Business English Part 16

1. I have just taken out an endowment policy in the northwestern mutual life insurance company.

2. There are many mutual life insurance companies in the country.

3. His refusing the terms was practically a declaration of independence.

4. On the fourth of July we celebrate the signing of the declaration of independence, the first step in the revolutionary war.

5. Mexico has had many revolutionary wars.

6. And king Arthur said, "The king who fights his people fights himself."

7. When does the bank close?

8. I have an account with the first national bank.

9. This is the first national bank that was ever established in this country.

Explain to which cla.s.s each noun in the foregoing sentences belongs. Be particularly careful to distinguish between common and proper nouns.

=Exercise 76--p.r.o.nouns=

The different cla.s.ses of p.r.o.nouns are distinguished as follows:

The _personal_ p.r.o.noun is used in place of the name of a person or thing. The p.r.o.noun of the _first_ person indicates the speaker, the p.r.o.noun of the _second_ person indicates the person spoken to, and the p.r.o.noun of the _third_ person indicates the person spoken of. They are declined as follows:

_First person_ _Singular_ _Plural_ _Nom._ I we _Poss._ my, mine our, ours _Obj._ me us

_Second person_ _Nom._ you (thou) you (ye) _Poss._ your, yours (thy, thine) your, yours _Obj._ you (thee) you

In modern usage _you_ is used for both the singular and the plural, but the verb that goes with _you_ is always plural.

_Third person_ _Singular_ _Plural_ _Masc._ _Fem._ _Neut._ _Nom._ he she it they _Poss._ his her, hers its their, theirs _Obj._ him her it them

NOTE.--The forms _mine_, _thine_, _yours_, _hers_, _ours_, _theirs_, and sometimes _his_ are possessive case in form, but nominative or objective case in use.

That pencil is _mine_ really means, That pencil is _my_ pencil. _Mine_ is used as a subst.i.tute for a possessive p.r.o.noun and the noun it modifies.

The personal p.r.o.nouns compounded with _self_ are of two kinds:

1. _Emphatic_ p.r.o.nouns; as,

The buyer _himself_ told me.

2. _Reflexive_ p.r.o.nouns, referring back to the subject and at the same time being in the objective case; as,

John slipped and hurt _himself_.

The _relative_ p.r.o.noun is so called because it relates or refers to another word, called its antecedent, to which it joins the clause that it introduces. The relative p.r.o.nouns are _who_, _which_, _what_, _that_; and the compound relatives are _whoever_, _whosoever_, _whichever_, _whichsoever_, _whatever_, _whatsoever_.

They are declined as follows:

_Singular and Plural_

_Nom._ who which whoever whosoever _Poss._ whose of which whosever whosesoever _Obj._ whom which whomever whomsoever

_That_, _what_, _whichever_, _whichsoever_, _whatever_, and _whatsoever_ are not declined. They have the same form in the nominative and objective cases, and are not used in the possessive case.

_What_ is peculiar in that it never has an antecedent expressed, but itself stands for both antecedent and relative. It is called the _double relative_. Compare the following:

I did not hear _the words that_ he said.

I did not hear _that which_ he said.

I did not hear _what_ he said.

_That_ is called the restrictive relative, because it limits or restricts its antecedent to the meaning expressed in the clause introduced by _that_. A restrictive clause is one, therefore, that is needed to make the meaning of the sentence clear. Compare the following:

_Non-restrictive_: John Brown, _who_ has no disease, needs no physician.

_Restrictive_: He _that_ hath no disease needs no physician.

Notice that a restrictive, or necessary, clause is not separated from the rest of the sentence by commas.

_Who_ and _which_ are sometimes used with restrictive force; as,

1. Those _who_ have finished their work may leave.

(Not everybody.)

2. Have you read the book _which_ he recommended? (He recommended but one.)

_Interrogative_ p.r.o.nouns are used in asking questions. They are _who_, _which_, _what_. _Who_ refers to persons; _which_ refers to persons or things, and is used to distinguish one object from another; _what_ refers to things. They are declined as follows:

_Singular and Plural_

_Nom._ who which what _Poss._ whose (of which) (of what) _Obj._ whom which what

The interrogative p.r.o.nouns _which_ and _what_ are frequently used as adjectives. In this case they are called _p.r.o.nominal adjectives_.

Compare:

p.r.o.noun: _Which_ of these hats do you prefer?

Adjective: _Which_ hat do you prefer?

The _demonstrative_ p.r.o.nouns are _this_ and _that_ with their plurals _these_ and _those_. They are always used to point out, or demonstrate, the noun to which they refer. _This_ and _these_ are used for objects near at hand, or recently named; _that_ and _those_ are used for objects far away, or not recently named.

The demonstrative p.r.o.nouns are frequently used as adjectives; as,