English Grammar in Familiar Lectures / Accompanied by a compendium, embracing a new systematic order of parsing, a new system of punctuation, exercises in false syntax, and a system of philosophical grammar, in notes, to which are added an appendix and a key to the exercises : designed for the use of schools and private learners

by Samuel Kirkham

OF PRONOUNS.

A PRONOUN is a word used instead of a noun, and generally to avoid the too frequent repetition of the same word. A pronoun is, likewise, sometimes a substitute for a sentence, or member of a sentence.

The word pronoun comes from the two Latin words, pro, which means for, or instead of, and nomen, a name, or noun. Hence you perceive, that pronoun means for a noun, or instead of a noun.

In the sentence, "The man is happy; he is benevolent; he is useful;" you perceive, that the word he is used instead of the noun man; consequently he must be a pronoun. You observe, too, that, by making use of the pronoun he in this sentence, we avoid the repetition of the noun man, for without the pronoun, the sentence would be rendered thus, "The man is happy; the man is benevolent; the man is useful."

By looking again at the definition, you will notice, that pronouns always stand for nouns, but they do not always avoid the repetition of nouns. Repetition means repeating or mentioning the same thing again. In the sentence, "I come to die for my country," the pronouns, I and my, stand for the name of the person who speaks; but they do not avoid the repetition of that name, because the name or noun for which the pronouns are used, is not mentioned at all. Pronouns of the third person, generally avoid the repetition of the nouns for which they stand; but pronouns of the first and second person, sometimes avoid the repetition of nouns, and sometimes they do not.

A little farther illustration of the pronoun will show you its importance, and, also, that its nature is very easily comprehended. If we had no pronouns in our language, we should be obliged to express ourselves in this manner: "A woman went to a man, and told the man that the man was in danger of being murdered by a gang of robbers; as a gang of robbers had made preparations for attacking the man. The man thanked the woman for the woman's kindness, and, as the man was unable to defend the man's self, the man left the man's house, and went to a neighbor's."

This would be a laborious style indeed; but, by the help of pronouns, we can express the same ideas with far greater ease and conciseness: "A woman went to a man, and told him, that he was in great danger of being murdered by a gang of robbers, who had made preparations for attacking him. He thanked her for her kindness, and, as he was unable to defend himself, he left his house and went to a neighbor's."

If you look at these examples a few moments, you cannot be at a loss to tell which words are pronouns; and you will observe too, that they all stand for nouns.

Pronouns are generally divided into three kinds, the Personal, the Adjective, and the Relative pronouns. They are all known by the lists.

1. OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

Personal Pronouns are distinguished from the relative, by their denoting the person of the nouns for which they stand. There are five of them; I, thou, he, she, it; with their plurals, We, ye or you, they.

To pronouns belong gender, person, number, and case.

GENDER. When we speak of a man, we say, he, his, him; when we speak of a woman, we say, she, hers, her; and when we speak of a thing, we say it. Hence you perceive, that gender belongs to pronouns as well as to nouns. Example; "The general, in gratitude to the lady, offered her his hand; but she, not knowing him, declined accepting it." The pronouns his and him, in this sentence, personate or represent the noun general; they are, therefore, of the masculine gender: her and she personate the lady; therefore, they are feminine: and it represents hand; for which reason it is of the neuter gender. This illustration shows you, then, that pronouns must be of the same gender as the nouns are for which they stand. But, as it relates to the variation of the pronouns to express the sex,

Gender has respect only to the third person singular of the pronouns, he, she, it. He is masculine; she is feminine; it is neuter.

You may naturally inquire, why pronouns of the first and second persons are not varied to denote the gender of their nouns, as well as of the third. The reason is obvious. The first person, that is, the person speaking, and the second person, or the person spoken to, being at the same time the subjects of the discourse, are supposed to be present; from which, and other circumstances, their sex is commonly known, and, therefore, the pronouns that represent these persons, need not be marked by a distinction of gender; but the third person, that is, the person or thing spoken of, being absent, and in many respects unknown, necessarily requires the pronoun that stands for it, to be marked by a distinction of gender.

In parsing, we sometimes apply gender to pronouns of the first and second person, and also to the plural number of the third person; but these have no peculiar form to denote their gender; therefore they have no agreement, in this respect, with the nouns which they represent.

