English Grammar in Familiar Lectures Part 22

For the want of a proper knowledge of this little p.r.o.noun _it_, many grammarians have been greatly puzzled how to dispose of it, or how to account for its multiform, and, seemingly, contradictory characters. It is in great demand by writers of every description. They use it without ceremony; either in the nominative or objective case; either to represent one person or thing, or more than one. It is applied to nouns in the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender, and, very frequently, it represents a member of a sentence, a whole sentence, or a number of sentences taken in a ma.s.s.

A little attention to its true character, will, at once, strip it of all its mystery. _It_, formerly written _hit_, according to H. Tooke, is the past participle of the Moeso-Gothic verb _haitan_. It means, _the said_, and, therefore, like its near relative _that_, meaning, _the a.s.sumed_, originally had no respect, in its application, to number, person, or gender. "_It_ is a wholesome law;" i.e. _the_ _said_ (law) is a wholesome law; or, _that_ (law) is a wholesome law;--_the a.s.sumed_ (law) is a wholesome law. "_It_ is the man; I believe _it_ to be them:"--_the said_ (man) is the man; _that_ (man) is the man: I believe _the said_ (persons) to be them; I believe _that_ persons (according to the ancient application of _that_) to be them. "_It_ happened on a summer's day, that many people were a.s.sembled," &c.--Many people were a.s.sembled: _it, that_, or _the said_ (fact or circ.u.mstance) happened on a summer's day.

_It_, according to its accepted meaning in modern times, is not referred to a noun understood after it, but is considered a subst.i.tute. "How is _it_ with you?" that is, "How is your _state_ or _condition_?" "_It_ rains; _It_ freezes; _It_ is a hard winter;"--_The rain_ rains; _The frost_ frosts or freezes; _The said_ (winter) is a hard winter. "_It_ is delightful to see brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days." What is delightful? _To see brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days. It, this thing_, is delightful. _It_, then, stands for all that part of the sentence expressed in italics; and the sentence will admit of the following construction; "To see brothers living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days, is delightful."

OF ADJECTIVE p.r.o.nOUNS.

ADJECTIVE p.r.o.nOUNS, p.r.o.nOMINAL ADJECTIVES, or, more properly, SPECIFYING ADJECTIVES, are a kind of adjectives which point out nouns by some distinct specification.

p.r.o.nouns and adjectives are totally distinct in their character. The former _stand for_ nouns, and never belong to them; the latter _belong to_ nouns, and never stand for them. Hence, such a thing as an _adjective-p.r.o.noun_ cannot exist. _Each, every, either, this, that, some, other_, and the residue, are pure adjectives.

Those specifying adjectives commonly called Adjective p.r.o.nouns, may be divided into three sorts; the _distributive_, the _demonstrative_, and the _indefinite_. They are all known by the _lists_.

I. The _distributive adjectives_ are those that denote the persons or things that make up a number, each taken separately and singly. _List: each, every, either_, and sometimes _neither_; as, "_Each_ of his brothers is in a favorable situation;" "_Every_ man must account for himself;" "_Neither_ of them is industrious."

These distributives are words which are introduced into language in its refined state, in order to express the nicest shades and colors of thought. "_Man_ must account for himself;" "_Mankind_ must account for themselves;" "_All men_ must account for themselves;" "_All men, women,_ and _children,_ must account for themselves;" "_Every man_ must account for himself." Each of these a.s.sertions conveys the same fact or truth.

But the last, instead of presenting the whole human family for the mind to contemplate in a ma.s.s, by the peculiar force of _every, distributes_ them, and presents each separately and singly; and whatever is affirmed of one individual, the mind instantaneously transfers to the whole human race.

_Each_ relates to two or more persons or things, and signifies either of the two, or every one of any number taken separately.

_Every_ relates to several persons or things, and signifies each one of them all taken separately.

_Either_ relates to _two_ persons or things taken separately, and signifies the one or the other. "_Either_ of the _three_," is an improper expression. It should be, "any of the three."

_Neither_ imports _not either_; that is, not one nor the other; as, "_Neither_ of my friends was there." When an allusion is made to more than _two, none_ should be used instead of _neither_; as, "_None_ of my friends was there."

