The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, 1900-12-04
NIGHT SCHOOL COURSE.
xv.-How TO AVOID COMMON BLUM
DERs.

BY Prof. II. G. Buchler.

A pronoun is a word used TO stand for 4
noun Pronouns In English are NOT nu-
merous. burt they occur very frequently
and require more care than almost any
other part of speech.
We begin by remarking thate forming
the possessive case or pronouns no APPS
trophe Is used by good writers. Ihey
Write s.o,,rs :" .yours'' shers," ITS
theirs" In this respect, you observe. the
possessive of pronouns differs from the
possessive OF nouns. III s., winch often
occurs in writing. is contraction for sit
is" the apostrophe denoting the omission
OF a letter
The word 81" is always written as a
capital letter
our next practical caution Is that good
writer's and speakers never use the word
them instead Of those" before a noun.
That is. they freely say those apples,
those things" nut never them apples
them things" In its place them Is a
perfectly good English word, but 1t should
always be used instead OF a noun. not
with a noun; as. 81 am looking for my
glasses. Have you seen thernY
Errors in the use of the number forms
OF pronouns often occur in connection
with such expressions as anybody.
''everybody.' each" "either." neither"
and nobody" Such expressions in spite
of the comprehensive meaning of some
of them are dramatically singular: and
In literary English they are referred to
by singular pronouns; as, III anybody
calls, ask him to wait" Many brave
man has met his death In the Spanish
war" Let each take her turn Every
kind of animal has its own proper food,
Nobody went out of his or her way TO
make me feel at home"
The relative pronoun what is some
times misused Writers. however will
have little difficulty with II IL they re-
member that, when used as relative
pronoun. IL is equivalent to that which"
We now come to a kind of blunder in
the use OF pronouns that is perhaps more
troublesome that any other. These errors
are sometimes committed even by we'll
educated people; yet they are almost In
stantly detected by a cultured eye or ear.
The fact Is that to avoid them a person
must have clear insight into the struc-
ture of sentences. know the difference be-
tween what are called the ''nominative"
and the objective forms and be per-
petually on his guard Insight into the
structure of sentences one can hardly
hope to have without such a course in
English grammar as 1t Is impossible to
give in these columns. The difference
between 'nominative" and objective"
forms. however. can be explained here
with "a concise statement OF their proper
use.
Seven English pronouns have different
forms, according as the pronoun IL used
as the subject or the subject OF the sem
tence. For example we say Il like her.
and she likes me-" changing the form OF
the pronouns that denote the speaker
and the speakers friend when the rela-
ton OF these pronouns to the verb
changes. These different forms. mark
ing different structural relations in the
sentence. are called cases. The form OF
a pronoun that marks the relation Of sub
tect is called the nominative case The
form that marks the relation OF object
Is called the objective case. II is clear.
therefore. that In order TO use these
seven pronounS correctly we rruet de-
tinguish their nominative from their OBJ
jective forms. and observe ia every in