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62. Pronouns cannot be so precisely defined in theory, as not to admit many words which may also be considered as adjectives.
63. (a) All words may be considered pronouns, or at least to have a pronominal character, which are capable of being used as nouns, but carry with them a simply relational notion; or, in other words, which, instead of naming or describing an object, enable us to recognize it by some relation, of definiteness or indefiniteness, of place, of kind, &c.
(b) Thus a pronoun denotes whether the thing spoken of is or belongs to the speaker himself; whether it is or belongs to the person he is addressing; whether it is or belongs to some third person or thing, of which he is speaking; whether it is some object near him, or near another, and so on. In classing pronouns, the speaker is called the first person (I, we); the person spoken to, the second person (thou, you); the person or thing spoken of, the third person (he, she, it: they). There are five principal classes of pronouns: Personal, Demonstrative, Relative, Indefinite, and Interrogative pronouns.
Personal Pronouns (which are all Substantive Pronouns).
64. (a) I, plural we, is called the pronoun of the first person.
(b) Thou, plural you, is called the pronoun of the second person.
(c) He, she, it, plural they, are the pronouns of the third person.
65. Declension of Pronouns
A. Personal Pronouns
First Person:
Singular: Nom: I, Gen: my or mine, Acc: me
Plural: Nom: we, Gen: our or ours, Acc: us
Second Person:
Singular: Nom: thou, Gen: thy or thine, Acc: thee
Plural: Nom: you, Gen: your or yours, Acc: you
Third Person:
Singular:
– Masculine: Nom: he, Gen: his, Acc: him
– Feminine: Nom: she; Gen: her or hers; Acc: her
– Neuter: Nom: it; Gen: its; Acc: it
Plural: Nom: they; Gen: their or theirs; Acc: them
Relative and Interrogative Pronouns
Nom: who; Gen: whose; Acc: whom
Nom: which; Gen: of which or whose; Acc: which
Demonstrative Pronouns
Singular: this, Plural: these
Singular: that, Plural: those.
(a) Of the two forms of the genitive seen above, the first is used when it is to stand before its substantive; the second, when it stands alone. “This hat is mine.” “This is my hat.”
(b) But formerly “mine” was used before a substantive beginning with a vowel or silent h.
(c) The forms set down for the genitive case are sometimes called possessive pronouns, and considered as adjectives.
As the genitive denotes possession, there is no determining whether they are genitives, or possessive (adjective) pronouns. In Anglo-Saxon, the possessive pronouns were formed from the genitives of the two first persons, by declining them as indefinite adjectives: the third person had no exclusive possessive pronoun; the genitive of the personal pronoun being used for it unchanged. As then the possessive pronouns were the genitives of the personal pronouns with adjective terminations, when we lost our terminations, we lost all that made a difference between the possessive pronouns, and the genitives of the personal ones.
(d) Since other languages express possession by adjective pronouns, as well as by genitive cases, in translating from English into another language, we must consider whether the word to be used is, or is not, an adjective, equivalent in all its forms to our genitive case. When it is, it must of course agree with its substantive. Suus liber, “his (own) book;” because suus is an adjective meaning his own: but ejus liber, “his book”, because his is not an adjective meaning his throughout.
66. Personal pronouns are reflexive, when the thing or person denoted by the pronoun is the same with the subject; that is, with the thing or person spoken of.
67 Our reflexive forms for the nominative and accusative are obtained from the personal pronouns by the addition of -self, plural -selves.
First Person: Singular: myself; Plural: ourselves
Second Person: Singular: thyself; Plural: yourselves
Third Person:
– Masculine: Singular: himself; Plural: themselves
– Feminine: Singular: herself; Plural: themselves
– Neuter: Singular: itself; Plural: themselves
Note: The terminations are added to the genitives of the two first persons; to the accusatives of the third persons.
To make the genitive cases (or possessive pronouns) reflexive, we use the pronominal adjective “own”. “He killed himself with his own sword.”
(a) Sylf (self, sealf) is declined like an adjective, both definitely and indefinitely, in Anglo-Saxon. Rask, 54. Own is the Anglo-Saxon agen.
B. Demonstrative Pronouns
68. The Demonstrative (or pointing-out) pronouns are: “this,” pl. “these”; “that,” pl. “those”.
69. “This” points out what is near the speaker; “that” what is further from him.
70. “Such” and “same” may also be considered demonstrative pronouns.