II. The _demonstrative_ are those which precisely point out the subject to which they relate. _List: this_ and _that_, and their plurals, _these_ and _those_, and _former_ and _latter_; as, "_This_ is true charity; "_that_ is only its image."

There is but a slight shade of difference in the meaning and application of _the_ and _that_. When reference is made to a particular book, we say, "Take _the_ book;" but when we wish to be very pointed and precise, we say, "Take _that_ book;" or, if it be near by, "Take _this_ book."

You perceive, then, that these demonstratives have all the force of the definite article, and a little more.

_This_ and _these_ refer to the nearest persons or things, _that_ and _those_ to the most distant; as, "_These_ goods are superior to those."

_This_ and _these_ indicate the latter, or last mentioned; _that_ and _those_, the former, or first mentioned; as, "Both _wealth_ and _poverty_ are temptations; _that_ tends to excite pride, _this_, discontent."

"_Some_ place the bliss in action, _some_ in ease; _Those_ call it pleasure, and contentment, _these_."

_They, those_. As it is the office of the personal _they_ to represent a noun previously introduced to our notice, there appears to be a slight departure from a.n.a.logy in the following application of it: "_They_ who seek after wisdom, are sure to find her: _They_ that sow in tears, sometimes reap in joy." This usage, however, is well established, and _they_, in such constructions, is generally employed in preference to _those_.

III. The _indefinite_ are those which express their subjects in an indefinite or general manner. _List: some, other, any, one, all, such, both, same, another none_. Of these, _one_ and _other_ are declined like nouns. _Another_ is declined, but wants the plural.

The indefinite adjectives, like the indefinite article, leave the meaning unfixed, or, in some degree, vague. With a slight shade of difference in meaning, we say, Give me _a_ paper, _one_ paper, _any_ paper, _some_ paper, and so on. Though these words restrict the meaning of the noun, they do not fix it to a _particular_ object. We therefore call them indefinite.

These adjectives, or adjective p.r.o.nouns, frequently belong to nouns understood, in which situation they should be pa.r.s.ed accordingly; as "You may take _either_; He is pleased with _this_ book, but dislikes _that_ (book;) _All_ (men) have sinned, but _some_ (men) have repented."

The words, _one, other_, and _none_, are used in both numbers; and, when they _stand for_ nouns, they are not adjectives, but indefinite _p.r.o.nouns_; as, "The great _ones_ of the world have their failings;"

"Some men increase in wealth, while _others_ decrease;" "_None_ escape."

The word "ones," in the preceding example, does not belong to a noun understood. If it did, we could supply the noun. The meaning is not "the great one men, nor ones men," therefore _one_ is not an adjective p.r.o.noun; but the meaning is, "The great _men_ of the world," therefore _ones_ is a p.r.o.noun of the indefinite kind, representing the noun _men_ understood, and it ought to be pa.r.s.ed like a personal p.r.o.noun. The word _others_, in the next example, is a compound p.r.o.noun, equivalent to _other men_; and should be pa.r.s.ed like _mine, thine_, &c. See Note 4th, page 100.

I will now pa.r.s.e two p.r.o.nouns, and then present some examples for you to a.n.a.lyze. If, in parsing the following exercises, you should be at a loss for definitions and rules, please to refer to the compendium. But before you proceed, you may commit the following

SYSTEMATIC ORDER OF PARSING.

The order of parsing an ADJECTIVE p.r.o.nOUN, is--an adjective p.r.o.noun, and why?--distributive, demonstrative, or indefinite, and why?--to what noun does it belong, or with what does it agree?--RULE.

"_One_ man instructs many _others." One_ is an adjective p.r.o.noun, or specifying adjective, it specifically points out a noun--indefinite, it expresses its subject in an indefinite or general manner, and belongs to the noun "man," according to RULE 19. _Adjective p.r.o.nouns belong to nouns, expressed or understood_.

