CHAPTER XIV FORMS OF PRONOUNS1 535. Most pronouns are so short, and have changed in sound so much from time to time, that it is hard to group them by their form. Such words as he and she are so unlike that we cannot speak of one as an inflection of the other. But we may speak of them as forms of the personal pronoun, and group them according to various meanings. Before attempting to make such groupings, it will be well for the student to review 344-367, especially what is said with respect to subjectforms, object-forms, and "common" forms. 1 To the Teacher. "The pronoun" includes a medley of words. From their great age and incessant use these words have undergone extraordinary and confusing changes of form and function. It is assumed that the instructor is familiar with Sweet (New English Grammar, §§ 189-236, 1053-1158). The acutest discussion of English pronouns from the point of view of their present functions is Professor Edward T. Owen's "Revision of the Pronoun," in transactions of the Wisconsin Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, vol. xiii. 536. Pronouns express ideas of person (357), number, gender, and construction1 (326, 352-354). The twelve personal pronouns may therefore be grouped in four ways: 1. As showing person: First person: I, me; we, us. [We includes more than the speaker.] Second person: you. Third person: he, him; she, her; it; they, them. 2. As showing number : Singular: I, me; he, him; she, her; it. Plural: we, us; they, them. [But we does not mean two or more I's.] Either singular or plural: you. 3. As showing gender: Masculine: he, him. Feminine she, her. Common: I, me; we, us; they, them; you. Neuter it, they, them. 4. As showing construction: 1 Subject-forms: I, he, she, we, they. Object-forms: me, him, her, us, them. 1 Construction is often called case. But this name is better applied to the construction-forms. Then English pronouns have three cases: subjective, objective, and common. For practical purposes we shall find the following arrangement worth learning : Singular subjects: I, you, it, he, she. Singular objects: me, you, it, him, her. Plural objects: us, you, them. 537. The possessive pronouns (362) are used as singular or plural subjects or objects. They may be arranged with reference to person, thus: First person: mine, ours. Second person: yours. Third person: his, hers, its, theirs. 538. The relative pronoun who is a subjectform of common gender; whom is an objectform of common gender. These words usually refer to persons; but they may be used of an animal to show that it seemed intelligent. Which is neuter, though it may refer to an animal or an infant. Indefinite pronouns (364) are of common gender. When the antecedent of a pronoun is a singular noun or pronoun of common gender, like person, anyone, everyone, everybody, anybody, it is best referred to by the pronoun he. In spoken English we may be pardoned if we refer to everyone, everybody, by they, but in strictness such words as one and body are singular grammatically. 1. A person should be careful of what he says. 1 Many careful speakers insist that we should repeat one here. CHAPTER XV FORMS OF ADJECTIVES AND ADVERBS 539. Gender. Only the possessive adjectives (375) suggest the idea of gender. His is masculine, her feminine, its neuter. My, our, your, their, and whose are common. These adjectives show the gender of the owner, and are sometimes called the possessive or genitive "case of the pronouns. Whose generally refers to persons, because only persons are true owners. It may however refer to an intelligent animal, or poetically to a thing, as the storm, whose fury was now less. But whose is so much easier to say than the-of which that we daily use it of things, in spite of the grammars. Doubtless whose will come to be both common and neuter. 540. PRACTISE EXERCISE. Meantime, lest we forget that of which is good English, change whose to of which in the following: 1. We climbed the mountain Helvellyn, whose top [the top of which] we found to be of solid rock. 2. I |