George. How then shall we know its person, number, gender?

Tutor. By its antecedent.

and

Caroline. I could have answered that question, for I remember the tenth rule, " Relative pronouns agree with their antecedents in person, number, and gender." But is it proper to say, The master which teaches me, teaches George?

Tutor. No when the antecedent denotes persons, or intelligent beings, you must use who, whose, and whom; therefore you should say, the master who teaches, &c. But when the antecedent denotes animals or things, you must use which or that.

George. Are which and that declinable?

Tutor. No these relatives are indeclinable. They are used in the nominative, and objective cases, and are spelled in the same manner in both; but they have no possessive case. Caroline. Is that never used as a relative, when the antecedent denotes persons, or intelligent beings?

Tutor. Yes, in several instances: as first, when who has been used in the same member of the sentence, to prevent the too frequent recurrence of the same word, we use that. Secondly, when persons make but part of the antecedent: as, "The man and the horses that were drowned, have been found." In this sentence, neither who nor which would be proper. Thirdly, when we ask a question with who: as, "Who that is honest would behave thus ?" Fourthly, that is more elegantly used as a relative than who or which after adjectives of the superlative degree: as, "Moses was the meekest man that ever lived." "Solomon was the wisest man that we read of." "This is the best pen that I ever had." Fifthly, that is used after the adjective same in preference to who or which: as, "He is the same man that you saw." The word as, when it follows such, is used as a relative, in preference to who, which, or that: as," I like such people as are agreeable." "I am pleased with such pupils as improve," &c.

George. What are the interrogative pronouns ?

Tutor. Who, which, and what, when used in asking questions, are interrogative pronouns. Who and which, when they relate to antecedents, are relatives; when used in asking questions, interrogatives. Who is declined in the same manner when an interrogative, as it is when a relative. What

is indeclinable. This word, should not be used as a relative. "The book what you gave me," &c. is bad English. It should be, "The book which, or that, you gave me," &c.

Which and what are sometimes joined to nouns like adjectives, and then they become interrogative adjective pronouns : "What man is that?" Which pen will you have?"

as,

Caroline. We know now, that who, which, and that, are called relative pronouns, because they relate to some antecedent, and that adjective pronouns are so called, because they belong to some noun, like an adjective; and that interrogative pronouns are so called, because they are used in asking questions; for a question means an interrogation; but we do not know why personal pronouns are so called.

Tutor. They are so called because they denote what person they are of, by their spelling. They do not depend on any other word for their person. Thus, if I write the word I, or thou, or he, or she, or it, without any connexion with another word, you know what person each of them is; but if I write the word who, or which, or that, you cannot tell what person it is. But if I write he as an antecedent before the relative, then we know the person of the relative, as well as its number and gender; because the relative depends on the antecedent for its person, number, and gender, and agrees with it according to the tenth rule. Thus when I say, "I who-Thou who

He who-We who-You who-They who"-in all these instances, you perceive that who does not vary, and you can know its person, &c. only by its antecedents, I, thou, he, &c. But it is not so with respect to its antecedents, I, thou, he, &c. which are personal pronouns. They have person of them selves, and denote their person by their spelling.

Caroline. I think we now understand why the different kinds of pronouns are distinguished by particular names or terms. These distinctions of the pronouns show us, in some degree, their different natures and connexions.

Tutor. I shall now ask you a number of questions which I presume you can answer.

QUESTIONS.

What are relative pronouns ?
How do you decline who?

Are which and that declinable?

When must who be used?

I what instances is that more elegantly applied to persons than who?

In what instances must that be used as a relative, where neither who nor which would be proper?

When must as be used as a relative?

How do you know the person, number, and gender of a re lative pronoun?

How do you know when that is a relative, and when a demonstrative?

Which and that being indeclinable, how will you know their case? See the rule below.

What are the interrogative pronouns ?

When which and what are added to nouns, what are they?

