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.

     3.  He opened the volume he first took from the shelf.—­G.  ELIOT.

     4.  He could give the coals in that queer coal scuttle we read of
     to his poor neighbor.—­THACKERAY.

     5.  When Goldsmith died, half the unpaid bill he owed to Mr.
     William Filby was for clothes supplied to his nephew.—­FORSTER

     6.  The thing I want to see is not Redbook Lists, and Court
     Calendars, but the life of man in England.—­CARLYLE.

     7.  The material they had to work upon was already democratical by
     instinct and habitude.—­LOWELL.

[Sidenote:  Relative omitted when subject.]

130.  We often hear in spoken English expressions like these:—­

     There isn’t one here * knows how to play ball.

     There was such a crowd * went, the house was full.

Here the omitted relative would be in the nominative case.  Also in literary English we find the same omission.  It is rare in prose, and comparatively so in poetry.  Examples are,—­

     The silent truth that it was she was superior.—­THACKERAY

     I have a mind presages me such thrift.—­SHAKESPEARE.

     There is a nun in Dryburgh bower,
      Ne’er looks upon the sun. 
     —­SCOTT.

     And you may gather garlands there
      Would grace a summer queen.
     Id.

     ’Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.—­CAMPBELL.

Exercises on the Relative Pronoun.

(a) Bring up sentences containing ten instances of the relatives who, which, that, and what.

(b) Bring up sentences having five indefinite relatives.

(c) Bring up five sentences having indirect questions introduced by pronouns.

(d) Tell whether the pronouns in the following are interrogatives, simple relatives, or indefinite relatives:—­

1.  He ushered him into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend the Queen’s barge, which was already proceeding.

2.  The nobles looked at each other, but more with the purpose to see what each thought of the news, than to exchange any remarks on what had happened.

3.  Gracious Heaven! who was this that knew the word?

4.  It needed to be ascertained which was the strongest kind of men; who were to be rulers over whom.

5.  He went on speaking to who would listen to him.

6.  What kept me silent was the thought of my mother.

ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote:  Function of adjective pronouns.]

131.  Most of the words how to be considered are capable of a double use,—­they may be pure modifiers of nouns, or they may stand for nouns.  In the first use they are adjectives; in the second they retain an adjective meaning, but have lost their adjective use.  Primarily they are adjectives, but in this function, or use, they are properly classed as adjective pronouns.

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An English Grammar from Project Gutenberg. Public domain.