The Grammar of English Grammars Part 53

The word _self_, added to the simple personal p.r.o.nouns, forms the cla.s.s of _compound personal p.r.o.nouns_; which are used when an action reverts upon the agent, and also when some persons are to be distinguished from others: as, sing, _myself_, plur. _ourselves_; sing, _thyself_, plur. _yourselves_; sing, _himself_, plur. _themselves_; sing, _herself_, plur. _themselves_; sing, _itself_, plur. _themselves_. They all want the possessive case, and are alike in the nominative and objective. Thus:--

MYSELF, _of the_ FIRST PERSON,[202] _any of the genders_.

Sing. Nom. myself, Plur. Nom. ourselves, Poss. ------, Poss. ---------, Obj. myself; Obj. ourselves.

THYSELF, _of the_ SECOND PERSON, _any of the genders_.

Sing. Nom. thyself,[203] Plur. Nom. yourselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. thyself; Obj. yourselves.

HIMSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _masculine gender_.

Sing. Nom. himself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. himself; Obj. themselves.

HERSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _feminine gender_.

Sing. Nom. herself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. -------, Poss. ----------, Obj. herself; Obj. themselves.

ITSELF, _of the_ THIRD PERSON, _neuter gender_.

Sing. Nom. itself, Plur. Nom. themselves, Poss. ------, Poss. ----------, Obj. itself; Obj. themselves.

III. RELATIVES AND INTERROGATIVES.

The relative and the interrogative p.r.o.nouns are thus declined:--

WHO, _literally applied to persons only_.

Sing. Nom. who, Plur. Nom. who, Poss. whose, Poss. whose, Obj. whom; Obj. whom.

WHICH, _applied to animals and things_.

Sing. Nom. which, Plur. Nom. which, Poss. [204]--, Poss. -----, Obj. which; Obj. which.

WHAT, _applied ordinarily to things only_.[205]

Sing. Nom. what, Plur. Nom. what, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. what; Obj. what.

THAT, _applied to persons, animals, and things_.

Sing. Nom. that, Plur. Nom. that, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. that; Obj. that.

AS, _applied to persons, animals, and things_.

Sing. Nom. as, Plur. Nom. as, Poss. ----, Poss. ----, Obj. as; Obj. as.

IV. COMPOUND RELATIVES.

The compound relative p.r.o.nouns, _whoever_ or _whosoever, whichever_ or _whichsoever_, and _whatever_ or _whatsoever_[206] are declined in the same manner as the simples, _who which, what_. Thus:--

WHOEVER or WHOSOEVER, _applied only to persons_.

Sing. Nom. whoever, Plur. Nom. whoever, Poss. whosever, Poss. whosever, Obj. whomever; Obj. whomever.

Sing. Nom. whosoever, Plur. Nom. whosoever, Poss. whosesoever, Poss. whosesoever, Obj. whomsoever; Obj. whomsoever.

WHICHEVER or WHICHSOEVER, _applied to persons, animals, and things_.

Sing. Nom. whichever, Plur. Nom. whichever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whichever; Obj. whichever.

Sing. Nom. whichsoever, Plur. Nom. whichsoever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whichsoever; Obj. whichsoever.

WHATEVER or WHATSOEVER, _applied ordinarily to things only_.

Sing. Nom. whatever, Plur. Nom. whatever, Poss. --------, Poss. --------, Obj. whatever; Obj. whatever.

Sing. Nom. whatsoever, Plur. Nom. whatsoever, Poss. ---------, Poss. --------, Obj. whatsoever; Obj. whatsoever.

OBSERVATIONS.

OBS. 1.--Most of the personal p.r.o.nouns have two forms of the possessive case, in each number: as, _my_ or _mine, our_ or _ours_; _thy_ or _thine, your_ or _yours_; _her_ or _hers, their_ or _theirs_. The former is used before a noun expressed, or when nothing but an adjective intervenes; the latter, when the governing noun is understood, or is so placed that a repet.i.tion of it is implied in or after the p.r.o.noun: as, "_My_ powers are _thine_; be _thine_ alone The glory of my song."--_Montgomery_. "State what _mine_ and _your_ principles are."--_Legh Richmond, to his Daughters_.

Better, perhaps: "State what _my_ principles and _yours_ are;"--"State what _your_ principles and _mine_ are;"--or, "State what are _my_ principles and _your own_."

"Resign'd he fell; superior to the dart That quench'd its rage in _yours_ and _Britain's_ heart."--_J. Brown_.

"Behold! to _yours_ and _my_ surprise, These trifles to a volume rise."--_Lloyd_, p. 186.

