Agreement
219. Pronouns are very agreeable members of the co-operative commonwealth of words. They strive to agree with their antecedents. Sometimes we do not allow the pronoun to agree, and then our sentence is incorrect.
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number, gender and person.
For example, if you are referring to one man, you must use a masculine pronoun, singular, third person form, as I saw the man but he did not see me. Man is the antecedent. It is singular, masculine, third person and so we use the pronoun he.
The girl came, but she could not stay. In this sentence girl is the antecedent; it is singular, feminine, third person, and so we use the pronoun she.
The boys did not come when the teacher called them. In this sentence boys is the antecedent; it is plural, masculine, third person, and so we use the pronoun them.
220. Sometimes there are two words used as the antecedent, joined by and. We use a singular pronoun in referring to them if they denote the same person or thing; as:
The secretary and treasurer (one person) resigned his position.
My comrade and friend (one person) gave me his help.
221. But two nouns joined by and, that mean different persons or things, must be represented by a plural pronoun, thus:
Marx and Engels (two persons) wrote their call to liberty, the Communist-Manifesto.
Men and women will struggle for their freedom.
Childhood and youth should have their rightful joys.
222. Use the singular pronoun when the nouns are kept separate by the use of each, every, many a, or no.
Each man and boy must do his part. (Not their part.)
Every soldier and every officer must do his duty.
Many a city and many a village gave its best to the army.
No comrade and no Socialist will give his consent to war.
223. If you have two singular nouns as antecedents, joined by or, or nor, use the singular pronoun, thus:
Either Germany or France must abandon its position.
Neither Wilson nor Bryan kept his promise to the people.
224. When you use a collective noun and are speaking of the collection as a whole, use a singular pronoun, as:
The committee will make its report.
The audience was hearty in its appreciation.
The jury has returned its verdict.
225. But if you are referring to the individuals of the collection separately, use a plural pronoun; as:
The committee adjourned for their dinner.
The audience kept their seats until the close.
The jury argued until their nerves were on edge.
PERSONIFICATION
226. We sometimes speak of things as if they were persons, and so use either masculine or feminine pronouns in referring to them. Such objects are said to be personified. Thus, we say:
The sun his ceaseless course doth run.
The moon sheds her silvery ray.
Nature dons her robes of green.
Here we speak of the sun as though it were a man or possessing the qualities of a man and use the pronoun his. Then we speak of the moon and nature as though they were women and use the pronoun in the feminine form.
REMEMBER
227. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent.
Use the subject form of the pronoun if the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.
Use the object form when the pronoun is the object of a verb or a preposition.
Use the compound personal pronouns only in their reflexive or emphatic use.
With all forms of the verb be, use the subject form of the pronouns.
SUMMARY
Exercise 3
Read carefully the following beautiful dream of Olive Schreiner's. Mark all of the personal pronouns and note carefully their use and by referring to the table above decide just what form each pronoun is. Watch carefully too for the antecedents of the pronouns and note the agreement of the pronoun with its antecedent.
"I THOUGHT I STOOD"
I
I thought I stood in Heaven before God's throne, and God asked me what I had come for. I said I had come to arraign my brother, Man.
God said, "What has he done?"
I said, "He has taken my sister, Woman, and has stricken her and wounded her and thrust her out into the streets; she lies there prostrate. His hands are red with blood. I am here to arraign him; that the kingdom be taken from him, because he is not worthy, and given unto me. My hands are pure."
I showed them.
God said, "Thy hands are pure. Lift up thy robe."
I raised it; my feet were red, blood-red, as if I had trodden in wine.
God said, "How is this?"
I said, "Dear Lord, the streets on earth are full of mire. If I should walk straight on in them my outer robe might be bespotted, you see how white it is! Therefore I pick my way."
God said, "On what?"
I was silent, and let my robe fall. I wrapped my mantle about my head. I went out softly. I was afraid that the angels would see me.
