The antecedent to the pronoun who is the pronoun of the second person singular. The relative, therefore, being of the same person, should be joined to the second person singular of the verb, namely, “confinedst.”
“The executive directory, to prove that they will not reject any means of reconciliation, declares,” &c.—Belsham’s Hist. The nominative is here joined to a verb singular, and at the same time represented by a pronoun plural. The error may be corrected either by the substitution of it for they, or declare instead of declares.
“These friendly admonitions of Swift, though they might sometimes produce good effects, in particular cases, when properly timed, yet could they do but little towards eradicating faults.”—Sheridan. The nominative admonitions is connected with no verb, the pronoun they being the nominative to the verb could. The sentence, therefore, is ungrammatical; nor can the figure hyperbaton be here pleaded in excuse, as the simplicity and shortness of the sentence render it unnecessary. They in the third clause should be suppressed.
“This dedication may serve for almost any book, that has, is, or shall be published.”—Bolingbroke. Has being merely a part of a compound tense, conveys no precise meaning without the rest of the tense. When joined, then, to the participle, here belonging to the three auxiliaries, the sentence proceeds thus, “This dedication may serve for almost any book, that has published.” It ought to be “has been, is, or shall be published.” The following sentence is chargeable with an error of the same kind.
“This part of knowledge has been always growing, and will do so, till the subject be exhausted.” Do what? The auxiliary cannot refer to been, for the substantive verb, or verb of existence, does not imply action, nor can we say, “do growing.” It ought to be, “has been growing, and will still be so.”
“All that can be now urged, is the reason of the thing, and this I shall do.”—Warburton. Here is a similar incongruity. He should have said, “and this shall be done.”
Some of the preceding errors, with those which follow under this head, may be denominated rather inaccuracies, than solecisms.
“’T was twenty years and more, that I have known him,” says Pope to Gay, speaking of Congreve’s death. It ought to be, “It is twenty years and more,” the period concluding with the present time, or the time then present. He might have said, “It is now twenty years,” where the adverb now, being obviously admissible, points to present time, and necessarily excludes the preterite tense. Pope says, “’T was twenty years.” When? not surely in some part of the past time, but at the time of writing.
“It were well for the insurgents, and fortunate for the king, if the blood, that was now shed, had been thought a sufficient expiation for the offence.”—Goldsmith. “It were,” which is equivalent to “it would be,” is evidently incongruous with the following tense, “had been thought.” It ought to be, as he was speaking of past time, “it would have been,” or, “it had been, well for the insurgents.”
“Was man like his Creator in wisdom and goodness, I should be for allowing this great model.”—Addison. This form of expression cannot be pronounced entirely repugnant to analogy, the preterite of the auxiliary “to have” being used in a similar sense. But the verb “to be” having a mood appropriate to the expression of conditionality, the author should have said, “Were man like his Creator.”