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

Mine is a compound personal pronoun, including both the possessor and the thing possessed, and is equivalent to my books. My is a pron. a word used instead of a noun—personal, it stands for the name of the person speaking—first person, it denotes the speaker—sing. number, it implies but one—and in the poss. case, it denotes possession, and is gov. by "books," according to Rule 12. (Repeat the rule, and decline the pronoun.) Books is a noun, the name of a thing—common, &c. (parse it in full;)—and in the nominative case after "are," according to RULE 21. The verb to be admits the same case after it as before it.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

Each individual fills a space in creation. Every man helps a little. These men rank among the great ones of the world. That book belongs to the tutor, this belongs to me. Some men labor, others labor not; the former increase in wealth, the latter decrease. The boy wounded the old bird, and stole the young ones. None performs his duty too well. None of those poor wretches complain of their miserable lot.

NOTE. In parsing the distributive pronominal adjectives, NOTE 2, undo Rule 19, should be applied.

III. OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

Relative Pronouns are such as relate, in general, to some word or phrase going before, which is called the antecedent. They are who, which, and that.

The word antecedent, comes from the two Latin words, ante, before, and cedo, to go. Hence you perceive, that antecedent means going before; thus, "The man is happy who lives virtuously; This is the lady who relieved my wants; Thou who lovest wisdom, &c. We who speak from experience," &c. The relative who, in these sentences, relates to the several words, man, lady, thou, and we, which words, you observe, come before the relative: they are, therefore, properly called antecedents.

The relative is not varied on account of gender, person, or number, like a personal pronoun. When we use a personal pronoun, in speaking of a man, we say he, and of a woman, she; in speaking of one person or thing, we use a singular pronoun, of more than one, a plural, and so on; but there is no such variation of the relative. Who, in the first of the preceding examples, relates to an antecedent of the mas. gend. third pers. sing.; in the second, the antecedent is of the fem. gend.; in the third, it is of the second pers.; and in the fourth, it is of the first pers. plur. num.; and, yet, the relative is in the same form in each example. Hence you perceive, that the relative has no peculiar form to denote its gend. pers. and num., but it always agrees with its antecedent in sense. Thus, when I say, The man who writes, who is mas. gend. and sing.; but when I say, The ladies who write, who is feminine, and plural. In order to ascertain the gend. pers. and num. of the relative, you must always look at its antecedent.

WHO, WHICH, and THAT.

Who is applied to persons, which to things and brutes; as, "He is a friend who is faithful in adversity; The bird which sung so sweetly, is flown; This is the tree which produces no fruit."