Evening journal., 1909-02-15
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
VIII &c Found-Phrases That Illus
trste the Difficult Point at Issue.
We have a number of words and
phrases in our tongue which require
the employment of a pronoun that
does not exist. AS representatives Of
this class can be taken each and every,
with the com binafion into which they
enter. The popularity about them is
that as regards form they are singular,
as regards medning 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 a statement to the effect that
at some specific gathering all persons
present had seen there those whom
they knew we'll 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 a sentence as the
/ following could be framed: There
/ everybody met his friends. Women
as well as men would be included I'M
der his. Though never really satisfac-
tory, this was once the preferred usage.
For a time it served the purpose fairly
well, and it still does so occasionally
and perhaps frequently. But there
has been for a good while past a 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 a form Of expression pleased nc
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 beini
objectionable on the score of clumsi
ness it was subject to exception OF
other grounds. In words with feminine
examinations, like heiress or heroine
the fact of sex is indicated, indeed, bu
Il is not made Obtrusive. When, how
over. we have distinct contrasteC
forms, as in "his or her." 1t is LITE,
into an undue and almost aggres
siye prominence, where there is nei
? Their desire nor occasion to make
prominent; hence this particular usage
while serviceable in certain document
and acceptable always to the devotee
of strict grammar, is usually deteste'
by everybody else.
I A third way out of the difficult,
there is, and it was long ago taken b!
the holder spirits. This was the con
struction according to the sense. TIT
E plural pronOminal forms were used 4
7 correspond ia the idea Of plurality ex
listing in the singular subject; henc
men said in the sentence quoted: Their
everybody met their friends. Exam
d pies of this usage can be found abun
dainty in works Of high reputation. bu
7 those given here for the purpose Of Il
y Illustrating it win be taken from a sir
gle one. This writer is Jane Auster
!. She is chosen not for her eminenc,
Il but for her sex, for as a general rul
highly cultivated women speak an
e write the language not only with NOR
h naturalness. but with greater scrupr
e lousness and purity. than the CORE
spending class Of men. Examples fror
their works are in consequence NOR
o convincing. Here are two or thre
taken out Of many. 1T is very III
Is fair" says Miss Austen in Emma" q
e Judge of anybody's conduct without a
lie intimate knowledge OF their chara,
n ter" Again in the same work the II
l. mark is made that they say ever.
e body is In love once In their lives"
. Mansfield Park" she observes thi
nobody could command attention whe
they spoke" These examples, whiC
might be multiplied from numero,
other authors, are sufficient to indica
the attitude of those who adopt Il
= third course. Every one can see tn
l. the problem is a very pretty one as
stands and that the interest in 1t W
never die because no satisfactory sol
~ ton Of it will ever be found.-Thomi
- r. Lounsbury. Professor Of Englis
nj Yale University, in Harpers Mag
b. zine.
cd
Difficult Thinoe