III. OMISSION OF THE RELATIVE.

 

416. Although the omission of the relative is common when it would be the object of the verb or preposition expressed, there is an omission which is not frequently found in careful writers; that is, when the relative word is a pronoun, object of a preposition understood, or is equivalent to the conjunction when, where, whence, and such like: as, "He returned by the same route [by which] he came;" "India is the place [in which, or where] he died." Notice these sentences:—

 

In the posture I lay, I could see nothing except the sky.—Swift.

 

This is he that should marshal us the way we were going.—Emerson.

But I by backward steps would move;

And, when this dust falls to the urn,

In that same state I came, return.

—Vaughan.

Welcome the hour my aged limbs

Are laid with thee to rest.

—Burns.

 

The night was concluded in the manner we began the morning.—Goldsmith.

 

The same day I went aboard we set sail.—Defoe.

 

The vulgar historian of a Cromwell fancies that he had determined on being Protector of England, at the time he was plowing the marsh lands of Cambridgeshire.—Carlyle.

 

To pass under the canvas in the manner he had entered required time and attention.—Scott.

 

Exercise.—In the above sentences, insert the omitted conjunction or phrase, and see if the sentence is made clearer.

 

IV. THE RELATIVE AS AFTER SAME.

 

417. It is very rarely that we find such sentences as,—

 

He considered...me as his apprentice, and accordingly expected the same service from me as he would from another.—Franklin.

 

This has the same effect in natural faults as maiming and mutilation produce from accidents.—Burke.

The regular construction.

Caution.

 

The usual way is to use the relative as after same if no verb follows as; but, if same is followed by a complete clause, as is not used, but we find the relative who, which, or that. Remember this applies only to as when used as a relative.

 

Examples of the use of as in a contracted clause:—

 

Looking to the same end as Turner, and working in the same spirit, he, with Turner, was a discoverer, etc.—R. W. Church.

 

They believe the same of all the works of art, as of knives, boats, looking-glasses.—Addison.

 

Examples of relatives following same in full clauses:—

Who.

 

This is the very same rogue who sold us the spectacles. —Goldsmith.

 

The same person who had clapped his thrilling hands at the first representation of the Tempest.—Macaulay.

That.

 

I rubbed on some of the same ointment that was given me at my first arrival.—Swift.

Which.

For the same sound is in my ears

Which in those days I heard.

—Wordsworth.

 

With the same minuteness which her predecessor had exhibited, she passed the lamp over her face and person.—Scott.

 

V. MISUSE OF RELATIVE PRONOUNS.

 

Anacoluthic use of which.

 

418. There is now and then found in the pages of literature a construction which imitates the Latin, but which is usually carefully avoided. It is a use of the relative which so as to make an anacoluthon, or lack of proper connection between the clauses; for example,—

 

Which, if I had resolved to go on with, I might as well have staid at home.—Defoe

 

Which if he attempted to do, Mr. Billings vowed that he would follow him to Jerusalem.—Thackeray.

 

We know not the incantation of the heart that would wake them;—which if they once heard, they would start up to meet us in the power of long ago.—Ruskin.

 

He delivered the letter, which when Mr. Thornhill had read, he said that all submission was now too late.—Goldsmith.

But still the house affairs would draw her thence;

Which ever as she could with haste dispatch,

She'd come again.

—Shakespeare.

 

As the sentences stand, which really has no office in the sentence: it should be changed to a demonstrative or a personal pronoun, and this be placed in the proper clause.

 

Exercise.—Rewrite the above five sentences so as to make the proper grammatical connection in each.

And who, and which, etc.

 

419. There is another kind of expression which slips into the lines of even standard authors, but which is always regarded as an oversight and a blemish.

 

The following sentence affords an example: "The rich are now engaged in distributing what remains among the poorer sort, and who are now thrown upon their compassion." The trouble is that such conjunctions as and, but, or, etc., should connect expressions of the same kind: and who makes us look for a preceding who, but none is expressed. There are three ways to remedy the sentence quoted: thus, (1) "Among those who are poor, and who are now," etc.; (2) "Among the poorer sort, who are now thrown," etc.; (3) "Among the poorer sort, now thrown upon their," etc. That is,—

 

Direction for rewriting.

 

Express both relatives, or omit the conjunction, or leave out both connective and relative.

 

Exercise.

 

Rewrite the following examples according to the direction just given:—

And who.

 

1. Hester bestowed all her means on wretches less miserable than herself, and who not unfrequently insulted the hand that fed them.—Hawthorne.

