Page images
PDF
EPUB

the noun requiring to be now taken in quite a different sense from that in which it was previously used. It there means the whole range of prose writing; in the latter part of the sentence one branch or division of prose writing only.

Before admitting the phrase "that of," mentally substitute the antecedent noun for the pronoun. If this cannot be done at once, and without hesitation, the phrase is wrong, and the thought probably wanting in clearness.

§ 35. Who, which.-The use of the Relative Pronouns requires care. Above all it must be perfectly clear to what antecedent the Relative pronoun refers. No rule is oftener broken than this.

EXAMPLES FOR CRITICISM.

"I can never blush, if my tender mind was entangled in the sophistry that seduced the acute and manly understandings of Chillingworth and Bayle, who afterwards emerged from superstition to scepticism." (Gibbon, Autobiog. p. 32.)

[Who?-both Chillingworth and Bayle, or Bayle only? The past tense ("emerged ") in English being without sign of singular or plural, the reference is left doubtful. The fact of Bayle's "scepticism" is of course notorious; but it is possible that Gibbon considered the statement equally applicable to Chillingworth; and apart from all knowledge of the opinions of the two eminent men referred to, this is the sense which would more naturally be accepted. The ambiguity might be removed by the use of a defining word: "the latter of whom"; or, "both of whom "; according to the intention of the writer.]

"We found in the river an island, which we took the liberty to call 'Ellangowan Island,' being the highest point reached by the Ellangowan, which we circumnavigated in the boat." (Newspaper.)

["Which we circumnavigated"—what? The "Ellangowan" or the "point"? Evidently neither; but the island mentioned in the former part of the sentence. This awkwardness would have been entirely avoided by bringing the Relative closer to its antecedent, as thus:—

"We found in the river an island, which we took the liberty to call 'Ellangowan Island,' and [which we] circumnavigated in the boat. This was the highest point reached by the Ellangowan,"

Or the former part of the sentence might be left unchanged; the noun being repeated, thus:

“... and we circumnavigated the island in the boat.”]

The following example, though perhaps not incorrect, is still open to exception :

"Heavy autumnal rains had considerably damaged the harvest, and diminished the amount of its yield, which combined with the cattleplague, had caused a great rise in the price of provisions." (Moles. iii. 270.)

Here the antecedent to "which" is neither the noun "yield" nor the noun "amount," as might appear at first glance, but the entire previous sentence. It would have been more correct to say

".... and this deficiency, combined with the cattle-plague, had caused a great rise," &c.

§ 36. "And which," "and who."--The essential peculiarity of the so-called Relative pronouns is their conjunctive force (see E. Gr. §§ 88, 89). A Relative pronoun is, in fact, pronoun and conjunction in one. This is seen most plainly when the Relative is used conjunctively (E. Gr.

233, 2); in which case a conjunction and a pronoun may usually without difficulty be substituted for it. Through forgetfulness of this, writers not unfrequently insert a superfluous connective before the Relative. The use of and which" for simply "which" is a common vulgarism.

66

EXAMPLES FOR CRITICISM.

"Later in the evening arrived his Eminency Cardinal Berwick, for our friend had gained and bravely gained the great object of a churchman's ambition, and which even our Laud was thinking at one time of accepting." (Lothair, i.)

Dele "and," and the sentence is correct.

"I will take the liberty of adding an anecdote respecting his [M. de Lafayette's] farewell address to the Congress of America in 1783, and which occurred fresh to my mind when I saw Mr. Burke's thundering letter on the French Revolution." (Paine, Rights, p. 18.)

Again, dele "and," and the sentence is right.

"Lisbon and Cadiz are the two ports into which gold and silver from S. America are imported, and which afterwards divides and spreads itself over Europe by means of commerce." (Ib. p. 152.)

Again dele "and."

The same remark applies to "and who" ;—

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

were absorbed into the hands

"All the rights of the people of the Conqueror, and who added the title of king to that of Conqueror." (Ib. p. 83.)

[ocr errors]

"As to what a madman, like the person called Lord George Gordon might say, and to whom Newgate is rather a bedlam than a prison. (lb. p. 26.)

The "and" is in both these sentences an interloper.

§ 37. There is, however, a perfectly legitimate use of the Conjunction "and" before a Relative. This is when it is needed to connect two or more Relative clauses ["Adjectival Sentences": E. Gr. § 312]; as in the following examples :

66

They are in the condition of men who get their living by a show, and to whom the folly of that show is so familiar that they ridicule it." (lb. p. 87.)

"All the pleasing illusions, which made power gentle, and obedience liberal, which harmonized the different shades of life, and which, by a bland assimilation, incorporated into politics the sentiments which beautify and adorn private society, are to be dissolved by this new conquering empire of light and reason." (Burke, Refl. p. 114.)