II
Once more I stood at the gate of Heaven, I and another. We held fast by one another; We were very tired. We looked up at the great gates; angels opened them, and we went in. The mud was on our garments. We walked across the marble floor, and up to the great throne. Then the angels divided us. Her, they set upon the top step, but me, upon the bottom; for, they said, "Last time this woman came here she left red foot-marks on the floor; we had to wash them out with our tears. Let her not go up."
Then she with whom I came, looked back and stretched out her hands to me; and I went and stood beside her. And the angels, they, the shining ones who never sinned and never suffered, walked by us, to and fro, up and down; I think we should have felt a little lonely there if it had not been for one another, the angels were so bright.
God asked me what I had come for; and I drew my sister forward a little that He might see her.
God said, "How is it you are here together today?"
I said, "She was upon the ground in the street, and they passed over her; I lay down by her, and she put her arms around my neck, and so I lifted her, and we two rose together."
God said, "Whom are you now come to accuse before Me?"
I said, "We are come to accuse no man."
And God bent and said, "My children—what is it that you seek?"
And she beside me drew my hand that I should speak for both.
I said, "We have come to ask that Thou shouldst speak to Man, our brother, and give us a message for him that he might understand, and that he might–"
God said, "Go, take the message down to him!"
I said, "But what is the message?"
God said, "Upon your hearts it is written; take it down to him."
And we turned to go; the angels went with us to the door. They looked at us.
And one said, "Ah! but their dresses are beautiful!"
And the other said, "I thought it was mire when they came in, but see, it is all golden!"
But another said, "Hush, it is the light from their faces!"
And we went down to him.—Olive Schreiner.
The Cry of the People
Tremble before your chattels,
Lords of the scheme of things!
Fighters of all earth's battles,
Ours is the might of kings!
Guided by seers and sages,
The world's heart-beat for a drum,
Snapping the chains of ages,
Out of the night we come!
Lend us no ear that pities!
Offer no almoner's hand!
Alms for the builders of cities!
When will you understand?
Down with your pride of birth
And your golden gods of trade!
A man is worth to his mother, Earth,
All that a man has made!
We are the workers and makers!
We are no longer dumb!
Tremble, O Shirkers and Takers!
Sweeping the earth—we come!
Ranked in the world-wide dawn,
Marching into the day!
The night is gone and the sword is drawn
And the scabbard is thrown away!
—Neihardt.
SPELLING
LESSON 12
Last week we learned the rule governing the spelling of derivatives of one syllable ending in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel when we add a suffix beginning with a vowel.
The same rule applies to words of two or more syllables, accented on the last syllable.
For example:
Compel, compelled, compelling.
Prefer, preferred, preferring.
Words accented on the last syllable, when they end in a single consonant preceded by a single vowel, double the final consonant when you add a suffix beginning with a vowel.
When these words take a suffix that begins with a consonant, they do not double the final consonant; as, preferment.
Words accented on any syllable but the last, do not double the final consonant; as, offer, offered, offering.
Words that have two vowels before a single final consonant do not double the final consonant; as, reveal, revealed, revealing.
Words that end in a double consonant or any two consonants, keep the two consonants, no matter what suffix they take; as, indent, indented; skill, skilled, skillful.
The only exception to this rule is when the addition of the suffix throws the accent back to a preceding syllable. When this is the case, the final consonant is not doubled. For example: refer, referred, ref'erence; confer, conferring, con'ference.
Look up the following words in the dictionary, watch for the accent, mark and add the suffixes, ed, ing, ence or ance, if possible.
Monday
Repel
Alter
Prefer
Debar
Answer
Tuesday
Inter
Offer
Demur
Wonder
Succeed
Wednesday
Detain
Combat
Compel
Occur
Cancel
Thursday
Permit
Travel
Repeal
Control
Profit
Friday
Forbid
Neglect
Expel
Render
Infer
Saturday
Benefit
Retain
Submit
Reveal
Limit
PLAIN ENGLISH
LESSON 13
Dear Comrade:
Did you ever tie a knot in your handkerchief to help you remember to get something you felt almost sure you would forget? Well, tying a knot in a cord was one of the first ways devised by our ancestors of long ago to aid them to remember. They also used this plan to send word to those at a distance or to keep track of things for succeeding generations. A relic of this old device of our forefathers is also found in the rosary on which the Roman Catholic counts his beads as an aid to memory.