71. When “this” and “that” relate to two things before mentioned, “this” means the nearest, which is of course the one last mentioned.
(a) Consequently, “that” is in such cases equivalent to the former; “this” to the latter.
(b) “This” is used of a coming statement, or one that has just been made; “that” generally refers to a past one.
(c) The grammarian Crombie says, it is abundantly evident that “this” and “that” are not pronouns, for they never represent a noun. But surely, to go no further, “that” does stand for a noun in the example quoted by himself: “How the only good on earth was pleasure; not to follow that was sin.” Here “that” stands simply for “pleasure”: there is no ellipse, for we cannot put in the word “pleasure,” without striking out “that.” “That” stands for “pleasure,” and not for “that pleasure.” So in such sentences as, “the first opportunity was that of the Prince of Denmark’s death,” the word “that” stands for “the opportunity”.
72. “Such” may be considered a demonstrative pronoun, indicating or pointing out the kind.
(a) If the substantive requires the article (which must be the indefinite⁶ article), it stands after such. ‘Such a man.’
(b) ‘Such’ may stand before another attributive adjective: the article, if necessary, must stand between them. “How long shall all the wicked doers speak so disdainfully, and make such proud boasting?” Ps. xciv. 4.
(c) Lindley Murray unfortunately took it into his head to order ‘such’ to be turned into ‘so,’ whenever and wherever it might be found in company with another attributive. Accordingly in Parker’s Progressive Exercises, part ii. p. 12, we have a set of exercises on this error. The notion has no foundation in truth or reason; but it is necessary to combat it at some length.
(1.) The German solcher stands before another attributive exactly as our such. Solch schönes Wetter, such fine weather. Solch grosse Güte, &c.
(2.) The practice is found in almost every page of our best writers. “Such moderate showers.” Prayer for Rain. “Such worthy attempts;” “such an awful repulse;” “such a low esteem.” Milton. “Such great and strange passages.” South. “Such wretched passions and prejudices.” Middleton. “Such palpable sophistry;” “such exquisite delicacy:” “such an exact accord.” Cowper.
(3.) It is exactly like another idiom: “What pernicious influence.” Middleton. “What a brutal
[73–76.] PRONOUNS. 21
fellow!” is just like ‘such a brutal fellow;’ but no Lindley Murray, I believe, has ever ordered me to correct this into, ‘How brutal a fellow.’ (4.) To say nothing of the close resemblance between adjectives and adverbs, it is obvious that the such modifies the substantive; ‘Such palpable sophistry,’ i.e. palpable sophistry of this kind. (d) ‘Such’ is sometimes used to denote a particular thing, which it is not necessary to mention. ‘I told him that he must pay me on such a day.’ In this meaning we often find ‘such and such:’ (“I would have given thee such and such things,” or, ‘such or such.’ ‘A law forbidding such or such an action.’)
73 To this class belongs also ‘the same,’ which points out an object by means of the relation of identity. “He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit.” John xv. 5. (a) By ‘the same,’ we express not only absolute but virtual identity; that is, extreme similarity, sufficient to constitute one object as good as the same with another. The degree of similarity that is sufficient to constitute two objects virtually the same, must be determined by the purposes for which they are to be employed.
(C.) Relative Pronouns.
74 The relative pronouns are: ‘who’ for persons, ‘which’ for things, and ‘that’ for either persons, or things. (a) They are called relative, because they refer to an object already mentioned. ‘The house, which you have bought:’—the house, which house you have bought.’
75 ‘What’ is also a relative pronoun, which is equivalent to ‘that which.’
76 ‘Who,’ ‘what,’ and ‘that’ are substantive pronouns, and cannot stand before the substantive
22 [77.] PRONOUNS.
they refer to. ‘Which’ is an adjective pronoun, and can be immediately followed by its substantive. (a) Our use of that as a relative comes to us from the Anglo-Saxon. “The demonstrative pronoun thæt, se, seó, is also used relatively, like the English that, and is, in general, repeated in the sentence, so that in the first clause it stands as a demonstrative, and in the next as a relative.” Rask, p. 58. (b) ‘Whose,’ as the genitive of ‘which,’ has been objected to by many writers. Johnson says: “it is rather the poetical than the regular genitive of which.” It occurs in the Bible (as well as in Shakespeare, Milton, &c.): “Nebuchadnezzar the king made an image of gold, whose height was threescore cubits,” &c. Dan. iii. 1. (c) ‘Which’ formerly took the definite article, ‘the.’ “In the which ye also walked sometime.” Col. iii. 7. (d) From ‘who,’ ‘which,’ and ‘what,’ are formed compounds by the addition of ‘ever,’ ‘soever.’ Whoever, whichever, whatever; whosoever, whichsoever, whatsoever. Whoever is equivalent to any man who: and so of the rest. Lindley Murray says of these compound pronouns, that they are “seldom used in modern style.” This is by no means true of whoever, whatever, and whichever. (e) Whoso is another compound of who, which is now out of use.
