An English Grammar Part 17

For when _it_ dawned, they dropped their arms.--_Id._

_It_ was late and after midnight.--DE QUINCEY.

(5) _As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a preposition_; as in the following sentences:--

(_a_) Michael Paw, who _lorded it_ over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia.--IRVING.

I made up my mind _to foot it_.--HAWTHORNE.

A st.u.r.dy lad ... who in turn tries all the professions, who _teams it, farms it, peddles it_, keeps a school.--EMERSON.

(_b_) "Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life _of it_."--IRVING.

There was nothing _for it_ but to return.--SCOTT.

An editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is an end _of it_.--HOLMES.

Poor Christian was hard put _to it_.--BUNYAN.

[Sidenote: _Reflexive use of the personal p.r.o.nouns._]

93. The personal p.r.o.nouns in the objective case are often used _reflexively_; that is, referring to the same person as the subject of the accompanying verb. For example, we use such expressions as, "I found _me_ a good book," "He bought _him_ a horse," etc. This reflexive use of the _dative_-objective is very common in spoken and in literary English.

The personal p.r.o.nouns are not often used reflexively, however, when they are _direct_ objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose; as,--

Now I lay _me_ down to sleep.--ANON.

I set _me_ down and sigh.--BURNS.

And millions in those solitudes, since first The flight of years began, have laid _them_ down In their last sleep.--BRYANT.

REFLEXIVE OR COMPOUND PERSONAL p.r.o.nOUNS.

[Sidenote: _Composed of the personal p.r.o.nouns with_ -self, -selves.]

94. The REFLEXIVE p.r.o.nOUNS, or COMPOUND PERSONAL, as they are also called, are formed from the personal p.r.o.nouns by adding the word _self_, and its plural _selves_.

They are _myself_, (_ourself_), _ourselves_, _yourself_, (_thyself_), _yourselves_, _himself_, _herself_, _itself_, _themselves_.

Of the two forms in parentheses, the second is the old form of the second person, used in poetry.

_Ourself_ is used to follow the word _we_ when this represents a single person, especially in the speech of rulers; as,--

Methinks he seems no better than a girl; As girls were once, as we _ourself_ have been.--TENNYSON.

[Sidenote: _Origin of these reflexives._]

95. The question might arise, Why are _himself_ and _themselves_ not _hisself_ and _theirselves_, as in vulgar English, after the a.n.a.logy of _myself_, _ourselves_, etc.?

The history of these words shows they are made up of the dative-objective forms, not the possessive forms, with _self_. In Middle English the forms _meself_, _theself_, were changed into the possessive _myself_, _thyself_, and the others were formed by a.n.a.logy with these. _Himself_ and _themselves_ are the only ones retaining a distinct objective form.

In the forms _yourself_ and _yourselves_ we have the possessive _your_ marked as singular as well as plural.

[Sidenote: _Use of the reflexives._]

96. There are three uses of reflexive p.r.o.nouns:--

(1) _As object of a verb or preposition, and referring to the same person or thing as the subject_; as in these sentences from Emerson:--

He who offers _himself_ a candidate for that covenant comes up like an Olympian.

I should hate _myself_ if then I made my other friends my asylum.

We fill _ourselves_ with ancient learning.

What do we know of nature or of _ourselves_?

(2) _To emphasize a noun or p.r.o.noun_; for example,--

The great globe _itself_ ... shall dissolve.--SHAKESPEARE.

Threats to all; To _you yourself_, to us, to every one.--_Id._

Who would not sing for Lycidas! he knew _Himself_ to sing, and build the lofty rhyme.--MILTON.

NOTE.--In such sentences the p.r.o.noun is sometimes omitted, and the reflexive modifies the p.r.o.noun understood; for example,--

Only _itself_ can inspire whom it will.--EMERSON.

My hands are full of blossoms plucked before, Held dead within them till _myself_ shall die.--E.B. BROWNING.

As if it were _thyself_ that's here, I shrink with pain.--WORDSWORTH.

(3) _As the precise equivalent of a personal p.r.o.noun_; as,--

Lord Altamont designed to take his son and _myself_.--DE QUINCEY.

Victories that neither _myself_ nor my cause always deserved.--B.

FRANKLIN.

For what else have our forefathers and _ourselves_ been taxed?--LANDOR.