OMISSION OF THE RELATIVES.

Relative omitted when object.

129. The relative is frequently omitted in spoken and in literary English when it would be the object of a preposition or a verb. Hardly a writer can be found who does not leave out relatives in this way when they can be readily supplied in the mind of the reader. Thus,—

These are the sounds we feed upon.—Fletcher.

I visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my reader with all the curiosities I observed.—Swift.

Exercise.

Put in the relatives who, which, or that where they are omitted from the following sentences, and see whether the sentences are any smoother or clearer:—

1. The insect I am now describing lived three years,—Goldsmith.

2. They will go to Sunday schools through storms their brothers are afraid of.—Holmes.

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.

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.

(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.