The pioneer express. [volume] (Pembina, Dakota [N.D.]) 1883-1928, 1909-01-01
A PRONOUN We LACK
One Of the Grammatical Difficult
ties Of Our Language.
A RATHER PRETTY PROBLEM.
And One, by the Way, Whose Salts
factory Solution Probably Never
Will Be Eound-Phrases That Illus.
trate ths Difficult Point at Issue.

trate ths Difficult Point at Issue.
We have a number of words and
phrases in our tongue which require
the employment Of pronoun that
does not exist. AS representatives of
this class Gun be taken each and every,
with the combination into which they
enter. The popularity about them is
that as regards form they are singular.
as regards meaning they are plural.
Consequently the construction, accord
ing to sense, Is always coming into
conflict with the construction according
to strict grammar. One of these ex-
pressions-everybody, for instance
may be used to bring out the point
distinctly. 1t is desired, for example,
to make statement to the effect that
at some specific gathering all persons
present had seen there those whom
they knew well. With the employ
ment of the word just selected gram
NAUTICAL difficulties at once arise and
the troubles Of the writer begin.
Three ways are open to him in which
he can overcome them after fashion.
But not one of them answers fully all
the conditions existing. In the first
the masculine form can be made to
represent both itself and the feminine.
Consequently such sentence as the
following could be framed: There
everybody laet his friends. Women
as we'll as men would be included I'M
der his. Though never really satisfac-
tory, this was once the preferred usage.
For time it served the purpose fairly
we'll, and it still does so occasionally
and perhaps frequently. But there
has been for Il good while past dis
tinct dislike to this construction. One
result Of the increasingly important
part that the female sex plays in life
and literature is the growth of repug-
nance on the part of the feminine ele-
ment to have its identity merged in
the masculine. Subconsciousness of
the injustice of it has now passed
over into full consciousness that under
this form Of expression its claims are
not really recognized; hence, while wo-
men may use it, they do not like it.
and men have come to share largely
in the same feeling.
Another way out of the difficulty
was devised. To satisfy the claims of
both sexes resort was had to two rep
resentative pronouns. The sentence
previously given would accordingly ap-
pear in the following shape: There
everybody met his or her friends. But
such form Of expression pleased no
one. 1t was felt to be formal, to suffer
from that stiffness which is always
sure to manifest itself when natural
ness Of expression is sacrificed to mere
precision Of statement. Besides being
Objectionable on the score of clumsi-
ness 1t was subject to exception on
other grounds. In words with feminine
Examinations. like heiress or heroine,
the fact Of sex Is indicated, indeed, but
1t Is not made obtrusive. When, how.
ever. we have distinct cont1asted
forms. az in This or her," it IL lifted
into an undue and almost aggres-
sive prominence, where there II nei-
Their desire nor occasion to make II
prominent; hence this particular usage,
while serviceable in certain documents
and acceptable always to the devotees
of strict grammar, Is usually deteoted
by everybody else.
A third way out of the difficulty
there ID, and II was long ago taken By
the bolder spirits. This was the con-
struetion according to tho sense. The
plural pronominal forms were used to
correspond TO the idea Of plurality e1-
listing In tho singular subject; bsnce
men said IN TIE sentence quoted: There
everybody met their friends. Exasa-
pies Of this usage can be found sbun-
dainty in works Of high reputation, bot
those given hero for the purpose Of r.
Illustrating It VIII be taken from 4 SIN
gle ono. This writer is Jane Austen.
She Il chosen not for her eminence,
but for her sex, for as a general rule
highly cultivated women speak and
write the language not only with more
naturalness, but with greater scrupu-
lousness and purity, than the CORE
spending class Of men. Examples from
their works are in consequence more
convincing. Here are two or three
taken out Of many. 1T is very un-
fair" says Miss Austen in Emma" ito
Judge Of anybody's conduct without an
intimate knowledge Of their charac-
tex" Again in the same work the re-
mark is made that ''they say every
body 10 in love once in their lives" In
Mansfield Park" she observes that
nobody could command attention when
they spoke?' These examples, which
might be multiplied from numerous
other authors, are sufficient to indicate
the attitude Of those who adopt the
third course. Every one can see that
the problem is very pretty one as 1t
stands and that the interest in 1t will
never die because no satisfactory solu-
ton of it will ever be found-Thomas
r. Lounsbury. Professor Of English,
Yale. University. in Harper's Maya
zine,
Difficult Things.
To supply clean aprons for the lapse
of time.