(D.) Interrogative⁷ (or question-asking) Pronouns.
77 ‘Who,’ ‘which,’ and ‘what,’ are also interrogative pronouns. (a) ‘Which’ is used to ask which individual of a known class or number is the object we are enquiring about. ‘Who did this?’ carries with it no notion of our having any knowledge on the subject. ‘Which of you did it?’ implies that I know it was done by one of you.
⁷ From interrogare, to ask.
[78–82.] PRONOUNS. 23
(b) ‘Whether’ was formerly used instead of which, when the enquiry related to two objects. As a pronoun, it has gone out of use. “Whether of them twain did the will of his father?” Matt. xxi. 31.
78 When an interrogative pronoun stands at the head of a dependent clause, there is danger of mistaking it for a relative. (a) To determine whether ‘who,’ ‘which,’ or ‘what’ is an interrogative, turn the sentence on which it depends into a question. If the dependent clause gives the answer to such a question, the pronoun is an interrogative. “I asked who was there.” What did you ask? Ans. “Who was there.” ‘I asked what he was going to do.’ What did you ask? Ans. ‘What he was going to do.’ In these sentences who and what are interrogative pronouns.
(E.) Reciprocal Pronouns.
79 A reciprocal pronoun is one that denotes the mutual action of different agents upon each other. (a) ‘Each other,’ and ‘one another,’ are our reciprocal forms, which are treated exactly as if they were compound pronouns, taking for their genitives, ‘each other’s;’ ‘one another’s.’ ‘Each other’ is used of two or more; ‘one another’ can only be used of more than two.
Numerals.
80 Numerals express the relations of number and quantity.
81 Numerals are definite, if they denote a particular number, as one, two, three.
82 Numerals are indefinite, if they denote no particular number or quantity; as many, some, much.
24 PRONOUNS. [83, 84.]
(F.) Indefinite Numerals.
83 The indefinite numerals are each, every; either, neither; many, much; few, several; all, no, more, some, any, enough; other, another; one (used indefinitely), only, alone, &c. (a) ‘Each,’ ‘every,’ are used to separate, as it were, a number into the individuals of which it is made up. (b) ‘Every’ can only be applied to each of more than two individuals. ‘Each’ can be applied to each of two or any greater number. Johnson says that each, in the sense of every one of more than two, is rare except in poetry. It is not rare in the Bible. “Cloven tongues sat upon each of them;” “the four beasts had each of them six wings.” It comes from the Anglo Saxon ælc, which is applicable to each of any number. (c) ‘Either’ and ‘neither’ relate to two objects. (d) ‘Either’ means the one or the other; and also which of the two you please. (e) ‘Either’ has also the meaning of each, both. “On either side of the river.” “Sev’n times the sun hath either tropic viewed.”
84 Many, few, several, denote number: much denotes quantity. Many shillings: much money. (a) ‘Many’ is used with a singular substantive, with the indefinite article a between it and the substantive. “You, I know, have many a time sacrificed your own feelings to those of others.” We also find “a great many.” (b) Is it possible that this idiom came from a substantive, the German Menge (Anglo-Saxon, menegu)? “Eine Menge Hasen,” is exactly “a many hares,” as country people often
⁸ The indefinite pronouns are, not without reason, called also indefinite numerals. Rask, p. 60.
[85, 86.] PRONOUNS. 25
speak, and indeed as Shakespeare often spoke: “told of a many thousand warlike French.” (c) ‘Few’ is joined with a plural substantive, but may take the indefinite article a before it, although that article cannot be used with a plural word. ‘Can you lend me a few shillings?’ (d) ‘Few’ is equivalent to ‘but few, if any.’ ‘A few’ = ‘some, though not many.’ When we use ‘few,’ we are approaching to a denial of there being any; we use ‘a few,’ when we wish to assert that there are some. ‘There are few men who would have acted as he did.’ “I know a few men who would have acted precisely as he did.” (e) Just so, ‘little’ is equivalent to ‘but little, if any;’ ‘a little,’ to ‘some, though not much.’