PERSON. Pronouns have three persons in each number.

I, is the first person	{
Thou, is the second person	{Singular.
He, she, or it, is the third person	{
We, is the first person	{
Ye or you, is the second person	{Plural.
They, is the third person	{

This account of persons will be very intelligible, when you reflect, that there are three persons who may be the subject of any discourse: first, the person who speaks, may speak of himself; secondly, he may speak of the person to whom he addresses himself; thirdly, he may speak of some other person; and as the speakers, the persons spoken to, and the persons spoken of, may be many, so each of these persons must have a plural number.

Pronouns of the second and third person, always agree, in person with the nouns they represent; but pronouns of the first person, do not. Whenever a pronoun of the first person is used, it represents a noun; but nouns are never of the first person, therefore these pronouns cannot agree in person with their nouns.

NUMBER. Pronouns, like nouns, have two numbers, the singular and the plural; as, I, thou, he; we, ye or you, they.

CASE. Pronouns have three cases, the nominative, the possessive, and the objective.

In the next place I will present to you the declension of the personal pronouns, which declension you must commit to memory before you proceed any farther.

The advantages resulting from the committing of the following declension, are so great and diversified, that you cannot be too particular in your attention to it. You recollect, that it is sometimes very difficult to distinguish the nominative case of a noun from the objective, because these cases of nouns are not marked by a difference in termination; but this difficulty is removed in regard to the personal pronouns, for their cases are always known by their termination. By studying the declension you will learn, not only the cases of the pronouns, but, also, their genders, persons, and numbers.

DECLENSION OF THE PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

FIRST PERSON.

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	I,	we,
Poss.	my or mine,	our or ours,
Obj.	me.	us.

SECOND PERSON.

	Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	thou,	ye or you,
Poss.	thy or thine,	your or yours,
Obj.	thee.	you.

THIRD PERSON.

	Mas. Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	he,	they,
Poss.	his,	their or theirs,
Obj.	him.	them.

THIRD PERSON.

	Fem. Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	she,	they,
Poss.	her or hers,	their or theirs.
Obj.	her.	them.

THIRD PERSON.

	Neut. Sing.	Plur.
Nom.	it,	they,
Poss.	its,	their or theirs,
Obj.	it.	them.

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NOTES.

1. When self is added to the personal pronouns, as himself, myself, itself, themselves, &c. they are called compound personal pronouns, and are used in the nominative or objective case, but not in the possessive.

2. In order to avoid the disagreeable harshness of sound, occasioned by the frequent recurrence of the terminations est, edst, in the adaptation of our verbs to the nominative thou, a modern innovation which substitutes you for thou, in familiar style, has generally been adopted. This innovation contributes greatly to the harmony of our colloquial style. You was formerly restricted to the plural number; but now it is employed to represent either a singular or a plural noun. It ought to be recollected, however, that when used as the representative of a singular noun, this word retains its original plural form; and, therefore, the verb connected with it, should always be plural. Inattention to this peculiarity, has betrayed some writers into the erroneous conclusion, that, because you implies unity when it represents a singular noun, it ought, when thus employed, to be followed by a singular verb; as, "When was you there?" "How far was you from the parties?" Such a construction, however, is not supported by good usage, nor by analogy. It is as manifest a solecism as to say, We am, or we is. Were it, in any case, admissible to connect a singular verb with you, the use of was would still be ungrammatical, for this form of the verb is confined to the first and third persons, and you is second person. Wast being second person, it would approximate nearer to correctness to say, you wast. We never use the singular of the present tense with you:—you art, you is; you walkest, you walks. Why, then, should any attempt be made to force a usage so unnatural and gratuitous as the connecting of the singular verb in the past tense with this pronoun? In every point of view, the construction, "When were you there?" "How far were you from the parties?" is preferable to the other.

3. The words my, thy, his, her, our, your, their, are, by many, denominated possessive adjective pronouns; but they always stand for nouns in the possessive case. They ought, therefore, to be classed with the personal pronouns. That principle of classification which ranks them with the adjective pronouns, would also throw all nouns in the possessive case among the adjectives. Example: "The lady gave the gentleman her watch for his horse." In this sentence her personates, or stands for, the noun "lady," and his represents "gentleman." This fact is clearly shown by rendering the sentence thus, "The lady gave the gentleman the lady's watch for the gentleman's horse." If lady's and gentleman's are nouns, her and his must be personal pronouns. The same remarks apply to my, thy, our, your, their and its. This view of these words may be objected to by those who speculate and refine upon the principles of grammar until they prove their non-existence, but it is believed, nevertheless, to be based on sound reason and common sense.

