in the street that wore a brass collar. 4. A purse was picked up by a boy that was made of leather. 5. Claudius was canonized among the gods, who scarcely deserved the name of man. 6. He should not keep a horse that cannot ride.

+Caution+.—When this and that, these and those, the one and the other refer to things previously mentioned, this and these refer to the last mentioned, and that and those to the first mentioned; the one refers to the first mentioned, and the other to the last mentioned. When there is danger of obscurity, repeat the nouns.

+Examples+.—_High_ and tall are synonyms: this may be used in speaking of what grows—a tree; that, in speaking of what does not grow—a mountain. Homer was a genius; Virgil, an artist: in the one we most admire the man; in the other, the work.

+Direction+.—_Study the Caution, and correct these errors_:—

1. Talent speaks learnedly at the bar; tact, triumphantly: this is