I will now give you some exercises which you are prepared to parse.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

Who does that work?-Who recites this lesson ?-Whom see I?-Whom seest thou how ?-Whom sees he?-Whom see ye sometimes-Whom lovest thou most ?-What dost thou to-day?-What person seest thou teaching that boy ?— Which girl instruct they?—I have an excellent house.-Thou hast a handsome little sister.--He has an honest friend.-He hath two new knives.--We have most worthy friends.-You have a most agreeable temper.-They have an easy task.-What has he ?-What book has he?-Which road takest thou? What child teaches he?-Us they teach.-Them we icach.--Her I instruct.-Thee he often praises.

RULE XII.

When no nominative comes between the relative and the verb, the relative is the nominative to the verb; but when a nominative DOES come between the relative and the verb, the relative must be in the possessive case, and governed by the fol lowing noun, or in the objective, and governed by the following verb, or some participle, or preposition, in its own member of the sentence.

EXERCISES IN PARSING.

The man who teaches you, pleases your father.-The person whom I teach, loves his friends.--The woman whose house they hire, owns many houses.-Thee, whom thy friends admire, we also love.--Them, whom thou pleasest, sonre others displease.Whom ye ignorantly worship, him deelare I.-Him, whom you see, I love still.-The house which he occupies, our neighbour owns.--The elegant books, which the little boys read, the old man sells.-I, whom you call, hear your voice.-Thou, who makest my shoes, sellest many more. I have good books, you have better, he has the best.

CONVERSATION XI.

OF PREPOSITIONS.

Tutor. We commence this morning with the preposition, which is a part of speech very easily understood. Prepositions serve to connect words with one another, and to show the relations between them.) Prepositions, being words used to express connexions, have no person, number, gender, nor case. They agree with nothing; but they govern nouns and pronouns that follow them in the objective case. / The principal prepositions are the following:

of

out of

over against

in into

betwixt

near

There are others which need not be mentioned, because by examining and parsing these, you will easily understand the nature and character of this part of speech, and be able to distinguish it from others whenever you see it.

George. You say that prepositions govern the objective case. They do not express any action done to an object, as a verb or participle does.

Tutor. That is true. The objective case that is governed by a preposition, is not the object of an action, but the object merely of a relation. They require the noun or pronoun following, to be in the objective case, and not the nominative or possessive case. This you will perceive by putting pronouns after the prepositions which I have written. You will see that the pronouns must be me, thee, him, her, us, them, and not I, thou, he, she, they. To say, Of I, to thou, with they, &e. you immediately perceive to be contrary to usage, and that it is

nonsense.

When nouns are placed after prepositions, then, they must

be in the same case that a pronoun would, if placed where the noun is, for nouns and pronouns have the same construction. When you parse an objective case, governed by a preposi tion, you will give this rule :

RULE XIII.

Prepositions govern the objective case.*

Caroline. I do not perceive very clearly how prepositions connect words together; nor do I well understand how they show the relation between them.

Tutor. I will illustrate the nature and office of a preposition by a few examples.

The boy writes

My horse isman fell

-a pen.

The man walks

The

-the river. -the stable. You live- -St. Paul's. -the water. The Theatre is situated- -the Park. In each of these expressions, you perceive either a total want of connexion, or such a connexion as produces either falsehood or nonsense. Fill up each vacancy in its order by the following prepositions, with, towards, in, opposite to or over against, into, opposite to, and you will see that the connexion will be perfect, and the sense complete.

George. I now see the necessity and use of prepositions as connectives, but I should like to hear one word, if you please, on the subject of relation.

Tutor. When I say this box lies on the table, you may perceive that on shows the existing relation between the box and the table, or the relative position each has in respect to the other. And so when I say, I throw the box under the table-up the chimney-through the window-down stairsinto the fire, &c. the several prepositions show the different relations between the box and the other things mentioned. Prepositions, then, being words that show the relation between persons, places, and things, necessarily show the relation also, between the words, that denote the persons, places, and things.

Caroline. I think the office of the preposition, is quite distinct from that of any other part of speech, we have been made acquainted with; and that we now clearly comprehend its use, and know how to parse it.

Tutor. I think you do; but I shall here make a few remarks concerning the verbs, which you were not before pre

* The adverb like, and the adjectives worth and like, when they belong to preceding nouns or pronouns, govern the objective case: as, She dances like him; she is like him; she is worth him and all his family.