4. Mine, thine, his, hers, ours, yours, theirs, have, by many respectable grammarians, been considered merely the possessive cases of personal pronouns, whilst, by others, they have been denominated pronouns or nouns in the nominative or objective case. It is believed, however, that a little attention to the meaning and office of these words, will clearly show the impropriety of both these classifications. Those who pursue the former arrangement, allege, that, in the examples, "You may imagine what kind of faith theirs was; My pleasures are past; hers and yours are to come; they applauded his conduct, but condemned hers and yours," the words theirs, hers, and yours, are personal pronouns in the possessive case, and governed by their respective nouns understood. To prove this, they construct the sentence thus, "You may imagine what kind of faith their faith was;—her pleasures and your pleasures are to come;—but condemned her conduct and your conduct;" or thus, "You may imagine what kind of faith the faith of them was;—the pleasures of her and the pleasures of you, are to come;— but condemned the conduct of her and the conduct of you." But these constructions, (both of which are correct,) prove too much for their purpose; for, as soon as we supply the nouns after these words, they are resolved into personal pronouns of kindred meaning, and the nouns which we supply: thus, theirs becomes, their faith: hers, her pleasures; and yours, your pleasures. This evidently gives us two words instead of, and altogether distinct from, the first; so that, in parsing, their faith, we are not, in reality, analyzing theirs, but two other words of which theirs is the proper representative. These remarks also prove, with equal force, the impropriety of calling these words merely simple pronouns or nouns in the nominative or objective case. Without attempting to develop the original or intrinsic meaning of these pluralizing adjuncts, ne and s, which were, no doubt, formerly detached from the pronouns with which they now coalesce, for all practical purposes, it is sufficient for us to know, that, in the present application of these pronouns, they invariably stand for, not only the person possessing, but, also the thing possessed, which gives them a compound character. They may, therefore, be properly denominated COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS; and, as they always perform a double office in a sentence by representing two other words, and, consequently, including two cases, they should, like the compound relative what, be parsed as two words. Thus, in the example, "You may imagine what kind of faith theirs was," theirs is a compound personal pronoun, equivalent to their faith. Their is a pronoun, a word used instead of a noun; personal, it personates the persons spoken of, understood; third pers. plur. numb., &c.—and in the possessive case, and governed by "faith," according to Rule 12. Faith is a noun, the name of a thing, &c. &c.—and in the nominative case to "was," and governs it; Rule 3. Or, if we render the sentence thus, "You may imagine what kind of faith the faith of them^[4] was," faith would be in the nominative case to "was," and them would be in the objective case, and governed by "of:" Rule 31.

Objections to this method of treating these pronouns, will doubtless be preferred by those who assert, that a noun is understood after these words, and not represented by them. But this is assertion without proof; for, if a noun were understood, it might be supplied. If the question be put, whose book? and the answer be, mine, ours, hers, or theirs, the word book is included in such answer. Were it not included, we might supply it, thus, mine book, ours book, hers book, and so on. This, however, we cannot do, for it would be giving a double answer: but when the question is answered by a noun in the possessive case, the word book is not included, but implied; as, Whose book? John's, Richard's; that is, John's book; Richard's book.

This view of the subject, without a parallel, except in the compounds what, whoever, and others, is respectfully submitted to the public; believing, that those who approve of a critical analysis of words, will coincide with me. Should any still be disposed to treat these words so superficially as to rank them among the simple pronouns, let them answer the following interrogatory: If what, when compound, should be parsed as two words, why not mine, thine, his, hers, ours, yours, and theirs?

5. Mine and thine, instead of my and thy, are used in solemn style, before a word beginning with a vowel or silent h; as, "Blot out all mine iniquities;" and when thus used, they are not compound. His always has the same form, whether simple or compound; as, "Give John his book; That desk is his." Her, when placed before a noun, is in the possessive case; as, Take her hat: when standing alone, it is in the objective case; as, Give the hat to her.

When you shall have studied this lecture attentively, and committed the declension of the personal pronouns, you may commit the following