There are some primitive tribes to-day who still use knotted strings as an aid to memory. These consist of a main cord, and fastened at given distances are finer cords of different colors. Each cord is knotted in different ways to mean different things and each color, too, has its own meaning. A red string stands for soldiers, a yellow for gold, and a green for corn, and so on, while a single knot may mean ten, two single knots twenty, a double knot 100, two double knots 200. In this way, they keep a record of things, transmit orders and use them for various purposes.
Only a generation ago the tax gatherers in the Island of Hawaii kept account of the assessable property on lines of cordage knotted in this manner, and these cords in some cases were three thousand feet long. The method of keeping track of things by means of a notched stick is easily within the memory of many people living today. For in England in the early part of the last century, accounts of debts to the government were kept by means of tally sticks, which were merely notched sticks.
Such methods as these were the only ways primitive man had of keeping track of things before he had discovered the art of written speech. And even after written speech was known and used, these old methods persisted.
Gradually, step by step, man has come along the path of progress. Adventurous spirits, not satisfied with the old way of doing things, sought new ways. The conservatives of their day thought them dangerous people, no doubt, and feared that they would destroy the very foundations of society. And this they oft-times did, but only that there might rise a more perfect form of society. It is the seeking, questioning mind that demands the reason for all things, that seeks ever better ways of doing things. They have always throughout the ages refused to bow to the authority of the past but have dared to live their own lives. To them we owe the progress of the world and we are the inheritors of their spirit.
Let us prove our kinship by daring to live our own lives and think our own thoughts.
Yours for Freedom,THE PEOPLE'S COLLEGE.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
228. You recall that in our first lesson we studied concerning the four different kinds of sentences which we use in expressing our thoughts, the assertive, the interrogative, the imperative and the exclamatory. The interrogative sentence is the form which we use in asking a question, interrogative being derived from the Latin inter, meaning between, and rogare, to ask, meaning literally to ask between. The interrogative sentence differs from the assertive sentence in the arrangement of the words; for in order to ask questions, we usually place the predicate, or part of it at least, before the subject, thus:
Can you use good English?
Did you spell the word correctly?
Has he studied grammar?
In these sentences, you note that the helping verbs, can, did and has, are placed first instead of the subject. It is by this arrangement that we put the sentence in the interrogative form.
229. Frequently, however, in asking questions we wish to ask concerning a person or thing whose name we do not know. So we need a word to refer to the unknown object. See how these uses of words grow out of our need! We have three interrogative pronouns, who and which and what, that we use to meet this need. Notice the use of these three pronouns in the following sentences:
Who wrote the Communist Manifesto?
Which of the two men is the better known?
What are the closing words of this famous document?
In these sentences, who and which and what are the interrogative pronouns, used to ask questions concerning the unknown persons or objects.
230. Who refers only to human beings or to personified objects.
Which refers either to human beings, animals or things.
What refers only to things.
Which and what have the same form for both the subject and the object. Who has a different form for all three forms, the subject form, the possessive form, and the object form. It uses the same form, however, both in singular and plural.
231. We often make mistakes in the use of the different forms of the pronoun who. We often use the subject form for the object form, using who where we should have used whom. For example:
Who did you see?
The correct form is:
Whom did you see?
The pronoun whom is the object of the verb see, hence the object form should be used. However, the use of the subject form who instead of whom is coming into such general use today that some grammarians accept it as a permissible usage. The will of the people influences language, as it does all other human institutions, and gradually creates new rules.
Write three sentences, using who, which and what as interrogative pronouns.
An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun used to ask a question.
