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the good that is in another; and think that his reputation obscures them, his commendable qualities stand in their light; and therefore they do what they can to cast a cloud over him, that the bright shining of his virtues may not obscure them."

How to avoid Embarrassment. A writer who becomes thus embarrassed in the use of the pronouns, in consequence of having to refer back to two different objects, or classes of objects, will almost always be able to extricate himself from the difficulty by thus changing the construction so as to make one object or class of objects singular and the other plural.*

Relative Pronouns.

The Relative Pronouns are used inaccurately

oftener even than the Personal Pronouns.

"Many," says Swift, "act so directly contrary to this method, that, from a habit of saving time and paper, which they acquired at the University, they write in so diminutive a manner, that they can hardly read what they have written." Swift does not mean that they had acquired time and paper at the University, but that they had acquired this habit there. The sentence then should have been: "From a habit which they had acquired at the University, of saving time and paper, they write in so diminutive a manner."

"Thus I have fairly given you my own opinion, as well as that of a great majority of both houses here, relating to this weighty affair; upon which I am confident you may securely reckon."- Swift. Here, according to the construction, the person addressed may securely reckon upon this weighty affair. But as that would make nonsense, we are led to conjecture that the author meant his friend to reckon upon a majority of both houses. If so, the sentence should read: "Thus I have fairly given you my own opinion relating to this weighty affair, as well as that of a great majority of both houses here; upon which I am confident you may securely reckon."

*Burton gives a capital story of Billy Williams, a comic actor, which is a good illustration of the point now under consideration. Williams is represented as telling his experience in riding a horse belonging to Hamblin, the manager.

"So down I goes to the stable with Tom Flynn, and told the man to put the saddle on him."

"On Tom Flynn?"

"No, on the horse. So, after talking with Tom Flynn awhile, I mounted him." "What! mounted Tom Flynn?"

"No! the horse; and then I shook hands with him and rode off."

"Shook hands with the horse, Billy?"

"No, with Tom Flynn; and then I rode off up the Bowery, and who should I meet

in front of the Bowery Theatre but Tom Hamblin; so I got off and told the boy to hold him by the head."

"What! hold Hamblin by the head?"

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'No, the horse; and then we went and had a drink together."

"What! you and the horse?"

"No, me and Hamblin; and after that I mounted him again, and went out of town."

"What! mounted Hamblin again!"

"No, the horse; and when I got to Burnham, who should be there but Tom Flynn, -he'd taken another horse and rode out ahead of me; so I told the hostler to tie him up."

"Tie Tom Flynn up?"

"No, the horse; and we had a drink there."

"What! you and the horse?"

"No, me and Tom Flynn!"

Finding his auditors by this time in a horse laugh, Billy wound up with

"Now, look here, every time I say horse, you say Hamblin, and every time I say Hamblin, you say horse. I'll be hanged if I tell you any more about it."

We nowhere meet with a more glorious and pleasing show in nature, than what appears in the heavens at the rising and setting of the sun, which [sun, rising and setting, or show?] is wholly made up of those different stains of light, that show themselves in clouds of a different situation."—Addison. This sentence is not perhaps absolutely ambiguous, for after some study we find that the "which" must relate to "show." But the meaning is at least made obscure by the wide separation of the relative from its antecedent, and by the introduction of other nouns between the relative and its antecedent. This obscurity might have been avoided, and the meaning rendered entirely perspicuous by arranging the words thus: "We nowhere meet with a more glorious and pleasing show in nature, than that which appears in the heavens at the rising and setting of the sun, and which is wholly made up of those different stains of light," &c. Here the second "which" is connected by the conjunction with the first "which," and both refer back directly to "show," and cannot refer to anything else.

"It is folly to pretend to arm ourselves against the accidents of life, by heaping up treasures which nothing can protect us against, but the good providence of our Heav enly Father."- Sherlock. That is, nothing can protect us against treasures! The author meant: "It is folly to pretend, by heaping up treasures, to arm ourselves against the accidents of life, which nothing can protect us against, but the good providence of our Heavenly Father."

Examples for Practice.

[The student is expected to criticize and amend the following sentences, in reference to the improper use of the pronouns.]

1. Holland, a country wholly rescued from the sea, which possesses very little natural advantages, has been converted into one vast garden by the industry of its inhabitants.

2. Mr. French needs a surgeon, who has broken his arm.

3. The figs were in small wooden boxes, which we ate.

4. He needs no spectacles, that cannot see; nor boots, that cannot walk.

5. He must endure the follies of others, who will have their kind

ness.

6. Found, a white-handled knife, by a child, that has a broken back.

7. To rent, a house containing ten rooms, located in a pleasant village, which has a fine bay-window in front.

8. John at last found the key, locked the door, and went off, putting it in his pocket.

9. The farmer went to his neighbor and told him that his cattle were in his fields.

10. Robert promised his father that he would pay his debts.

11. They were persons of very moderate intellects even before they were impaired by their passions.

12. I shall be happy if I can contribute to your and my country's glory.

13. Mrs. Jones said to her daughter that perhaps she might go to the city for the zephyr she needed to finish the cushion for her sister's Christmas present.

