REMARKS ON THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS
[Sidenote: Who.]
111. By reading carefully the sentences in Sec. 107, the following
facts will be noticed about the relative _who_:--
(1) It usually refers to persons: thus, in the first sentence, Sec.
107, _a man...who_; in the second, _that man...whose_; in the third,
_son_, _whom_; and so on.
(2) It has three case forms,--_who_, _whose_, _whom_.
(3) The forms do not change for person or number of the antecedent. In
sentence 4, _who_ is first person; in 5, _whose_ is second person; the
others are all third person. In 1, 2, and 3, the relatives are
singular; in 4, 5, and 6, they are plural.
[Sidenote: Who _referring to animals_.]
112. Though in most cases _who_ refers to persons there are
instances found where it refers to animals. It has been seen (Sec. 24)
that animals are referred to by personal pronouns when their
characteristics or habits are such as to render them important or
interesting to man. Probably on the same principle the personal
relative _who_ is used not infrequently in literature, referring to
animals.
Witness the following examples:--
And you, warm little housekeeper [the cricket], _who_ class With
those who think the candles come too soon.--LEIGH HUNT.
The robins...have succeeded in driving off the bluejays _who_
used to build in our pines.--LOWELL.
The little gorilla, _whose_ wound I had dressed, flung its arms
around my neck.--THACKERAY.
A lake frequented by every fowl _whom_ Nature has taught to dip
the wing in water.--DR. JOHNSON.
While we had such plenty of domestic insects _who_ infinitely
excelled the former, because they understood how to weave as well
as to spin.--SWIFT.
My horse, _who_, under his former rider had hunted the buffalo,
seemed as much excited as myself.--IRVING.
Other examples might be quoted from Burke, Kingsley, Smollett, Scott,
Cooper, Gibbon, and others.
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