cas, thus, "Your book is old, John's is new." The construction in these two sentences being identical, if "John's" is the possessive case, so also is “mine;" and if in the possessive, it can not be the subject of "18." The mistake lies in considering mine a substitute for my book, whereas it really is a substitute only for my, including such a reference to the word book in the first part of the sentence, as renders its repetition in the second part unnecessary. When it is deemed proper to express the noun after the pronoun, the form mine, etc., must be changed for my, etc. Thus, we can not say "Mine book," but My book;" but we can with equal propriety say, "John's book," or "The book is John's." See Appendix III.

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242. 1. In the same manner may be explained, the use of the possessive after transitive verbs in the active voice, and after prepositions: thus," James lost his books, and I gave him mine," meaning my books.—“ A picture of the king's," is a picture of (i. e. from) the king's pictures. So "A book of mine," is a book of (from) my books. "A friend of yours," is a friend of (from) your friends.

2. It is worthy of notice, that though this use of the possessive after of originally and strictly implies selection, or a part only, it has insensibly come to be used when no such selection is, or ever can be, intended. Thus we may say, "That house of yours," "that farm of yours," without intending to imply that any other houses or farms belong to you; and when we say, "That head of yours," selection is obviously excluded by the sense.

243. In royal proclamations, charters, editorial articles, and the like, where there is no individual responsibility, we is frequently applied to one person.

244. Thou is now used only in the solemn style-in addresses to the Deity, or to some important object in nature, or to mark special emphasis, or in the language of contempt. Ye, the plural of thou, is seldom used (except as the subject of the imperative), and only in the solemn style. It is sometimes used as the objective for you; as, "Vain pomp and glory of this world, I hate ye!"

245. You, the common plural of thou, is now used also to denote one person, but, even when it does so, it always takes a plural verb. This usage has become so fixed and uniform, that some eminent grammarians contend for its being regarded as singular. No

advantage, however, would be gained by adopting this proposal, and it seems to accord much more with simplicity, as well as with fact, to regard it as a plural which has come to be used for the singular by the figure enallagé (1044, 4). In certain kinds of writing (243), we is used in the same way, and so also is the corresponding pronoun in French, and some other modern languages, in which, however, it is always regarded as a plural form.

246. The pronoun it is used in a variety of ways:—

1. Properly it is used instead of a neuter noun, or substantive phrase; as, "Life is short; it should be well. improved." "James is a good scholar, and he knows it," viz., that he is a good scholar.

2. It is used as an indefinite subject of the verb to be, followed by a predicate in any person or number; as, “It is I;” “It is you;" "It is they,” etc.

܂

It is used in the same manner after the verb to be, in interrogative sentences; as, "Who is it?" "What is

it ?" etc.

3. It is prefixed as an introductory subject to such verbs as to be, to happen, to become, and the like, referring to an infinitive mood, or substantive phrase, which follows the verb, and is its true subject; as, "It is an honor for a man to cease from strife;" i. e., To cease from strife is an honor for a man. "It has been proved, that the earth revolves on its axis;" i. e., It, namely, that the earth revolves on its axis, has been proved.

4. It is used indefinitely before certain verbs, to denote some cause unknown,-or general, or well known, whose action is expressed by the verb; as, "It rains;" "It snows;" ;" "It is cold," etc. Verbs before which it is thus used, are said to be impersonal (520).

5. It is sometimes used as a mere expletive; as, "Come and trip it as you go."

247. The possessives, hers, its, ours, yours,

theirs, should never be written her's, it's, our's, your's, their's.

248. His and its, before a noun, are possessive pronouns; without a noun following, they are the possessive case (292). Her, before a noun, is the possessive pronoun; without a noun, it is the objective case.

Compound Personal Pronouns.

249. Myself (ourself), thyself (yourself), himself, herself, itself, with their plurals, ourselves, yourselves, themselves, are called Compound Personal Pronouns. They are used in two cases-the nominative, and the objective. In the nominative they are emphatic, and are added to their respective personal pronouns, or are used instead of them; as, "I myself did it.” "Himself shall come." In the objective they are reflexive, showing that the agent is also the object of his own act; as, "Judas went and hanged himself."

250. The simple pronouns, also, are sometimes used in a reflexive sense; as, "Thou hast hewed thee out a sepulchre, as he that heweth him out a sepulchre on high."Bible.

251. Ourself and yourself are used as compounds, corresponding to we and you, applied to an individual; as, "We ourself will follow."-Shakes. "You must do it yourself."

252. The possessive emphatic or reflexive, is made by adding the word own to the possessives my, thy, his, her, etc. (295); as, "God created man in his own image."

"The book is mine own."

Parsing.

253. Personal pronouns are parsed nearly like the substantives for which they stand (182). Thus,

ور

"I love "-I is a pronoun of the first person, masculine or feminine, singular, nominative.

As an additional exercise, a reason may be assigned for each statement, thus:

I is a pronoun,—it stands for the noun

254.

personal, its form determines its person.

first person,-it represents the speaker.

Masculine, or Feminine,-it denotes male or female.
Singular, it denotes but one.
Nominative, subject (315) of love.

PRELIMINARY ORAL EXERCISE.

What is a pronoun (228)? What is a personal pronoun (233)? In the sentence, "John is in the garden, he says it is full of trees," for what noun or name, does the word he stand? Then what part of speech is he? Why? For what noun does the word it stand?—then what part of speech is it? Why? What other words stand instead of nouns? (Write a list of them on the blackboard.)

Write sentences, each containing one of these pronouns, and tell for what noun it stands.

Select the personal pronouns from sentences in any reading-lesson, or book, and say for what nouns they stand.

EXERCISES ON PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

1. Parse the following list, as directed (253).—I, thou, we, me, us, thine, he, him, she, hers, they, thee, them, its, theirs, you, her, ours, yours, mine, his, it;-myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, themselves.

2. Select the personal pronouns in the following sentences, and parse them; if of the first or second person, state what they designate; if of the third, state the nouns for which they stand.

James says he is older than I; but I am taller than he.That book is mine; take it and read it.-Let them do it themselves. When you learn the lesson, come to me, and I will hear you say it.

They will go when we return.

Thou art the man.-Your knife is sharper than mine; lend it to me, if you please, till I mend my pen.

3. Write sentences, each of which shall contain a pronoun in the nominative case—in the possessive case-in the objective case.

4. Change the following sentences, so that the pronoun it shall be omitted, and the subject or thing spoken of shall stand first (246–4).

It is pleasant to see the sun. It is criminal to deceive. It is manifest that you have been deceived. It is said that the cholera has appeared in England. It is easy to talk. 5. Write sentences of this kind both ways.

2. Relative Pronouns.

255. A Relative Pronoun is one that relates to, and connects its clause with, a noun or pronoun before it. The word to which it relates is called the antecedent (229); as, "The master who taught us."

REMARK.-The relative clause limits or describes the noun to which the relative refers.

256. The antecedent of a relative may be a noun—a pronoun-an infinitive mood-a clause of a sentence (636)—or any fact or thing implied in it; as,

"A king who is just, makes his people happy;"

"He that is wise, is wise for himself;"

"He who reads all will not be able to think, without which it is impertinent to read; nor to act, without which it is impertinent to think;"

"We are bound to obey the Divine law, which we can not do without Divine aid;"

"The man was said to be innocent, which he was not."

257. Relative pronouns are of two kinds, Simple and Compound.