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
232. There is one other class of pronouns which plays a great part in our speech and is a wonderful help to us. For example, suppose I want to tell you several things about this book. I say: I am reading this book. It interests me greatly. Now it would be a great advantage to me if I could put these two sentences together, and we have for this use a pronoun which makes it possible for us to combine these sentences, and so I say:
The book which I am reading interests me greatly.
Thus I am able to unite two short sentences into a long sentence, which conveys my meaning better than the two short sentences and gives a smoother bit of reading. We have four pronouns which we use in this way, who, which, that and what and they are called relative pronouns because they refer or relate to some noun in the sentence and they also serve to connect two statements.
233. A relative pronoun is a pronoun that relates to an antecedent and at the same time connects two statements.
A relative pronoun always relates to its antecedent and at the same time connects the statement that it introduces with the one that contains the antecedent to which it relates, as in the sentence above, The book which I am reading, interests me greatly. Which is the relative pronoun; first, because it relates to the antecedent, book; and second, because it connects the statement, I am reading, with the rest of the sentence. Notice these sentences also:
The man who thinks will not enlist in the army.
We will destroy the system that enslaves us.
Who and that are the relative pronouns in these two sentences and their antecedents are man and system, and they connect the statements, who thinks and that enslaves us, with the rest of the sentence.
234. Who is used to relate to persons.
Which is used to relate only to animals and things.
That may relate to either persons, animals or things.
What relates to things.
Note that which, as an interrogative, may refer to persons as well as to animals and things; but as a relative, which never refers to persons.
235. Note that we use the same pronouns who, which and what as both relative and interrogative pronouns. You will not be confused in this matter if you will remember that they are called interrogative pronouns only when they are used to ask questions. When they are used as interrogative pronouns they never have an antecedent. Who and which and what are always relative pronouns when used in an assertive sentence and referring to an antecedent.
That and what have the same form for both the subject and object forms. They have no possessive form. Who has a different form for the subject form and the possessive form and the object form. Which has the same form for subject and object forms, and a different form for the possessive form. Note the following:
I know the man who called him.
I know the man whose voice I hear.
I know the man whom they called.
In these three sentences we have the pronoun who used in its three forms, subject, possessive and object form. We should be very careful not to confuse the subject and the object forms of the pronoun who.
This is the book which tells the truth.
This is the book whose author is in prison.
This is the book which I wanted.
In these three sentences we have the pronoun which used in its three forms, subject form, possessive form and object form. In the first sentence the pronoun is the subject of the verb tells; in the second sentence, it is used in the possessive form with the noun author; in the third sentence, it is used as the object of the verb wanted.
236. What differs from the other relative pronouns in that its antecedent is never expressed, for it is implied in the word itself. What is always equivalent to that which, or the thing which. For example, the sentence, Do not tell what I have told you, is equivalent to saying, Do not tell that which I have told you, or the thing which I have told you.
237. Never use what in a sentence as a relative pronoun unless you can replace it and make good sense by using that which, or the thing which in place of what.
For example, do not say, I know that what he would say. This is incorrect. You should say, I know that which he would say, or I know what he would say, using what in place of that which. Here is a sentence that occurred in an English examination recently, which illustrates most aptly this point. A subject is that what something is said about. Here what is used incorrectly. A subject is that about which something is said, would have been the correct form.
Watch for this in your speech for it is a most common error and to the educated ear is harsh and marks the speaker as uneducated. All of these mistakes which we make so commonly will require a considerable amount of effort to overcome, but the result is worth the effort, for even those about us who will not take the pains or give the required time and effort to acquiring an education for themselves, will give greater heed to the speech of those who do speak correctly, and will readily acknowledge the leadership of those who have given the time and effort to self-development.
238. The antecedent of who is sometimes omitted and understood; for example, Who follows the cause must endure hardship, He, is understood and omitted. He who follows the cause must endure hardship.
239. The relative pronoun itself is often omitted. For example:
These are the men (whom) you must help.
The words (that) you use and the deeds (that) you do, are your judges.
240. The relative pronouns have compound forms also, such as whoever, whosoever, whichever, whichsoever, whatever and whatsoever, which are used in the same manner as the simple forms.