XXVIII

THE ADJECTIVE PRONOUNS

Care must be taken not to make too many classes in elementary grammar; lest the important ideas be made to take rank with the unimportant, and the unity and simplicity of the movement in the study of the subject be destroyed.— BROWN AND DEGARMO.

"Although successful classification is the main thing, the work of classification can easily be overdone and made burdensome enough to frustrate its own aim by the multiplication of fine drawn distinctions and of technical rules designating them."

The indeclinables confirm the English characteristics. They are structural or functional, largely formless and with free interchange of function.-JOYNES.

All things considered, it does not seem desirable to recognize the relation of agreement in English. In the case of this and that the agreement exists, but has a logical basis in the inflection of these words as pronouns.-DAVENPORT AND EMERSON.

I leave many of these indeterminate pronouns. To notice every one individually in a particular manner could answer no purpose except that of swelling the size of a book -a thing which I most anxiously wish to avoid.-COBBETT'S GRAMMAR, 1818.

There is a large class of words of somewhat related meaning, which may be used interchangeably as adjectives or pronouns according as the nouns to which they relate are expressed or merely understood. To these

words the names adjective pronoun and pronominal adjective have been given by different grammarians, according as the emphasis is laid upon one or the other of these word functions.

In their adjective character these words do not express definite qualities, but they usually point out objects previously mentioned, or else they have a somewhat indefinite meaning referring generally to number or quantity.

Among these pronominal adjective words many sub-classes have been noted, but the classification is by no means perfect or entirely consistent. Among the sub-classes are the possessives and the numerals. This and that are known as the demonstratives, each and every as the distributives, the phrases each other and one another as reciprocals, and there is a large class of words which from their general lack of specific meaning are known as the indefinites. Other terms of classification have sometimes been given. Much and little and their related forms (more, less, etc.) are quantitatives. All and some are collectives. Some interrogative and relative words, as, what and which, are also both adjective and pronominal in their use.

The name adjective pronoun, first given by Murray, is the one most commonly applied to the general group. Yet for some of these words the adjective office is more important than the pronominal. Indeed, some of these related words cannot be used interchangeably in the two offices. Thus the distributive adjective every cannot be used in a pronominal relation. On the other hand

some of the indefinite pronouns, as none, are never adjective in their use. Certain nouns of similar meaning are generally thought of in a half-pronominal sense. The line between these and the indefinite adjective pronouns is not very distinctly drawn. Such are aught, naught, anyone, anybody, no one, nobody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, and even a body," meaning one, as,

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“Gin a body meet a body comin' through the ye."

The earlier English contained some words of this class that are now little used, as in "All and sundry,” “I have somewhat to say unto thee," "Divers came from far," "There were certain that said," etc. While the general similarity of all such words is to be noted, the grammarian must deal with each word as pronoun, noun, or adjective according to the function which it fulfils in any individual sentence.

Most of the adjective pronouns are without inflection of any kind. A few of them can take plural or possessive forms, but are then (with the exception of this and that) like nouns in their character, as, "Here are the ones I meant," "Each can feel the other's grief.”

Any and none are generally used with plural meanings. Any, however, was formerly singular, as, “If any, speak, for him I have offended." An old idiom, "this many years," shows a blending of numeral characteristics.

In addition to the adjective and the strictly pronominal use, some of the indefinites and numerals may be

limited by adjectives or articles and are therefore allied to nouns in their sentence relations, as, a few, the other, such a one, a good many, the little one, the first.

Some of the adjective pronouns are often used in pairs, as, this, that; the one, the other; the former, the latter; the first, the second; the first, the last, etc.

This and that, known especially as the demonstratives, are far more frequently used than most of the other adjective pronouns. They have also welldefined grammatical marks which are all their own. For this reason some grammarians have given them the distinction of being "a whole class" of pronouns, though this seems to be a rather questionable prominence to be given to two words however important.

This and that, whether used as adjectives or pronouns, have singular and plural number-forms. While most English adjectives, including the articles, have lost all their old English inflections, the demonstratives have held securely to their ancient number-forms.

Certain other words in English are somewhat allied to the demonstratives. The article the is in its origin a modified form of that. The adverbs here and there and the compounds herewith and therewith are also used in a demonstrative sense.

That was originally purely a Saxon demonstrative, but by a widening of its grammatical functions it has become an important relative pronoun as well. It has also acquired another connective office and is the most important conjunction for substantive clauses.

This and these point out the nearer objects, that and

those the more remote. The application of this principle in poetry when referring to objects previously mentioned seems to be that this and these refer to the things that were last named, that and those to the ones named earlier, as,

"Farewell, my friends, farewell my foes,

My peace with these, my love with those."

The idiom "that of" borrowed from the French, is a very convenient one in English, as, "His dress was that of a shepherd."

While there are few general principles that can be formulated as applying to the adjective pronouns, there are many specific questions relating to the meaning and use of the individual words, which are of much interest to the student of idiomatic English.