OMISSION OF THE RELATIVES
[Sidenote: _Relative omitted when_ object.]
129. The relative is frequently omitted in spoken and in literary
English when it would be the object of a preposition or a verb. Hardly
a writer can be found who does not leave out relatives in this way
when they can be readily supplied in the mind of the reader. Thus,--
These are the sounds we feed upon.--FLETCHER.
I visited many other apartments, but shall not trouble my reader
with all the curiosities I observed.--SWIFT.
Exercise
Put in the relatives _who_, _which_, or _that_ where they are omitted
from the following sentences, and see whether the sentences are any
smoother or clearer:--
1. The insect I am now describing lived three years,--GOLDSMITH.
2. They will go to Sunday schools through storms their brothers
are afraid of.--HOLMES.
3. He opened the volume he first took from the shelf.--G. ELIOT.
4. He could give the coals in that queer coal scuttle we read of
to his poor neighbor.--THACKERAY.
5. When Goldsmith died, half the unpaid bill he owed to Mr.
William Filby was for clothes supplied to his nephew.--FORSTER
6. The thing I want to see is not Redbook Lists, and Court
Calendars, but the life of man in England.--CARLYLE.
7. The material they had to work upon was already democratical by
instinct and habitude.--LOWELL.
[Sidenote: _Relative omitted when_ subject.]
130. We often hear in spoken English expressions like these:--
There isn't one here ? knows how to play ball.
There was such a crowd ? went, the house was full.
Here the omitted relative would be in the nominative case. Also in
literary English we find the same omission. It is rare in prose, and
comparatively so in poetry. Examples are,--
The silent truth that it was she was superior.--THACKERAY
I have a mind presages me such thrift.--SHAKESPEARE.
There is a nun in Dryburgh bower,
Ne'er looks upon the sun.
--SCOTT.
And you may gather garlands there
Would grace a summer queen.
_Id._
'Tis distance lends enchantment to the view.--CAMPBELL.
Exercises on the Relative Pronoun
(_a_) Bring up sentences containing ten instances of the relatives
_who_, _which_, _that_, and _what_.
(_b_) Bring up sentences having five indefinite relatives.
(_c_) Bring up five sentences having indirect questions introduced by
pronouns.
(_d_) Tell whether the pronouns in the following are interrogatives,
simple relatives, or indefinite relatives:--
1. He ushered him into one of the wherries which lay ready to attend
the Queen's barge, which was already proceeding.
2. The nobles looked at each other, but more with the purpose to see
what each thought of the news, than to exchange any remarks on what
had happened.
3. Gracious Heaven! who was this that knew the word?
4. It needed to be ascertained which was the strongest kind of men;
who were to be rulers over whom.
5. He went on speaking to who would listen to him.
6. What kept me silent was the thought of my mother.
01.jpg)
0 comments:
Post a Comment