85 All, no, none, some, any, enough, denote either number or quantity. (a) All men (number); all the cloth (quantity).—When all denotes quantity, the noun will commonly have the, or the genitive case of a personal pronoun with it. (b) No and none differ as my and mine, &c. (65 a.) ‘I have no paper.’ ‘As to paper, I have none.’—None, like mine, was formerly used before a vowel. “This is none other but the house of God.” Gen. xxviii. 17. (c) ‘None,’ though compounded of no one, is used as either singular or plural. “All King Solomon’s vessels were of gold… there were none of silver.” 1 Kings x. 21.
86 Some. (a) Some men (number); some beef (quantity). (b) ‘Some’ is used with numerals to signify about. ‘Some fifty years ago.’ Mr. Crombie considers “this phraseology highly objectionable;” but it is a good old Saxon idiom. “Sum is often found combined with the genitive plural of the cardinal numbers, and signifies ‘about,’ ‘some;’ as… sume ten gear, some ten years.” (Rask, p. 61.) So Lat. aliqui viginti dies, and Germ. einige zwanzig Tage.]
26 PRONOUNS. [87–91.]
87 ‘Any’ has several meanings which must be carefully distinguished, because in other languages these meanings are not all expressed by the same words. (a) After negative words, and such words and phrases as have a negative force, ‘any’ marks the exclusion of all: ‘He did it without any hesitation.’ ‘We cannot make any difference between you.’ So after ‘scarcely,’ ‘without,’ and comparatives, and in questions of appeal where the expected answer is nobody, none. ‘Scarcely any one.’ ‘Without any difficulty.’ ‘He is taller than any of his schoolfellows.’ ‘Can any man believe this?’ (b) It is sometimes equivalent to ‘any you please,’ ‘every body.’—’Any body can do that.’ (c) Again it is sometimes indefinite, being equivalent to ‘some one.’ ‘Shall we tell any body of our misfortunes?’ the particular person being left undecided.
88 Enough (enow). Johnson says: “It is not easy to determine whether this word be an adjective or adverb; perhaps, when it is joined to a substantive, it is an adjective, of which enow was the plural. In other situations it seems an adverb; except that after the verb to have, or to be, either expressed or understood, it may be accounted a substantive.”—It comes from the Anglo-Saxon genoh, enough, “which follows the indefinite declension of adjectives.” (Rask, p. 61.) So in German, genug is an adjective, and, as in English, commonly stands after its substantive: ‘Geld genug,’ money enough.
89 ‘Other’ takes a plural others, when it is used without a substantive. ‘The other day’ means a day or two ago; a few days ago. Johnson confines it to “the third day past.”
90 ‘Another’ means one more, some one other.
91 ‘One,’ when not a numeral, has two principal uses: (1.) It is used (like the German “man,” and the French “on”) in a general and indefinite way for a man, any man. “One would imagine these to be the expressions of a man
[92–94.] PRONOUNS. 27
blessed with ease, affluence, and power.” “One’s leaning at first would be towards it.”—From this one is formed a reflexive pronoun, oneself. There is no more reason for writing one’s self than there is for saying his self instead of himself. See 67. ‘One’ often stands as a substitute for a substantive already mentioned. Johnson says: “this relative mode of speech, whether singular or plural, is in my ears not very elegant, yet is used by good authors.” It will be seen from the examples, that Middleton’s ears were less fastidious on this point than Dr. Johnson’s. “There are many whose waking thoughts are wholly employed on their sleeping ones.” Addison. “But I have already undergone, he says, the worst sort of banishment a liberal mind can suffer; a total one from the hearts and affections of all good men.” Middleton. “You say withal, that you did not intend to attack all my quotations, but only the original ones.” Middleton. (a) One has also a plural when it stands for persons indefinitely, as ‘the great ones of the world.’ (b) ‘One’ often stands in company with every, any, no.
92 ‘Only’ commonly stands after its substantive, as ‘Man only:’ except when the substantive has an article or possessive pronoun (genitive of a personal pronoun) with it. ‘The only way;’ ‘an’ or ‘his only son.’
93 ‘Alone’ stands after its substantive. (a) To complete the indefinite numerals, we may add, aught, naught; something, nothing; somewhat, a little. Naught is used in the sense of worthless, of no value. (b) These are generally used as substantives, but sometimes as adverbs. (See 94.)
