An English Grammar eBook

James Witt Sewell
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 358 pages of information about An English Grammar.

An English Grammar eBook

James Witt Sewell
This eBook from the Gutenberg Project consists of approximately 358 pages of information about An English Grammar.

III.  OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE.

416.  Although the omission of the relative is common when it would be the object of the verb or preposition expressed, there is an omission which is not frequently found in careful writers; that is, when the relative word is a pronoun, object of a preposition understood, or is equivalent to the conjunction when, where, whence, and such like:  as, “He returned by the same route [by which] he came;” “India is the place [in which, or where] he died.”  Notice these sentences:—­

     In the posture I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.—­SWIFT.

     This is he that should marshal us the way we were
     going.—­EMERSON.

     But I by backward steps would move;
     And, when this dust falls to the urn,
     In that same state I came, return.—­VAUGHAN.

     Welcome the hour my aged limbs
     Are laid with thee to rest.—­BURNS.

     The night was concluded in the manner we began the
     morning.—­GOLDSMITH.

     The same day I went aboard we set sail.—­DEFOE.

     The vulgar historian of a Cromwell fancies that he had determined
     on being Protector of England, at the time he was plowing the
     marsh lands of Cambridgeshire.—­CARLYLE.

     To pass under the canvas in the manner he had entered required
     time and attention.—­SCOTT.

Exercise.—­In the above sentences, insert the omitted conjunction or phrase, and see if the sentence is made clearer.

IV.  THE RELATIVE AS AFTER SAME.

417.  It is very rarely that we find such sentences as,—­

     He considered...me as his apprentice, and accordingly expected
     the same service from me as he would from another.—­FRANKLIN.

     This has the same effect in natural faults as maiming and
     mutilation produce from accidents.—­BURKE.

[Sidenote:  The regular construction.]

[Sidenote:  Caution.]

The usual way is to use the relative as after same if no verb follows as; but, if same is followed by a complete clause, as is not used, but we find the relative who, which, or that.  Remember this applies only to as when used as a relative.

Examples of the use of as in a contracted clause:—­

     Looking to the same end as Turner, and working in the same
     spirit, he, with Turner, was a discoverer, etc.—­R.W.  CHURCH.

     They believe the same of all the works of art, as of knives,
     boats, looking-glasses.—­ADDISON.

Examples of relatives following same in full clauses:—­

[Sidenote:  Who.]

     This is the very same rogue who sold us the spectacles. 
     —­GOLDSMITH.

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An English Grammar from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.