Part 55 (1/2)
Thus we have _ye_ not only for the noth for the objective in both; _ye_ and _you_ being made everywhere equivalent, by very many writers Indeed this pronoun has been so frequently used for the objective case, that one rammarian's authority to condemn it in that construction Yet I cannot but think it ill-chosen in the third line below, though right in the first:--
”_Ye_! who have traced the Pilgrim to the scene Which is his last, if in your ht which once was his, if on _ye_ swell A single recollection, not in vain He wore his sandal-shoon, and scallop-shell”--_Byron_
OBS 24--The three pronouns of the third person, _he, she_, and _it_, have always formed their plural number after one and the same manner, _they, their_ or _theirs, theular derivatives froulars, have ever been applied alike to theular, had formerly no variation of cases, and is still alike in the nominative and the objective
The possessive _its_ is of coin In our common Bible, the word is not found, except by e contain it The phrase, _of it_, was often used as an equivalent; as, ”And it had three ribs in the mouth _of it_ between the teeth _of it_”--_Dan_, vii, 5 That is--”in _its_ mouth, between _its_ teeth” But, as a possessive case was sometimes necessary, our ancestors used to borrow one; coh sometie confusion of the genders: as, ”_Learning_ hath _his_ infancy, when _it_ is but beginning, and almost childish; then _his_ youth, when _it_ is luxuriant and juvenile; then _his_ strength of years, when _it_ is solid and reduced; and lastly _his_ old age, when _it_ waxeth dry and exhaust”--_Bacon's Essays_, p 58
”Of beaten work shall the _candlestick_ be made: _his_ shaft, and _his_ branches, _his_ bowls, _his_ knops, and _his_ flowers, shall be of the same”--_Exodus_, xxv, 31 ”They came and emptied the _chest_, and took _it_ and carried _it_ to _his_ place again”--_2 Chron_, xxiv, 11 ”Look not thou upon the _wine, when_ it is red, when _it_ giveth _his_ colour in the cup, when _it_ ht”--_Prov_, xxiii, 31 ”The _tree_ is known by _his_ fruit”--_Matt_, xii, 33 ”When thou tillest the ground, _it_ shall not henceforth yield unto thee _her_ strength”--_Gen_, iv, 12 ”He that pricketh the heart, e”--_Eccl_, xxii, 19 Shakspeare rarely, if ever, used _its_; and his style is sometimes obscure for the want of it: as,
”There is no _vice_ so simple, but assumes Some mark of virtue on _his_ outward parts”
--_Merch of Venice_
”The name of Cassius honours this corruption, And _chastisement_ doth therefore hide _his_ head”
--_Jul Caes_, Act iv
OBS 25--The possessive case of pronouns should never be written with an apostrophe A few pronominal adjectives taken substantively receive it; but the construction which it gives them, see to Murray, _former's_ and _latter's_ The real pronouns that end in _s_, as _his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs_, though true possessives after their kind, have no occasion for this e adard of consistency and authority, gives it to one of the to the classification of these words as possessives, and of _my, thy, her, our, your, their_, as adjectives, he says: ”It seems as if the termination in _s_ had led to the distinction: but no one will contend, that _ours_ is the possessive case of _our_, or _theirs_ of _their_; though _ours, yours, hers_, and _theirs_, are often very improperly spelt with an apostrophe, a fault not always imputable to the printer; while in _it's_, which is unquestionably the possessive case of _it_, the apostrophe, by a strange perverseness, is ale of strange perverseness may, in this instance, I think, be retorted upon the critic; and that, to the fair exculpation of those who choose to confore which offends him
OBS 26--Of the co account: ”_Self_, in the plural _selves_, a noun, is often combined with the personal pronouns, in order to express emphasis, or opposition, or the identity of the subject and [the] object of a verb; and thus forms a pronoun _relative_: as, 'I did it _myself_;' 'he was not _himself_, when he said so;' 'the envious torment _themselves_ more than others' Foroverned the pronoun, which was kept distinct from _it_ [them] in the possessive case: but since _they_ [the pronoun and the noun] have coalesced into one word, _they_ [the co forms: for the first person, _myself, ourselves_; for the second, _thyself_, or _yourself, yourselves_; for the third, _hial style, in which, as generally in the second person, the singular noun is added to the plural pronoun, []
_ourself_ Each of these is _the same in all three cases_”--_Churchill's Gra to the close of this explanation, he adds: ”_Own_ also is often employed with the possessive cases of the personal pronouns by way of emphasis, or opposition; but separately, as an adjective, and not co with them to form _a relative_: as, 'I did it of _my own_ free will:' 'Did he do it with _his own_ hand?'”--_Ib_, p
227
