SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS
[Sidenote: _Indefinite use of_ you _and_ your.]
91. The word _you_, and its possessive case _yours_ are sometimes
used without reference to a particular person spoken to. They approach
the indefinite pronoun in use.
_Your_ mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of
the rod, was passed by with indulgence.--IRVING
To empty here, _you_ must condense there.--EMERSON.
The peasants take off their hats as _you_ pass; _you_ sneeze, and
they cry, "God bless you!" The thrifty housewife shows _you_ into
her best chamber. _You_ have oaten cakes baked some months
before.--LONGFELLOW
[Sidenote: _Uses of_ it.]
92. The pronoun _it_ has a number of uses:--
(1) _To refer to some single word preceding_; as,--
Ferdinand ordered the _army_ to recommence _its_ march.--BULWER.
_Society_, in this century, has not made _its_ progress, like
Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in
trifles.--D. WEBSTER.
(2) _To refer to a preceding word group_; thus,--
If any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet
_it_ is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch
because they can do no other.--BACON.
Here _it_ refers back to the whole sentence before it, or to the idea,
"any man's doing wrong merely out of ill nature."
(3) _As a grammatical subject, to stand for the real, logical
subject, which follows the verb_; as in the sentences,--
_It_ is easy in the world _to live after the world's opinion_.
--EMERSON.
_It_ is this _haziness_ of intellectual vision which is the
malady of all classes of men by nature.--NEWMAN.
_It_ is a pity _that he has so much learning, or that he has not
a great deal more_.--ADDISON.
(4) _As an impersonal subject in certain expressions which need no
other subject_; as,--
_It_ is finger-cold, and prudent farmers get in their barreled
apples.--THOREAU.
And when I awoke, _it_ rained.--COLERIDGE.
For when _it_ dawned, they dropped their arms.--_Id._
_It_ was late and after midnight.--DE QUINCEY.
(5) _As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a
preposition_; as in the following sentences:--
(_a_) Michael Paw, who _lorded it_ over the fair regions of
ancient Pavonia.--IRVING.
I made up my mind _to foot it_.--HAWTHORNE.
A sturdy lad ... who in turn tries all the professions, who
_teams it, farms it, peddles it_, keeps a school.--EMERSON.
(_b_) "Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life _of it_."--IRVING.
There was nothing _for it_ but to return.--SCOTT.
An editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is
an end _of it_.--HOLMES.
Poor Christian was hard put _to it_.--BUNYAN.
[Sidenote: _Reflexive use of the personal pronouns._]
93. The personal pronouns in the objective case are often used
_reflexively_; that is, referring to the same person as the subject of
the accompanying verb. For example, we use such expressions as, "I
found _me_ a good book," "He bought _him_ a horse," etc. This
reflexive use of the _dative_-objective is very common in spoken and
in literary English.
The personal pronouns are not often used reflexively, however, when
they are _direct_ objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose;
as,--
Now I lay _me_ down to sleep.--ANON.
I set _me_ down and sigh.--BURNS.
And millions in those solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid _them_ down
In their last sleep.--BRYANT.
0 comments:
Post a Comment