14. There is a lane at the end of the town, where the young vicar from his study can see the young ladies passing on their way to the cottage of their pensioner, which is muddy and affords an excuse for joining them as they come back.

15. He is like a beast of prey, that is void of compassion.

16. His son, a youth of thirteen, was permitted to stay in prison with his father, who beholding his only surviving parent loaded with irons was overwhelmed with grief.

17. The captain of the ship swam ashore, and so did the cook. She was insured for fifteen thousand dollars, and was heavily loaded with iron.

18. During the procession, a child was run over, wearing a short red dress, which never spoke afterwards.

19. The mad dog bit a horse on the leg, which has since died. 20. When the travellers complained of the ferocity of his dogs, he said they were ill-bred curs.

21. Mary asked her mother if she might go with her, as she was sure she was going to buy something for her.

22. Did you take that book to the library, which I loaned you? 23. Life with him has ended in a sad mistake which began with such bright prospects.

24. The day has come of great rejoicing to many glad hearts which we have looked for so long.

25. The body was dragged ashore, and she identified the remains, which were much decomposed, by the clothing.

26. Mr. Greeley denied that he had ever used profane language in an interview which a certain newspaper reporter had put into his mouth.

27. When Abraham sat at his tent-door, according to his custom, waiting to entertain strangers, he espied an old man stooping and leaning on his staff, weary with age and travel, coming toward him, who was a hundred years of age.

28. There is a touching tenderness in a mother's tears, when they fall upon the face of her dying babe, which no eye can behold without emotion.

29. That is a better statement of the case than yours.

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30. The teacher should be careful to find no fault with the superintendent in the hearing of the class, as this would weaken his influ

ence.

31. In memory of the Rev. Gilbert Tennent, the first pastor of this church, whose evangelical labors were abundantly blessed in the ingathering of souls.

32. Every passenger is obliged to show their ticket before entering the car.

33. Gloried in the perfect independence of his control.

34. Dr. Bemis was the rector of the one Episcopal church in that town, to which this family had always belonged.

35. I don't think you can do good to anybody, if you set out with telling them how worthless and bad they are.

36. With her beloved daughter she kept up the most intimate fellowship of feeling and conversation, though she tried to hide from her all knowledge of her father's intense cruelty to her.

37. A refrigerator car is running on the New Jersey railroad for bringing fresh meat from Chicago.

38. Mr. Smith uttered no sentiment that might not have been uttered on the Sabbath, with strict propriety, or even in a place of worship.

39. Intemperance is the great moral evil at which it is aimed, by the concession of all mankind.

40. Mary asked her sister if she would bring her work-basket along, as she wished to make something for her mother.

41. Mr. Jones has just received a letter from Mr. Smith, saying that he is expected to deliver the next annual address.

Summary of Rule I. The examples which have now been cited and commented on are sufficient to explain and enforce the first Rule for the construction of the sentence, namely, that the words should be so arranged that the meaning cannot be mistaken.

Three Things to be observed. — In carrying out this Rule, we must, in particular, see

1. That every adverb and adverbial clause is made to adhere closely to the word which it is intended to qualify;

2. That where a circumstance is thrown in, it shall not hang loosely in the midst of a period, but be so placed as by its position to show clearly to which member of the sentence it belongs; and

3. That every pronoun shall be so placed as to suggest instantly to the mind of the reader the noun referred to.

RULE II. - EMPHASIS.

The Words should be so arranged as to give a conspicuous position to the two Main Parts of the Sentence, namely, the Principal Subject and the Principal Predicate.

Two Things of Prime Importance.—It is of prime importance to the reader or the hearer to know clearly and without effort, first, what the principal subject of discourse in the sentence is, and secondly, what is the principal thing intended to be said of that subject. All the other parts of the sentence are subsidiary to these two, and should be so arranged that these should strike at once both the eye and the ear.

1. The Principal Subject.

The Principal Subject is that about which mainly the writer intends to say something. The Principal Subject, as the term is here used, is not necessarily the Grammatical Subject.

"Nature, with most beneficent intention, conciliates and forms the mind of man to his condition." The context to this sentence shows that the author wished to say something, not about Nature, but about the mind of man. The "mind of man,' therefore, is really the principal subject of discourse, though grammatically it is the object of the verbs "conciliates " and "forms." A different construction of the sentence will show this. "The mind of man is, by Nature's beneficent intention, conciliated and formed to his condition."

"The praise of judgment Virgil has justly contested with him [Homer], but his invention remains unrivalled."- Pope. Here the two qualities about which Pope wishes to make an assertion are judgment and invention. These then are the real subjects, though "judgment," in the first member of the sentence, is grammatically in the objective case.

Ordinarily, however, the grammatical subject and the principal subject are the same.

Examples are found in the following sentences:

"Learning taketh away the wildness, barbarism, and fierceness of men's minds." "The pleasures of the imagination, taken in their full extent, are not so gross as those of sense, nor so refined as those of the understanding."

"Our sight is the most perfect and the most delightful of all our senses."

Rule. The Principal Subject, whether grammatically in the nominative or in the objective case, should have a

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