Practical Grammar and Composition Part 29

_Progressive_

_to have been seeing._

PERFECT TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE

_Simple_

_to have been seen._

PARTICIPLES

PRESENT TENSE--ACTIVE VOICE

_seeing_

PRESENT TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE

_being seen_

PAST TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE[*]

_seen_

[Footnote *: There is no past participle in the active voice.]

PERFECT TENSE--ACTIVE VOICE

_Simple_

_having seen_

_Progressive_

_having been seeing_

PERFECT TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE

_having been seen_

GERUNDS

PRESENT TENSE--ACTIVE VOICE

_seeing_

PRESENT TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE

_being seen_

PERFECT TENSE--ACTIVE VOICE

_having seen_

PERFECT TENSE--Pa.s.sIVE VOICE

_having been seen_

CHAPTER VI

CONNECTIVES: RELATIVE p.r.o.nOUNS, RELATIVE ADVERBS, CONJUNCTIONS, AND PREPOSITIONS

78. INDEPENDENT AND DEPENDENT CLAUSES. A sentence may consist of two or more independent clauses, or it may consist of one princ.i.p.al clause and one or more dependent clauses.

INDEPENDENT CLAUSES are joined by conjunctions; such as, _hence, but, and, although_, etc.

DEPENDENT CLAUSES are joined to the sentence by relative adverbs; such as, _where, when_, etc., or by relative p.r.o.nouns; as, _who, what_, etc. These dependent clauses may have the same office in the sentence as nouns, p.r.o.nouns, adjectives, or adverbs. (See --7.)

79. CASE AND NUMBER OF RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE p.r.o.nOUNS. Failure to use the proper case and number of the relative p.r.o.nouns has already been touched upon (see --29), but a further mention of this fault may well be made here.

The relative p.r.o.noun has other offices in the sentence than that of connecting the dependent and princ.i.p.al clauses. It may serve as a subject or an object in the clause. The sentence, _I wonder WHOM will be chosen_, is wrong, because the relative here is the subject of _will be chosen_, not the object of _wonder_, and should have the nominative form _who_. Corrected, it reads, _I wonder WHO will be chosen_. Examine the following sentences:

Wrong: We know _who_ we mean.

Right: We know _whom_ we mean.

Wrong: You may give it to _whoever_ you wish.

Right: You may give it to _whomever_ you wish.

Wrong: Do you know _whom_ it is?

Right: Do you know _who_ it is? (Attribute complement.)

Wrong: Everybody _who were_ there were disappointed. (Disagreement in number.)

Right: Everybody _who was_ there was disappointed.

The relative p.r.o.noun takes the case required by the clause it introduces, not the case required by any word preceding it. Thus, the sentence, _He gave it to WHO had the clearest right_, is correct, because _who_ is the subject of the verb _had_, and therefore in the nominative case. _Give it to WHOMEVER they name_, is right, because _whomever_ is the object of _they name_.

Errors in the use of interrogative p.r.o.nouns are made in the same way as in the use of the relatives. The interrogative p.r.o.noun has other functions besides making an interrogation. It serves also as the subject or object in the sentence. Care must be taken, then, to use the proper case. Say, _Whom are you looking for?_ not, _Who are you looking for?_

NOTE. Some writers justify the use of _who_ in sentences like the last one on the ground that it is an idiom. When, as in this book, the object is training in grammar, it is deemed better to adhere to the strictly grammatical form.

EXERCISE 58

_In the following sentences, choose the proper forms from those italicized:_