efore, _them_ should be _it_: "The first has a lenis, and the other an
asper over _them_."--_Printer's Gram._, p. 246. Better thus: "The first has
a lenis _over it_, and the other an asper."
OBS. 4.--Nouns that stand as nominatives or antecedents, are sometimes
taken conjointly when there is no conjunction expressed; as, "The
historian, the orator, the philosopher, _address themselves_ primarily to
the understanding: _their_ direct aim is, to inform, to persuade, to
instruct."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 377. The copulative _and_ may here be said
to be understood, because the verb and the pronouns are plural; but it
seems better _in general_, either to introduce the connective word, or to
take the nouns disjunctively: as, "They have all the copiousness, the
fervour, the inculcating method, that _is_ allowable and graceful in an
orator; perhaps too much of it for a writer."--_Blair's Rhet._, p. 343. To
this, however, there may be exceptions,--cases in which the plural form is
to be preferred,--especially in poetry; as,
"Faith, justice, heaven itself, now quit their hold,
When to false fame the captive heart is sold."--_Brown, on Satire_.
OBS. 5.--When two or more antecedents connected by _and_ are nominally
alike, one or more of them may be _understood_; and, in such a case, the
pronoun must still be plural, as agreeing with all the nouns, whether
expressed or implied: as, "But intellectual and moral culture ought to go
hand in hand; _they_ will greatly help each other."--_Dr. Weeks_. Here
_they_ stands for _intellectual culture_ and _moral culture_. The following
example is incorrect: "The Commanding and Unlimited _mode_ may be used in
an absolute sense, or without a name or substitute on which _it_ can
depend."--_O. B. Peirce's Gram._, p. 80. Change _it_ to _they_, or _and_ to
_or_. See Note 6th to Rule 16th.
IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.
FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XII.
PRONOUNS WITH ANTECEDENTS CONNECTED BY AND.
"Discontent and sorrow manifested itself in his countenance."--_Brown's
Inst._, p. 146.
[FORMULE--Not proper, because the pronoun _itself_ is of the singular
number, and does not correctly represent its two antecedents _discontent_
and _sorrow_, which are connected by _and_, and taken conjointly. But,
according to Rule 12th, "When a pronoun has two or more antecedents
connected by _and_, it must agree with then, jointly in the plural, because
they are taken together." Therefore, _itself_ should
|