[§ 524]. Which has so nearly replaced what that the general use of this last word with its proper power, as a neuter relative, is, in the present English, vulgar, e.g.,
1. The dagger what stabbed Cæsar.
2. The dagger what I grasp.
In one case, however, what is used as a true relative, viz., when the antecedent is either this or that.
This is what I mean; not, this is which I mean.
That is what I mean; not, that is which I mean.
[§ 525]. The word as, properly a conjunction, is occasionally used as a relative—the man as rides to market.
This expression is not to be imitated. It ought, however, to be explained. As is a conjunction denoting comparison. The ideas of comparison and equivalence are allied. The relative is ex vi termini the equivalent, in one part of a sentence, to the antecedent in another.
(1) The man—(2) who speaks.