Composition-Rhetoric Part 70

The substantive for which the p.r.o.noun is an equivalent is called the _antecedent_, and with this antecedent the p.r.o.noun must agree in _person, number_, and _gender_, but not necessarily in _case_.

+31. Cla.s.ses of p.r.o.nouns.+--p.r.o.nouns are commonly divided into five cla.s.ses, and sometimes a sixth cla.s.s is added: (1) personal p.r.o.nouns, (2) relative p.r.o.nouns, (3) interrogative p.r.o.nouns, (4) demonstrative p.r.o.nouns, (5) adjective p.r.o.nouns,(6) indefinite p.r.o.nouns (not always added).

+32. Personal p.r.o.nouns.+--Personal p.r.o.nouns are so called because they show by their form whether they refer to the first, the second, or the third person. There are five personal p.r.o.nouns in common use: _I, you, he, she_, and _it_.

+33. Constructions of Personal p.r.o.nouns.+--The personal p.r.o.nouns are used in the same ways in which nouns are used. Besides the regular uses that the personal p.r.o.noun has, there are some special uses that should be understood.

1. The word _it_ is often used in an indefinite way at the beginning of a sentence: [It snows]. When so used, it has no antecedent, and we say it is used _impersonally_.

2. The p.r.o.noun _it_ is often used as the _grammatical_ subject of a sentence in which the _logical_ subject is found after the predicate verb: [_It_ is impossible for us to go]. When so used the p.r.o.noun _it_ is called an _expletive. There_ is used in the same way.

+34. Cautions and Suggestions.+

1. Be careful not to use the apostrophe in the possessive forms _its, yours, ours_, and _theirs_.

2. Be careful to use the nominative form of a p.r.o.noun used as an attribute complement: [It is _I_; it is _they_].

3. Be sure that the p.r.o.noun agrees in number with its antecedent. One of the most common violations of this rule is in using _their_ in such sentences as the following:--Every boy and girl must arrange _his_ desk.

Who has lost _his_ book? The use of _every_ and the form _has_ obliges us to make the possessive p.r.o.nouns singular.

_His_ may be regarded as applying to females as well as males, where it is convenient not to use the expression _his or her_.

4. The so-called subject of an infinitive is always in the objective case: [I asked _him_ to go].

5. The attribute complement will agree in case with the subject of the verb. Hence the attribute complement of an infinitive is in the objective case: [I knew it (obj.) to be _him_]; but the attribute complement of the subject of a finite verb is in the nominative case: [I knew it (nom.) was _he_].

6. Words should be so arranged in a sentence that there will be no doubt in the mind concerning the antecedent of the p.r.o.noun.

7. Do not use the personal p.r.o.noun form _them_ for the adjective _those_: [_Those_ books are mine].

+35. Compound Personal p.r.o.nouns.+--To the personal p.r.o.nouns _my, our, your, him, her, it_, and _them_, the syllables _self_ (singular) and _selves_ (plural) may be added, thus forming what are termed _compound personal_ p.r.o.nouns. These p.r.o.nouns have only two uses:--

1. They are used for emphasis: [He _himself_ is an authority on the subject].

2. They are also used reflexively: [The boy injured _himself_].

+36. The Relative or Conjunctive p.r.o.nouns.+--The p.r.o.nouns _who, which, what_ (= that which), _that_, and _as_ (after _such_) are more than equivalents for nouns, inasmuch as they serve as connectives. They are often named _relative p.r.o.nouns_ because they relate to some antecedent either expressed or implied; they are equally well named _conjunctive p.r.o.nouns_ because they are used as connectives. They introduce subordinate clauses only; these clauses are called _relative clauses_, and since they modify substantives, are also called _adjective clauses_.

+37. Uses of Relative p.r.o.nouns.+--_Who_ is used to represent persons, and objects or ideas personified; _which_ is used to represent things; _that_ and _as_ are used to represent both persons and things.

When a clause is used _for the purpose_ of pointing out some particular person, object, or idea, it is usually introduced by _that_; but when the clause supplies an additional thought, _who_ or _which_ is more frequently used. The former is called a _restrictive clause_, and the latter, a _non-restrictive clause_.

[The boy that broke his leg has fully recovered (restrictive).] Note the omission of the comma before _that_. [My eldest brother, who is now in England, will return by June (non-restrictive).] Note the inclosure of the clause in commas. See Appendix 5, rule 10.

