For the want of a proper knowledge of this little pronoun it, many grammarians have been greatly puzzled how to dispose of it, or how to account for its multiform, and, seemingly, contradictory characters. It is in great demand by writers of every description. They use it without ceremony; either in the nominative or objective case; either to represent one person or thing, or more than one. It is applied to nouns in the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender, and, very frequently, it represents a member of a sentence, a whole sentence, or a number of sentences taken in a mass.
A little attention to its true character, will, at once, strip it of all its mystery. It, formerly written hit, according to H. Tooke, is the past participle of the Moeso-Gothic verb haitan. It means, the said, and, therefore, like its near relative that, meaning, the assumed, originally had no respect, in its application, to number, person, or gender. "It is a wholesome law;" i.e. the said (law) is a wholesome law; or, that (law) is a wholesome law;—the assumed (law) is a wholesome law. "It is the man; I believe it to be them:"—the said (man) is the man; that (man) is the man: I believe the said (persons) to be them; I believe that persons (according to the ancient application of that) to be them. "It happened on a summer's day, that many people were assembled," &c.—Many people were assembled: it, that, or the said (fact or circumstance) happened on a summer's day.
It, according to its accepted meaning in modern times, is not referred to a noun understood after it, but is considered a substitute. "How is it with you?" that is, "How is your state or condition?" "It rains; It freezes; It is a hard winter;"—The rain rains; The frost frosts or freezes; The said (winter) is a hard winter. "It is delightful to see brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days." What is delightful? To see brothers and sisters living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days. It, this thing, is delightful. It, then, stands for all that part of the sentence expressed in italics; and the sentence will admit of the following construction; "To see brothers living in uninterrupted love to the end of their days, is delightful."
OF ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS.
ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS, PRONOMINAL ADJECTIVES, or, more properly, SPECIFYING ADJECTIVES, are a kind of adjectives which point out nouns by some distinct specification.
Pronouns and adjectives are totally distinct in their character. The former stand for nouns, and never belong to them; the latter belong to nouns, and never stand for them. Hence, such a thing as an adjective-pronoun cannot exist. Each, every, either, this, that, some, other, and the residue, are pure adjectives.
Those specifying adjectives commonly called Adjective Pronouns, may be divided into three sorts; the distributive, the demonstrative, and the indefinite. They are all known by the lists.
I. The distributive adjectives are those that denote the persons or things that make up a number, each taken separately and singly. List: each, every, either, and sometimes neither; as, "Each of his brothers is in a favorable situation;" "Every man must account for himself;" "Neither of them is industrious."
These distributives are words which are introduced into language in its refined state, in order to express the nicest shades and colors of thought. "Man must account for himself;" "Mankind must account for themselves;" "All men must account for themselves;" "All men, women, and children, must account for themselves;" "Every man must account for himself." Each of these assertions conveys the same fact or truth. But the last, instead of presenting the whole human family for the mind to contemplate in a mass, by the peculiar force of every, distributes them, and presents each separately and singly; and whatever is affirmed of one individual, the mind instantaneously transfers to the whole human race.
Each relates to two or more persons or things, and signifies either of the two, or every one of any number taken separately.