An English Grammar. James Witt Sewell
dative case.
89. In Old English there was one case which survives in use, but not in form. In such a sentence as this one from Thackeray, "Pick me out a whip-cord thong with some dainty knots in it," the word me is evidently not the direct object of the verb, but expresses for whom, for whose benefit, the thing is done. In pronouns, this dative use, as it is called, was marked by a separate case.
Now the objective.
In Modern English the same use is frequently seen, but the form is the same as the objective. For this reason a word thus used is called a dative-objective.
The following are examples of the dative-objective:—
Give me neither poverty nor riches.—Bible.
Curse me this people.—Id.
Both joined in making him a present.—Macaulay
Is it not enough that you have burnt me down three houses with your dog's tricks, and be hanged to you!—Lamb
I give thee this to wear at the collar.—Scott
Other uses of the objective.
90. Besides this use of the objective, there are others:—
(1) As the direct object of a verb.
They all handled it.—Lamb
(2) As the object of a preposition.
Time is behind them and before them.—Carlyle.
(3) In apposition.
She sate all last summer by the bedside of the blind beggar, him that so often and so gladly I talked with.—De Quincey.
SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Indefinite use of you and your.
91. The word you, and its possessive case yours are sometimes used without reference to a particular person spoken to. They approach the indefinite pronoun in use.
Your mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of the rod, was passed by with indulgence.—Irving
To empty here, you must condense there.—Emerson.
The peasants take off their hats as you pass; you sneeze, and they cry, "God bless you!" The thrifty housewife shows you into her best chamber. You have oaten cakes baked some months before.—Longfellow
Uses of it.
92. The pronoun it has a number of uses:—
(1) To refer to some single word preceding; as—
Ferdinand ordered the army to recommence its march.—Bulwer.
Society, in this century, has not made its progress, like Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in trifles.—D. Webster.
(2) To refer to a preceding word group; thus—
If any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet it is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch because they can do no other.—Bacon.
Here it refers back to the whole sentence before it, or to the idea, "any man's doing wrong merely out of ill nature."
(3) As a grammatical subject, to stand for the real, logical subject, which follows the verb; as in the sentences—
It is easy in the world to live after the world's opinion. —Emerson.
It is this haziness of intellectual vision which is the malady of all classes of men by nature.—Newman.
It is a pity that he has so much learning, or that he has not a great deal more.—Addison.
(4) As an impersonal subject in certain expressions which need no other subject; as—
It is finger-cold, and prudent farmers get in their barreled apples.—Thoreau.
And when I awoke, it rained.—Coleridge.
For when it dawned, they dropped their arms.—Id.
It was late and after midnight.—De Quincey.
(5) As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a preposition; as in the following sentences:—
(a) Michael Paw, who lorded it over the fair regions of ancient Pavonia.—Irving.
I made up my mind to foot it.—Hawthorne.
A sturdy lad … who in turn tries all the professions, who teams it, farms it, peddles it, keeps a school.—Emerson.
(b) "Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life of it."—Irving.
There was nothing for it but to return.—Scott.
An editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is an end of it.—Holmes.
Poor Christian was hard put to it.—Bunyan.
Reflexive use of the personal pronouns.
93. The personal pronouns in the objective case are often used reflexively; that is, referring to the same person as the subject of the accompanying verb. For example, we use such expressions as, "I found me a good book," "He bought him a horse," etc. This reflexive use of the dative-objective is very common in spoken and in literary English.
The personal pronouns are not often used reflexively, however, when they are direct objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose; as—
Now I lay me down to sleep.—Anon.
I set me down and sigh.—Burns.
And millions in those solitudes, since first
The flight of years began, have laid them down In their last sleep. —Bryant.
REFLEXIVE OR COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
Composed of the personal pronouns with -self, -selves.
94. The REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS, or COMPOUND PERSONAL, as they are also called, are formed from the personal pronouns by adding the word self, and its plural selves.
They are myself, (ourself), ourselves, yourself, (thyself), yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves.
Of the two forms in parentheses, the second is the old form of the second person, used in poetry.
Ourself is used to follow the word we when this represents a single person, especially in the speech of rulers; as—
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