NOTE 5.-Observe the use of your with reference, not to the person addressed, but to what is known and com mon: Your chestnut was ever the only colour. As, 3, 4, 12. Your serpent of Egypt is bred now of your mud by the operation of your sun: so is your crocodile. Ant. 2, 7, 29. (3.) THE REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS. 102. Reflexive Pronouns are such as refer to a subject already mentioned in the sentence. They are formed by attaching a Noun self, in the plural selves, to some forms of Personal and Possessive Pronouns; as— Myself, thyself, yourself, ourselves, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves. I know not how they sold themselves: but thou, like a kind fellow, gavest thyself away gratis.-H. 4. B.; 4, 3, 74. NOTE 1.-Himself and themselves are used as Nominative forms, but usually in connexion with a true Nominative; thus we say, He did it himself, where himself=hisself, the first s being changed to m to avoid the harsh sound of the double s. Nelson himself was saved by a timely removal.-Southey. No, they cannot touch me for coining: I am the king himself.-Lear, 4, 6, 82. NOTE 2. These forms are used as Emphatic words, not resting on a subject already mentioned in the sentence :— Here is himself, marred, as you see, with traitors. J. C. 3, 2, 201. Thyself hast loved.-Gent. 4, 3, 18. Ham. 1, 3, 78. (4.) THE DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS. 103. Pronouns pointing in an emphatic way to particular objects are called Demonstrative, such as this (in plural these), that (in plural those), such (usually as an Adjective), and the same. This was the noblest Roman of them all.—J. C. 5, 5, 68. This is no flattery: these are counsellors That feelingly persuade me what I am.—As, 2, 1, IO. What means that hand upon that breast of thine? John, 3, 1, 21. Those have a short Lent, who owe money to be paid at Easter.-Franklin. The canker-blooms have full as deep a dye As is the perfumed tincture of the roses, Hang on such thorns and play as wantonly When summer's breath their masked buds discloses. NOTE. Sonn. 54, 5. Give me the paper: let me read the same. L. L. L. 1, 1, 116. All the forms of the Personal Pronouns he, she, it, can, upon occasion, be used as Demonstrative words. He was the mark and glass, copy and book, That fashion'd others. And him,-O wondrous him! O miracle of men !-him did you leave. H. 4. B.; 2, 3, 31. (5.) THE INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS. 104. Who, which, and what are used in asking questions. Of these, who only has Case-forms, the Possessive whose and the Objective whom. Who asks about persons; which and what about persons and things. All three have the same forms in the plural as in the singular. NOTE 1.—Which and what may be used as Adjectives:Which road do you intend to take? What city is like unto this great city? NOTE 2. By the older writers whether, meaning which of the two, was used :— Whether of them twain did the will of his father? S. Matt. xxi. 31. Whether dost thou profess thyself, a knave or a fool? All's, 4, 5, 23. (6.) THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 105. The Pronouns called Relative, because they carry back the thought to a subject previously expressed, are who, which, that, and what. The subject to which they refer is called the Antecedent. 106. Who, and its Objective whom, refer to persons: its Possessive whose can refer to persons, to personified things, or to things; for example— I venerate the man whose heart is warm, But I am constant as the northern star, J. C. 3, 1, 60. The undiscover'd country, from whose bourn Who frequently refers to animals or inanimate things. in the older writers : Sometime am I All wound with adders, who with cloven tongues A brave vessel, Who had, no doubt, some noble creature in her, The first, of gold, who this inscription bears, "Who chooseth me shall gain what many men desire." Merch. 2, 7, 4. Which is now scarcely ever used of persons, though it was so used by the older writers :— Pray, good shepherd, what fair swain is this Which dances with your daughter ?— Wint. 4, 4, 166. 107. That is used both of persons and things : Give me that man That is not passion's slave, and I will wear him In my We were the first that ever burst Into that silent sea.-Coleridge. I see no reason to alter anything that I have written. Bolingbroke. 108. These Pronouns are essentially Conjunctive words, linking sentences together. That more commonly defines a preceding word or phrase: who and which usually direct attention to the words that follow. We say, for exampleI met the man that brought the news, where we merely want to state who the man was; but— I met a man, who told me the news, where who might be replaced by and he. So again : There is a tide in the affairs of men, where which is equivalent to and it. But this distinction is not observed by our chief prose writers; thus, in the same passage in the English Bible, we find ... Broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. . . . Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life.-S. Matt. vii. 1 3. The third ship which doubled the enemy's line was the Orion.-Southey. It was her fingers which gave the pickles their peculiar green, and in the composition of a pudding it was her judgment that mixed the ingredients.—Goldsmith. 109. That usually introduces a subordinate sentence: who and which usually introduce co-ordinate sentences. A sentence introduced by that is thus more closely connected with the preceding sentence than one introduced by who or which. |