OBS. 2.--Possibly, when the same persons or things stand in a joint relation of this kind to different individuals or parties, it may be proper to connect two of the simple possessives to express it; though this construction can seldom, if ever, be necessary, because any such expression as _thy and her sister, my and his duty_, if not erroneous, can mean nothing but _your sister, our duty, &c_. But some examples occur, the propriety of which it is worth while to consider: as, "I am sure it will be a pleasure to you to hear that she proves worthy of her father, worthy of you, and of _your and her_ ancestors."--_Spectator_, No. 525. This sentence is from a version of Pliny's letter to his wife's aunt; and, as the ancestors of the two individuals are here the same, the phraseology may be allowable. But had the aunt commended her niece to Pliny, she should have said, "worthy of you and of _your_ ancestors and _hers_." "Is it _her_ or _his_ honour that is tarnished? It is not _hers_, but _his_."--_Murray's Gram._, p. 175. This question I take to be bad English. It ought to be, "Is it _her_ honour or _his_, that is tarnished?" Her honour and his honour cannot be one and the same thing. This example was framed by Murray to ill.u.s.trate that idle and puzzling distinction which he and some others make between "possessive adjective p.r.o.nouns" and "the genitive case of the personal p.r.o.nouns;" and, if I understand him, the author will here have _her_ and _his_ to be of the former cla.s.s, and _hers_ and _his_ of the latter. It were a better use of time, to learn how to employ such words correctly. Unquestionably, they are of the same cla.s.s and the same case, and would be every way equivalent, if the first form were fit to be used elliptically. For example: "The same phrenzy had hindered the Dutch from improving to _their_ and to the common advantage the public misfortunes of France."--_Bolingbroke, on Hist._, p. 309. Here the possessive case _their_ appears to be governed by _advantage_ understood, and therefore it would perhaps be better to say, _theirs_, or _their own_. But in the following instance, _our_ may be proper, because both possessives appear to be governed by one and the same noun:--

"Although 'twas _our_ and _their_ opinion Each other's church was but a Rimmon."--_Hudibras_.

OBS. 3.--_Mine_ and _thine_ were formerly preferred to _my_ and _thy_, before all words beginning with a vowel sound; or rather, _mine_ and _thine_ were the original forms,[207] and _my_ and _thy_ were first subst.i.tuted for them before consonants, and afterwards before vowels: as, "But it was thou, a man _mine_ equal, _my_ guide, and _mine_ acquaintance."--_Psalms_, lv, 13. "_Thy_ prayers and _thine_ alms are come up for a memorial before G.o.d."--_Acts_, x, 4. When the Bible was translated, either form appears to have been used before the letter _h_; as, "Hath not _my hand_ made all these things?"--_Acts_, vii, 50. "By stretching forth _thine hand_ to heal."--_Acts_, iv, 30. According to present practice, _my_ and _thy_ are in general to be preferred before all nouns, without regard to the sounds of letters. The use of the other forms, in the manner here noticed, has now become obsolete; or, at least, antiquated, and peculiar to the poets. We occasionally meet with it in modern verse, though not very frequently, and only where the melody of the line seems to require it: as,

"Time writes no wrinkle on _thine_ azure brow."--_Byron_.

"Deign on the pa.s.sing world to turn _thine_ eyes."--_Johnson_.

"_Mine_ eyes beheld the messenger divine."--_Lusiad_.

"_Thine_ ardent symphony sublime and high."--_Sir W. Scott_.

OBS. 4.--The possessives _mine, thine, hers, ours, yours, theirs_, usually denote possession, or the relation of property, with an _ellipsis_ of the name of the thing possessed; as, "My sword and _yours_ are kin."--_Shakspeare_. Here _yours_ means _your sword_. "You may imagine what kind of faith _theirs_ was."--_Bacon_. Here _theirs_ means _their faith_.

"He ran headlong into his own ruin whilst he endeavoured to precipitate _ours_."--_Bolingbroke_. Here _ours_ means _our ruin_. "Every one that heareth these saying of _mine_."--_Matt._, vii, 26. Here _mine_ means _my sayings_. "Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of _his_."--_Psalms_, x.x.x, 4.

Here _his_ means _his saints_. The noun which governs the possessive, is here _understood_ after it, being inferred from that which precedes, as it is in all the foregoing instances. "And the man of _thine_, whom I shall not cut off from _mine_ altar, shall be to consume _thine_ eyes, and to grieve _thine_ heart."--_1 Samuel_, ii, 33. Here _thine_, in the first phrase, means _thy men_; but, in the subsequent parts of the sentence, both _mine and thine_ mean neither more nor less than _thy_ and _my_, because there is no ellipsis. _Of_ before the possessive case, governs the noun which is understood after this case; and is always taken in a _part.i.tive_ sense, and not as the sign of the possessive relation: as, "When we say, 'a soldier _of the king's_', we mean, '_one of_ the king's _soldiers_.'"--_Webster's Improved Gram._, p. 29. There is therefore an ellipsis of the word _soldiers_, in the former phrase. So, in the following example, _mine_ is used elliptically for _my feet_; or rather, _feet_ is understood after _mine_, though _mine feet_ is no longer good English, for reasons before stated:--

"Ere I absolve thee, stoop I that on thy neck Levelled with earth tins _foot of mine_ may tread."--_Wordsworth_.