[ocr errors]

"On the scheme of this barbarous philosophy, which is the offspring of cold hearts and muddy understandings, and which is as void of solid wisdom as it is destitute of all taste and elegance. (Ib. p. 115.) "Poets, who have to deal with an audience not yet graduated in the rights of men, and who must apply themselves to the moral constitution of the heart.

[ocr errors]

(Ib. p. 120.)

In each of these cases, we have two or more relative sentences co-ordinate with each other; and it is these co-ordinate sentences that are connected by "and." On the contrary, in each of the faulty examples previously given, there is but one relative sentence; and this is already sufficiently connected to the principal sentence by the Relative, without the addition of a Conjunction as well.

§ 38. Sometimes, however, the preceding member to which a relative clause is attached by "and," is not strictly a co-ordinate sentence, but simply an Adjective or an adjectival phrase: as

"The murder of a king, or a queen, or a bishop, or a father, are only common homicide; and if the people are by any chance, or in any way gainers by it, a sort of homicide much the most pardonable, and into which we ought not to make too severe a scrutiny." (Burke, Refl. p. 115.)

Here, however, the case is quite different from that of the examples condemned. The relative sentence "into which . is connected by the conjunction "and," not to the antecedent, "[sort of] homicide," but to the adjectival phrase, "much the most pardonable." Both the relative sentence and the adjectival phrase are descriptive of the noun homicide," and it is as descriptive members that they are connected. But the construction, though logical and grammatical, is not altogether pleasing. The connected members have too little symmetry. It might perhaps be an improvement to read

[ocr errors]

66

a sort of homicide much the most pardonable, and one into which we ought," &c.

In this way the connected members become more symmetrical. "One" is here a pronoun representing the noun "sort"; as if the writer had said

66

and

a sort of homicide much the most pardonable."

66 a sort of homicide into which we ought not," &c.

§ 39. The same criticism applies to the following example

แ..

a proceeding calculated to impair the dignity and importance of the House, and to which many of the supporters of the government entertained as strong opposition as the Tories themselves." (Moles. iii. 73.)

66

Read,

[ocr errors]

a proceeding calculated . . . and one to which," &c.

...

In the following instance, the same principle is carried further; and the effect is still less pleasing

"He adopted Trajan, then about forty years of age, and who commanded a powerful army in Lower Germany. (Gibbon, ch. iii.)

دو

Here the descriptive member "who commanded . . .” is connected by "and" to the adjectival phrase "about forty years of age." But the discrepancy between these two members is so great, that the construction becomes unpleasantly harsh. Surely it would be better to say

"He adopted Trajan, then about forty years of age, and (commanding a powerful army," &c. (or, in command of

Such a sentence as the following again can hardly be defended:

66

Those [plants] that are eaten by other animals undergo quite a different set of chemical changes in the animal's body, and which may be said to result in the several constituents of the plant supplying nitrogenous substances to the animal's muscle, carbon to its fat, mineral matter to its bones." (Hooker, Primer of Botany, p. 23.)

66

It would be an improvement either to cancel the word and," or to substitute "these" for "which."

§ 40. Another common fault in the use of who, which, consists in stringing together a succession of relative sentences: each succeeding one being not co-ordinate with, but dependent upon its predecessor. The following sentence exhibits this fault in a somewhat mild form :

[ocr errors]

Amongst those who rushed up was a party of engineers, who instantly commenced placing the heights in a position of defence against the Russians, who no doubt would not allow the French to remain masters of it." (Moles. H. E. iii. 62.)

Here the first "who" refers to the antecedent "those "; the second, to the antecedent "party of engineers"; and the third, to "the Russians." As a consequence, the sentence, instead of being round and compact, is clumsy, and drags in an awkward manner. The passage quoted has other faults and blemishes: but we are not concerned with these at present.

The two following examples, drawn from the same author, exhibit this fault in a more conspicuous manner:—

"The reason assigned for the revival of this long-dormant_right, which was to increase the number of the law-lords, by whom appeals were heard, and who in fact constituted the tribunal of appeal in the last resort, which in theory was composed of the whole House of Lords." (Ib. p. 73.)

[It is not often that one meets with a sentence so glaringly incorrect as this in any respectable author. In the first place, the subject "The reason" is positively without a predicate at all. But besides this, the use of the Relative in it, is open to the same exception as in the previous example. The period may be reconstructed in some such way as the following:

"The reason assigned for the revival of this long-dormant right [viz. of creating life-peerages] was to increase the number of law-lords. These lords in fact constituted the tribunal of appeal in the last resort, which in theory was composed of the whole House."]

« PreviousContinue »