hy lady do?--SCOTT.

_What_ is so rare as a day in June?--LOWELL.

_What_ wouldst thou do, old man?--SHAKESPEARE.

These show that _what_ is not inflected for case; that it is always
singular and neuter, referring to things, ideas, actions, etc., not to
persons.

DECLENSION OF INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS.

101. The following are all the interrogative forms:--

SING. AND PLUR. SING. AND PLUR. SINGULAR

_Nom._ who? which? what?
_Poss._ whose? -- --
_Obj._ whom? which? what?

In spoken English, _who_ is used as objective instead of _whom_; as,
"_Who_ did you see?" "_Who_ did he speak to?"

[Sidenote: _To tell the case of interrogatives._]

102. The interrogative _who_ has a separate form for each case,
consequently the case can be told by the form of the word; but the
case of _which_ and _what_ must be determined exactly as in nouns,--by
the _use_ of the words.

For instance, in Sec. 99, _which_ is nominative in the first sentence,
since it is subject of the verb _had_; nominative in the second also,
subject of _doth love_; objective in the last, being the direct
object of the verb _shall take_.

[Sidenote: _Further treatment of_ who, which _and_ what.]

103. _Who_, _which_, and _what_ are also relative pronouns; _which_
and _what_ are sometimes adjectives; _what_ may be an adverb in some
expressions.

They will be spoken of again in the proper places, especially in the
treatment of indirect questions (Sec. 127).

RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Function of the relative pronoun_.]

104. Relative pronouns differ from both personal and interrogative
pronouns in referring to an antecedent, and also in having a
conjunctive use. The advantage in using them is to unite short
statements into longer sentences, and so to make smoother discourse.
Thus we may say, "The last of all the Bards was he. These bards sang
of Border chivalry." Or, it may be shortened into,--

"The last of all the Bards was he,
_Who_ sung of Border chivalry."

In the latter sentence, _who_ evidently refers to _Bards_, which is
called the antecedent of the relative.

[Sidenote: _The antecedent._]

105. The antecedent of a pronoun is the noun, pronoun, or other
word or expression, for which the pronoun stands. It usually precedes
the pronoun.

Personal pronouns of the third person may have anteceden