 

2. With an albatross perched on his shoulder, and who might be introduced to the congregation as the immediate organ of his conversion.—De Quincey.

 

3. After this came Elizabeth herself, then in the full glow of what in a sovereign was called beauty, and who would in the lowest walk of life have been truly judged to possess a noble figure.—Scott.

 

4. This was a gentleman, once a great favorite of M. le Conte, and in whom I myself was not a little interested.—Thackeray.

 

But who.

 

5. Yonder woman was the wife of a certain learned man, English by name, but who had long dwelt in Amsterdam.—Hawthorne.

 

6. Dr. Ferguson considered him as a man of a powerful capacity, but whose mind was thrown off its just bias.—Scott.

 

Or who.

 

7. "What knight so craven, then," exclaims the chivalrous Venetian, "that he would not have been more than a match for the stoutest adversary; or who would not have lost his life a thousand times sooner than return dishonored by the lady of his love?"—Prescott.

 

And which.

 

8. There are peculiar quavers still to be heard in that church, and which may even be heard a mile off.—Irving.

 

9. The old British tongue was replaced by a debased Latin, like that spoken in the towns, and in which inscriptions are found in the western counties.—Pearson.

 

10. I shall have complete copies, one of signal interest, and which has never been described.—Motley.

 

But which.

 

11. "A mockery, indeed, but in which the soul trifled with itself!"—Hawthorne.

 

12. I saw upon the left a scene far different, but which yet the power of dreams had reconciled into harmony.—De Quincey.

 

Or which.

 

13. He accounted the fair-spoken courtesy, which the Scotch had learned, either from imitation of their frequent allies, the French, or which might have arisen from their own proud and reserved character, as a false and astucious mark, etc.—Scott.

That ... and which, etc.

 

420. Akin to the above is another fault, which is likewise a variation from the best usage. Two different relatives are sometimes found referring back to the same antecedent in one sentence; whereas the better practice is to choose one relative, and repeat this for any further reference.

 

Exercise.

 

Rewrite the following quotations by repeating one relative instead of using two for the same antecedent:—

 

That ... who.

 

1. Still in the confidence of children that tread without fear every chamber in their father's house, and to whom no door is closed.—De Quincey.

 

2. Those renowned men that were our ancestors as much as yours, and whose examples and principles we inherit.—Beecher.

 

3. The Tree Igdrasil, that has its roots down in the kingdoms of Hela and Death, and whose boughs overspread the highest heaven!—Carlyle.

 

That ... which.

 

4. Christianity is a religion that reveals men as the object of God's infinite love, and which commends him to the unbounded love of his brethren.—W. E. Channing.

 

5. He flung into literature, in his Mephistopheles, the first organic figure that has been added for some ages, and which will remain as long as the Prometheus.—Emerson.

 

6. Gutenburg might also have struck out an idea that surely did not require any extraordinary ingenuity, and which left the most important difficulties to be surmounted.—Hallam.

 

7. Do me the justice to tell me what I have a title to be acquainted with, and which I am certain to know more truly from you than from others.—Scott.

 

8. He will do this amiable little service out of what one may say old civilization has established in place of goodness of heart, but which is perhaps not so different from it.—Howells.

 

9. In my native town of Salem, at the head of what, half a century ago, was a bustling wharf,—but which is now burdened with decayed wooden warehouses.—Hawthorne.

 

10. His recollection of what he considered as extreme presumption in the Knight of the Leopard, even when he stood high in the roles of chivalry, but which, in his present condition, appeared an insult sufficient to drive the fiery monarch into a frenzy of passion.—Scott

 

That which ... what.

 

11. He, now without any effort but that which he derived from the sill, and what little his feet could secure the irregular crevices, was hung in air.—W. G. Simms.

 

Such as ... which.

 

12. It rose into a thrilling passion, such as my heart had always dimly craved and hungered after, but which now first interpreted itself to my ear.—De Quincey.

 

13. I recommend some honest manual calling, such as they have very probably been bred to, and which will at least give them a chance of becoming President.—Holmes.

 

Such as ... whom.

 

14. I grudge the dollar, the dime, the cent, I give to such men as do not belong to me, and to whom I do not belong.—Emerson.

 

Which ... that ... that.

 

15. That evil influence which carried me first away from my father's house, that hurried me into the wild and undigested notion of making my fortune, and that impressed these conceits so forcibly upon me.—Defoe.