OBS 27--The preceding instructions, faulty and ungrammatical as they are, seem to be the best that our writers have furnished upon this point To detect falsities and blunders, is half the grammarian's duty The pronouns of which the term _self_ or _selves_ for of different clauses of a sentence, but for the purpose of e the They have not the characteristics which he himself ascribes to relatives; but are co else He is also , that they are severally ”the same in all three cases” From the very nature of their composition, the possessive case is alike impossible to them all To express ownershi+p with emphasis or distinction, we employ neither these compounds nor any others; but always use the simple possessives with the separate adjective _own_: as, ”With _my own_ eyes,”--”By _thy own_ confession,”--”To _his own_ house,”--”For _her own_ father,”--”By _its oeight,”--”To save _our own_ lives,”--”For _your own_ sake,”--”In _their own_ cause”
OBS 28--The phrases, _my own, thy own, his own_, and so forth, Dr
Perley, in his little Grammar, has i them the possessive forms of _myself, thyself, himself_, and so forth; as if one set of compounds could constitute the possessive case of an other! And again, as if the reat nations, were as slight a feat, as the inserting of so many hyphens! The word _own_, anciently written _owen_, is an _adjective_; from an old form of the perfect participle of the verb _to ohich verb, according to Lowth and others, once signified _to possess_ It is equivalent to _due, proper_, or _peculiar_; and, in its present use as an adjective, it stands nowhere else than between the possessive case and the na possessed; as, ”The Boy's _Own_ Book,”--”Christ's _oords,”--”Solomon's _own_ and only son” Dr
Johnson, while he acknowledges the aboveely calls own a noun substantive; and, with not more accuracy, says: ”This is a word of no other use than as it is added to the possessive pronouns, _my, thy, his, our, your, their_”--_Quarto Dict, n_ O B
Peirce, with obvious untruth, says, ”_Own_ is used in combination with a name or substitute, and as a part of it, to constitute it emphatic”--_Gram_, p 63 He writes it separately, but parses it as a part of the possessive noun or pronoun which precedes it!
OBS 29--The word _self_ was originally _an adjective_, signifying _saenerally _a noun_
This may have occasioned the diversity which appears in the formation of the coreat Dictionary, calls _self_ a pronoun; but he explains it as being both adjective and substantive, adnification seeain he observes, ”_Myself, himself, they of _my, him, them_, be used as nominatives” _Hisself, itsself_, and _theirselves_, would be ical than _himself, itself, themselves_; but custom has rejected the former, and established the latter When an adjective qualifies the term _self_, the pronouns are written separately in the possessive case; as, _My single self,--My own self,--His own self,--Their own selves_ So, anciently, without an adjective: as, ”A man shall have diffused his life, _his self_, and his whole concernments so far, that he can weep his sorroith an other's eyes”--_South_ ”So farther”--_Harris's Herly, and of _their selves_ endeavour to keep a perpetual chastity”--_Stat Ed VI in Lowth's Gram_, p 26 ”Why I should either _imploy lish Particles_, p xiv ”It is no matter whether you do it by your proctor, or by _your self_”--_Ib_, p 96 The compound _oneself_ is sometimes written in stead of the phrase _one's self_; but the latter is preferable, and more common Even _his self_, ritten as tords, ht in some instances; as,
”Scorn'd be the wretch that quits his genial bowl, His loves, his friendshi+ps, ev'n _his self_, resigns; Perverts the sacred instinct of his soul, And to a ducat's dirty sphere confines”
--SHENSTONE: _Brit Poets_, Vol vii, p 107
OBS 30--In poetry, and even in soular numbers, the simple personal pronouns are not unfrequently used, for brevity's sake, in a reciprocal sense; that is, in stead of the compound personal pronouns, which are the proper reciprocals: as, ”Wash _you_, reat works; I builded _ardens and orchards”--_Ecclesiastes_, ii, 4 ”Thou shalt surely clothe _thee_ with them all as with an ornament, and bind them on _thee_ as a bride doeth”--_Isaiah_, xlix, 18 Coroom decketh _himself_ with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth _herself_ with jewels”--_Isaiah_, lxi, 10 This phraseology is almost always preferable in prose; the other is a poetical license, or peculiarity: as,
”I turn _me_ from the martial roar”--_Scott's L L_, p 97
”Hush _thee_, poor maiden, and be still”--_Ib_, p 110
”Firmer he roots _him_ the ruder it blow”--_Ib_, p 49
OBS 31--To accommodate the writers of verse, the word _ever_ is frequently contracted into _e'er_, pronounced like the ives us similar contractions of all the compound relative pronouns; as, _whoe'er_ or _whosoe'er, whose'er_ or _whosesoe'er, whome'er_ or _whomsoe'er, whiche'er_ or _whichsoe'er, whate'er_ or _whatsoe'er_ The character and properties of these compounds are explained, perhaps sufficiently, in the observations upon the _classes_ of pronouns So two cases at once; there being, in fact, an ellipsis of the noun, before or after them: as,