_Others_ is a compound p.r.o.noun, including both an adjective p.r.o.noun and a noun, and is equivalent to _other men_. _Other_ is an adjective p.r.o.noun, it is used specifically to describe its noun--indefinite, it expresses its subject in an indefinite manner, and belongs to _men_: Rule 19. (Repeat the rule.) _Men_ is a noun, a name denoting persons--common, &c. (pa.r.s.e it in full;) and in the objective case, it is the object of the action expressed by the transitive verb "instructs," and gov. by it: Rule 20. _Active-transitive verbs, &c_.

"_Those_ books are _mine_."

_Those_ is an adjective p.r.o.noun, it specifies what noun is referred to--demonstrative, it precisely points out the subject to which it relates--and agrees with the noun "books" in the plural number, according to NOTE 1, under Rule 19. _Adjective p.r.o.nouns must agree in number with their nouns_.

_Mine_ is a compound personal p.r.o.noun, including both the possessor and the thing possessed, and is equivalent to _my books_. _My_ is a p.r.o.n. a word used instead of a noun--personal, it stands for the name of the person speaking--first person, it denotes the speaker--sing. number, it implies but one--and in the poss. case, it denotes possession, and is gov. by "books," according to Rule 12. (Repeat the rule, and decline the p.r.o.noun.) _Books_ is a noun, the name of a thing--common, &c. (pa.r.s.e it in full;)--and in the nominative case after "are," according to RULE 21. _The verb_ to be _admits the same case after it as before it_.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

Each individual fills a s.p.a.ce in creation. Every man helps a little.

These men rank among the great ones of the world. That book belongs to the tutor, this belongs to me. Some men labor, others labor not; the former increase in wealth, the latter decrease. The boy wounded the old bird, and stole the young ones. None performs his duty too well. None of those poor wretches complain of their miserable lot.

NOTE. In parsing the distributive p.r.o.nominal adjectives, NOTE 2, undo Rule 19, should be applied.

III. OF RELATIVE p.r.o.nOUNS.

Relative p.r.o.nouns are such as relate, in general, to some word or phrase going before, which is called the antecedent. They are _who, which_, and _that_.

The word _antecedent_, comes from the two Latin words, _ante, before_, and _cedo, to go_. Hence you perceive, that antecedent means going before; thus, "The _man_ is happy _who_ lives virtuously; This is the _lady who_ relieved my wants; _Thou who_ lovest wisdom, &c. _We who_ speak from experience," &c. The relative who, in these sentences, relates to the several words, _man, lady, thou_, and _we_, which words, you observe, come before the relative: they are, therefore, properly called antecedents.

The relative is not varied on account of gender, person, or number, like a personal p.r.o.noun. When we use a personal p.r.o.noun, in speaking of a man, we say _he_, and of a woman, _she_; in speaking of one person or thing, we use a singular p.r.o.noun, of more than one, a plural, and so on; but there is no such variation of the relative. _Who_, in the first of the preceding examples, relates to an antecedent of the mas. gend. third pers. sing.; in the second, the antecedent is of the fem. gend.; in the third, it is of the second pers.; and in the fourth, it is of the first pers. plur. num.; and, yet, the relative is in the same form in each example. Hence you perceive, that the relative has no peculiar _form_ to denote its gend. pers. and num., but it always agrees with its antecedent _in sense_. Thus, when I say, The _man who_ writes, _who_ is mas. gend. and sing.; but when I say, The _ladies who_ write, _who_ is feminine, and plural. In order to ascertain the gend. pers. and num. of the relative, you must always look at its antecedent.

WHO, WHICH, and THAT.

_Who_ is applied to _persons, which_ to _things_ and _brutes_; as, "He is a _friend who_ is faithful in adversity; The _bird which_ sung so sweetly, is flown; This is the _tree which_ produces no fruit."

_That_ is often used as a relative, to prevent the too frequent repet.i.tion of _who_ and _which_. It is applied both to persons and things; as, "_He that_ acts wisely, deserves praise; Modesty is a _quality that_ highly adorns a woman."

NOTES.

1. _Who_ should never be applied to animals. The following application of it is erroneous:--"He is like a _least_ of prey, _who_ destroys without pity." It should be, _that_ destroys, &c.