Words that are both pronouns and connecting words are called relative pronouns. The relative pronouns in ordinary use are who, which, that, and what. Notice that the relative pronoun who is used as subject and whom as object. There is another form, whose, that is often an adjective modifier. What may be separated into two words, that and which. That is the antecedent and which is the relative pronoun. a. In the following sentences decide which of the connectives are relative pronouns by answering in the affirmative these questions: Does it connect two clauses? Has it an antecedent? Has it a use in the clause in which it is found? 1. The lad who was here is an orphan. 2. The best boy that I know shall have mine. 6. If I tell you, he will go. 7. He did not start when the whistle blew. 8. The girl to whom you sent the flowers is now well. 9. He ought to tell you where she put it. 10. The boy whom you sent has returned. 12. We did not know what he gave. 13. Whom did you ask? 229. RELATIVE PRONOUNS a. Separate each of the sentences on the next page into its two clauses and name each connective. If the connective is a relative pronoun, tell its antecedent and its use in the sentence. 1. The lady who is talking to mother is my aunt. 3. The leaves, which fell all day yesterday, cover the 4. The man of whom you spoke is a soldier. 5. The dog that you chained to the post is barking. 6. He cannot come until I go. 7. The Robin Hood of whom you read lived in the time of King Henry the Third. 8. While they are alike in many ways, wolves and dogs are very different animals. 9. It is an ill wind that blows nobody any good. 10. The boys enjoyed a pool in which they could swim. II. The boy whose book you borrowed is here. 12. That boy with whom you played lives near me. b. Compare the words in italics. 230. A COMPOSITION How a Brakeman Became President of a Railroad John Brown was a brakeman on a passenger train running into Jersey City. He had worked five years on a salary of fifty dollars a month, and he saw no opportunity for advancement. One day he went home to talk the matter over with his wife. She advised him to have a talk with the superintendent, telling him how hard he had worked and how much he deserved something better. Mr. Brown decided that this was the right thing to do, so he went out at once, but in less than an hour he was back. "What happened?" asked Mary anxiously. "I got only as far as the door of the superintendent's office," John replied. "I was trying to recall all that I had done for the railroad, but I couldn't think of a solitary thing." John Brown sat down to think, while Mary went upstairs to take care of the baby. He decided that before he asked for a better job he would do something that the superintendent could see for himself. The next day he went to work as usual. His train stopped at a station where passengers were allowed to get off but none were allowed to get on. The conductor was a cross old fellow, and when a lady tried to get on he merely grunted, "Nothing doing." John Brown wanted to do something out of the ordinary for the railroad, so it occurred to him to be polite. He stepped up to the lady and said, "This train is not allowed to take passengers from this station. Will you please wait for the local? It will be along soon." During the following month he watched for other opportunities to make the passengers comfortable. He not only opened and shut the windows, carried baggage for women, and helped the children, but he also announced the stations so every passenger could hear. Once, after he had done this, an old gentleman called him. "You are the only man I ever knew who called the stations correctly. I'd like to have your name,” he said. A week later a special messenger came to John Brown's house with orders to take out number six, at eleven-thirty. That night Mary and John talked the matter over again. "John," she said, "you must n't stop where you are. Now that you 've learned how to get a better job, why not try for trainmaster?" "I've been wondering about that, too," said John. He now began in earnest to make himself the best conductor on the line. He helped the passengers plan their trips and choose their hotels. He suggested that women be provided with pillows to put at their backs, that paper bags be furnished for protecting their hats from cinders, and that sliding curtains be used in place of the old wooden ones. He was not receiving more pay than any other conductor, but he was much more valuable to the company. Later, he was not surprised when he received the appointment of trainmaster, but his problem now seemed harder than ever. How was he to make himself the best trainmaster on the road? He spent his spare time planning how the service could be improved. He devised and suggested the adoption of a new system of signals. His idea was accepted. Then he set to work to study everything that would improve the service. He found that often signals were being disobeyed, and he had that remedied. He worked out a new time-table so that freight trains would not have to wait so long on side tracks. Ever so many things needed improving, and he worked hard on each problem. He was made division superintendent sooner than he expected. Here he became acquainted with other superintendents. They, too, wanted to be advanced, but were working along the lines of personal friendship. John Brown's way was to give better and better service to the company. Of course he succeeded. When he became general superintendent, he still kept up his hard work. At the end of the first year he received a telegram asking him to be vice-president of a railroad in the West. His word to every boy and girl is this: "No condition can hold a person down if he really goes about rising.” EDWARD MOTT WOOLLEY (adapted) Make an outline for this story, and reproduce it, following the outline, or make an outline for the story of some real or imaginary person who was promoted through his own efforts, and write the story. Try to make every sentence add something necessary to your story. Correct your work in the usual way. How many errors did you make in the use of quotation marks? in apostrophes for contractions? in question marks and periods? 231. A LANGUAGE LESSON Refer to lesson 141, then fill the blanks in the following sentences with the helpers indicated by the words in parentheses at the end of the sentences. I. I use your ruler for a few minutes? (per- 2. You learn to be more careful. (necessity) 5. The swing 6. Aunt Mary The stick The kid break. (possibility) come to-morrow. (possibility) not burn the stick. (determination) not beat the kid. (determination) not go. (determination) Alice go with me? (permission) obey their parents. (duty) study my lesson. (duty) 8. 9. Children 10. I 11. John 12. He 13. He - swim very well. (ability) surely have made a mistake. (necessity) have forgotten to close the door. (possibility) 14. — I tell my sister? (permission) |