The relative pronoun is of the same person with the antecedent; as, Thou who lovest wisdom: I who speak from experience.

This rule is violated in the following sentences: Each of the sexes should keep within its particular bounds, and content themselves with the advantages of their particular districts; better thus; The sexes should keep within their particular bounds, &c. Can any one, on their entrance into the world, be fully secure that they shall not be deceived? on his entrance, and that he shall. One should not think too favorably of ourselves; of one's self. He had one acquaintance which poisoned his principles; who poisoned.

Who, which, what, and the relative that, though in the objective case, are always placed before the verb; as are also their compounds, whoever, whosoever, &c.; as, He whom ye seek: This is what, or the thing which, or that you want: Whomsoever you please to appoint.

Personal pronouns being used to supply the place of the noun, are not employed in the same part of a sentence as the noun which they represent; for it would be improper to say, The king he is just: I saw her the queen: The men they were there. These personals are superfluous, as there is not the least occasion for a substitute in the same part where the principal word is present.

The nominative case they in the following sentence, is also superfluous: Who instead of going about doing good, they are perpetually intent upon doing mischief.

The pronoun that is frequently applied to persons as well as to things; but after an adjective in the superlative degree, and after the pronominal ad

jective same, it is generally used in preference to who or which; as, Charles XII, king of Sweden, was one of the greatest madmen that the world ever saw: Cataline's followers were the most profligate that could be employed in any city: He is the same man that we saw before. There are cases in which we cannot conveniently dispense with this relative as applied to person; as, first, after who the interrogative; Who that has any sense of religion, would have argued thus? Secondly, when persons make but a part of the antecedent: The woman, and the estate that became his portion, were too much for his moderation.

Many persons are apt, in conversation, to put the objective case of the personal pronouns, in the place of these and those; as, Give me them books; instead of those books. We may sometimes find this fault even in writing.

In some dialects, the word what is improperly used for that, and sometimes we find it in this sense in writing: They will never believe but what I have been entirely to blame. I am not satisfied but what, &c. instead of, but that.

The pronoun relative who is so much appropriated to persons, that there is generally harshness in the application of it, except to the proper names of persons, or the general terms man, woman, &c.

We hardly consider little children as persons, because that term gives us the idea of reason and reflection; and therefore the application of the personal relative who, in this case, seems to be harsh. It is still more improperly applied to animals.

In one case custom authorizes us to use which, with respect to persons; and that is, when we wish to distinguish one person of two, or a particular

person among a number of others. We should then say, Which of the two? or, Which of them is he, or she?

It is, and was, are often, after the manner of the French, used in a plural construction, and by some of our best writers; as, It is either a few great men who decide for the whole, or it is the rabble that follow a seditious ringleader: It is they that are the real authors, though the soldiers are the actors of the revolution: it was the heretics that first began to rail, &c. 'Tis these that early taint the female mind.

The neuter pronoun it, by an idiom peculiar to the English language, is frequently joined in explanatory sentences with a noun or pronoun of the masculine or feminine gender; as, It was I: It was the man, or woman, that did it.

The neuter pronoun it, is sometimes omitted and understood: thus we say, As appears, as follows; for, As it appears, as it follows; and, May be, for, It may be.

The neuter pronoun it, is sometimes employed to express:

1st. The subject of any discourse or inquiry; as, It happened on a summer's day: Who is it that calls on me?

2nd. The state or condition of any person or thing: as, How is it with you?

3rd. The thing, whatever it be, that is the cause of any effect or event, or any person considered merely as a cause; as, We heard her say it was not he: The truth is, it was I that helped her.

RULE XX.

If there is no nominative between the relative

and the verb, the relative is nominative case to the verb; as,

The master who taught us: The trees which are planted.

RULE XXI,

When a nominative comes between the relative and the verb, the relative is governed by some word in its own member of the sentence; as,

He who preserves me,to whom I owe my being, whose I am, and whom I serve, is eternal.

In the several members of the last sentence, the relative performs a different office. In the first member, it marks the agent; in the second, it submits to the government of the preposition; in the third, it represents the possessor; in the fourth, the object of an action; and therefore it must be in the three different cases, correspondent to those offices.

When both the antecedent and the relative become nominatives, each to different verbs, the relative is the nominative to the former, and the antecedent to the latter verb; as, True Philosophy, which is the ornament of our nature, consists more in love of our duty, and the practice of virtue, than in great talents and extensive knowledge.

When the relative pronoun is of the interrogative kind, the noun or pronoun containing the answer must be in the same case as that which con tains the question; as, Whose books are these? They are John's. Who gave them to him? We. Of Whom did you buy them? Of a bookseller. To express the answers at large, we should say, They are John's books. We gave them to him, We bought them of a bookseller. As the relative pronoun, when used interrogatively, refers to the

subsequent word or phrase containing the answer to the question, that word or phrase may properly be termed the subsequent to the interrogative.

RULE XXII.

Every adjective, and every pronoun and participle, used adjectively, belong to some noun or pronoun, expressed or understood; as,

He is a good as well as a wise man: Few are happy; i. e. few persons are happy: This is a pleasant walk; i. e. this walk is pleasant: He wrote in a style which was easy and flowing; i. e. which was an easy and flowing style.

The word means, and the phrases, by this means, by that means, are used by our best and most correct writers, in the singular number. They are, indeed in so general and approved use, that it would appear awkward, if not affected, to apply the old singular form, and say, By this mean, by that mean; although it is more agreeable to the general analogy of the language. The word means (says Priestly) belongs to the class of words, which do not change their termination on account of number; for it is used alike in both numbers.

The word amends is used in this manner in the following sentences: Though he did not succeed, he gained the approbation of his country: and, with this amends, he was content: Peace of mind is an honorable amends for the sacrifices of interest.

The practice of the best and most correct writers or a majority of them, corroborated by general usage, forms, during its continuance, the standard of language; especially, if, in particular instances, this practice continue after objection and due consideration. Every connexion and applica