In the first sentence it is evident that the intent of the writer is to separate, in thought, _the boy that broke his leg_ from all other boys.

Although the clause does indeed describe the boy's condition, it does so _for the purpose_ of _limiting_ or _restricting_ thought to one especial boy among many. In the second sentence the especial person meant is indicated by the word _eldest_. The clause, _who is now in England_, is put in for the sake of giving an additional bit of information.

+38. Constructions of Relative p.r.o.nouns.+--Relative p.r.o.nouns may be used as subject, object, object of a preposition, subject of an infinitive, and possessive modifier.

The relative p.r.o.noun is regarded as agreeing in person with its antecedent. Its verb, therefore, takes the person of the antecedent: [_I_, who _am_ your friend, will a.s.sist you].

The case of the relative is determined by its construction in the clause in which it is found: [He _whom_ the president appointed was fitted for the position].

+39. Compound Relative p.r.o.nouns.+--The compound relative p.r.o.nouns are formed by adding _ever_ and _soever_ to the relative p.r.o.nouns _who, which_, and _what_. These have the constructions of the simple relatives, and the same rules hold about person and case: [Give it to _whoever_ wishes it. Give it to _whomever_ you see].

+40. Interrogative p.r.o.nouns.+--The p.r.o.nouns _who, which_, and _what_ are used to ask questions, and when so used, are called _interrogative_ p.r.o.nouns. _Who_ refers to persons; _what_, to things; and _which_, to persons or things. Like the relatives _who_ has three case forms; _which_ and _what_ are uninflected.

The implied question in the sentence, I know whom you saw, is, Whom did you see? The introductory _whom_ is an interrogative p.r.o.noun, and the clause itself is called an _indirect question_.

The words _which, what_, and _whose_ may also be used as modifiers of substantives, and when so used they are called _interrogative adjectives_: ["_What_ manner of man is this?" _Whose_ child is this? _Which_ book did you choose?].

+41. Demonstrative p.r.o.nouns.+--_This_ and _that_, with their plurals _these_ and _those_, are called _demonstrative p.r.o.nouns_, because they point out individual persons or things.

+42. Indefinite p.r.o.nouns.+--Some p.r.o.nouns, as _each, either, some, any, many, such_, etc., are indefinite in character. Many indefinites may be used either as p.r.o.nouns or adjectives. Of the indefinites only two, _one_ and _other_, are inflected.

SINGULAR PLURAL SINGULAR PLURAL

NOM. AND OBJ. one ones other others

POSS. one's ones' other's others'

+43. Adjective p.r.o.nouns or p.r.o.nominal Adjectives.+--Many words, as has been noted already, are either p.r.o.nouns or adjectives according to the office that they perform. If the noun is expressed, the word in question is called a _p.r.o.nominal adjective_; but if the noun is omitted so that the word in question takes its place, it is called an _adjective p.r.o.noun_.

[_That_ house is white (adjective). _That_ is the same house (p.r.o.noun).]

ADJECTIVES

+44. Cla.s.ses of Adjectives.+--There are two general cla.s.ses of adjectives: the _descriptive_ [blue, high, etc.], so called because they describe, and the _limiting_ or _definitive_ adjectives [yonder, three, that, etc.], so called because they limit or define. It is, of course, true that any adjective which describes a noun limits its meaning; but the adjective is named from its descriptive power, not from its limiting power. A very large per cent of all adjectives belong to the first cla.s.s,--_descriptive_ adjectives. Proper adjectives and _participial_ adjectives form a small part of this large cla.s.s: [_European_ countries. A _running_ brook].

+45. Limiting or Definitive Adjectives.+--The _limiting_ adjectives include the various cla.s.ses of _p.r.o.nominal adjectives_ (all of which have been mentioned under p.r.o.nouns), the _articles_ (_a_, _an_, and _the_), and adjectives denoting _place_ and _number_.

+46. Comparison of Adjectives.+--With the exception of the words _this_ and _that_, adjectives are not inflected for number, and none are inflected for case. Many of them, however, change their form to express a difference in degree. This change of form is called _comparison_. There are three degrees of comparison: the _positive_, the _comparative_, and the _superlative_. Adjectives are regularly compared by adding the syllables _er_ and _est_ to the positive to form the comparative and superlative degrees. In some cases, especially in the case of adjectives of more than one syllable, the adverbs _more_ and _most_ are placed before the positive degree in order to form the other two degrees [long, longer, longest; beautiful, more beautiful, most beautiful].