94 Of the indefinite numerals or pronouns, those that relate to quantity, whether exclusively or not, are used adverbially, with comparative adjectives to express the degree. (a) ‘Are you any better?’ ‘I am all the better for’—’I am no better for’—’I am none the better for’—’I am something, somewhat, a little better for.’—”She had spent much money, and was nothing bettered.”—’I am much better,’ &c.
C 2
28 PRONOUNS. [95–99.]
(b) ‘Enough’ naturally goes with the positive. ‘Good enough.’ (c) ‘Much’ sometimes has the force of nearly, pretty nearly. “Clemens and Eusebius say much the same thing.”
(G.) Definite Numerals.
95 Numerals denote the number of things. A few numerals are substantives: a unit, a pair, a couple, a dozen, a score, a hundred, a thousand, a million, &c.⁹ (a) After numerals, the words pair, couple, &c. do not take the plural form, “six pair of shoes,” &c. (b) So in German: “zwei Paar Schuhe,” two pair of shoes; “drei Dutzend Aepfel,” three dozen of apples; “sechs Fuss lang,” which Becker translates, “six foot long.” (c) In such examples as “a hundred altars,” &c. Johnson considers hundred an adjective; but the omission of the preposition of does not make it necessary to suppose this. He himself does not call dozen an adjective, merely because we can say “a dozen miles” (one of his own examples).
96 Such numerals as answer to how many? are cardinals: one, two, three, four, &c.
97 Such as express what place in a series the thing we are speaking of occupies, are called ordinals: first, second, third, &c.
98 Such as express how many times one thing exceeds another, or what multiple it is of itself, are called multiplicatives: double, twofold, triple, treble, threefold, fourfold, &c. Single may stand at the head of this class, to begin the series.
99 Numeral adverbs answer to the question, how often? Once, twice, thrice, &c.
⁹ Half and quarter are also substantives. After half, of is omitted: half an acre.
[100–102.] PRONOUNS. 29
100 In compound numerals of the ordinal series, it is only the last number that takes the ordinal termination. The twenty-fifth year. The five hundred and eighty-fourth year. (a) Thus five hundred and sixty seven is turned into the ordinal form, by merely giving the ordinal termination (th) to the last number, ‘seven.’ ‘The five hundred and sixty seventh year.’ We may compare this with our mode of adding a genitive termination to such a phrase as ‘the King of England;’ ‘the King of England’s crown.’ As we consider King-of-England a sort of compound substantive, and add the mark of the genitive to the end of it, so we consider five-hundred-and-sixty-seven a compound adjective, and are satisfied with having the mark of its class on to the end.
101 When the units are combined with tens, they are placed either first with ‘and,’ or last without ‘and’ (twenty-four, or four and twenty): but after a hundred the smaller number is always last ‘one hundred and twenty four.’¹⁰
102 To express number distributively (to express, that is, parties of so many together), the cardinal number is repeated: ‘two and two;’ ‘three and three.’ “And he called the twelve, and began to send them two and two.” Mark vi. 7. Tyndale’s translation. (a) Sometimes by is used before the repeated numeral (“by two and two” in the same passage of the English Bible); sometimes by with the numeral not repeated (“I hid them by fifty in a cave”), the numeral being generally in the plural: “We are not to stay all together, but to come by him, where he stands, by ones, by twos, and by threes.” Shakespeare.
¹⁰ i.e. The tens follow the hundreds; the units the tens. In “six hundred and thirty,” the six denotes how many hundreds are taken.
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30 [103.] THE VERB.
“The sun has long been set,
The stars are out by twos and threes,
The little birds are piping yet
Among the bushes and trees.”
—Wordsworth.
One by one = one at a time; or, in single file. (b) It has been fashionable of late to write ‘the first three,’ and so on, instead of ‘the three first.’ Thus where Thiersch writes, “Declination der vier ersten Zahlwörter,” his translator has, “Declension of the first four Numerals.” People write in this way to avoid the seeming absurdity of implying that more than one thing can be the first; but it is at least equally absurd, to talk about the first four, when (as often happens) there is no second four. It may perhaps remove the scruples of those who ask how there can be more than one first, to consider that as soon as the first is removed, another first succeeds, and so on. “The fathers of the five first centuries.” Middleton, (Misc. 333.) “I have not numbered the lines, except of the four first books.” Cowper. (Vol. v. p. 73. Southey’s ed.)
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