NOTE XV.—­The possessive pronouns, my, thy, his, her, its, &c., should be inserted or repeated as often as the sense or construction of the sentence requires them; their omission, like that of the articles, can scarcely in any instance constitute a proper ellipsis:  as, “Of Princeton and vicinity.”—­Say, “Of Princeton and its vicinity.”  “The man and wife.”—­Say, “The man and his wife.”  “Many verbs vary both their signification and construction.”—­Adam’s Gram., p. 170; Gould’s, 171.  Say,—­“and their construction.”

NOTE XVI.—­In the correcting of any discord between the antecedent and its pronoun, if the latter for any sufficient reason is most proper as it stands, the former must be changed to accord with it:  as, “Let us discuss what relates to each particular in their order:—­its order.”—­ Priestley’s Gram., p. 193.  Better thus:  “Let us discuss what relates to the several particulars, in their order.”  For the order of things implies plurality.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE X. UNDER THE RULE ITSELF.—­OF AGREEMENT

“The subject is to be joined with his predicate.”—­BP.  WILKINS:  Lowth’s Gram., p. 42.

[FORMULE.—­Not proper, because the pronoun his is of the masculine gender, and does not correctly represent its antecedent noun subject, which is of the third person, singular, neuter.  But, according to Rule 10th, “A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender.”  Therefore, his should be its; thus, “The subject is to be joined with its predicate.”]

“Every one must judge of their own feelings.”—­Byron’s Letters.  “Every one in the family should know their duty.”—­Wm. Penn.  “To introduce its possessor into ‘that way in which it should go.’”—­Infant School Gram., p. v.  “Do not they say, every true believer has the Spirit of God in them?”—­Barclay’s Works, iii, 388.  “There is none in their natural state righteous, no not one.”—­Wood’s Dict. of Bible, ii, 129.  “If ye were of the world, the world would love his own.”—­John, xv, 19.  “His form had not yet lost all her original brightness.”—­Milton.  “No one will answer as if I were their friend or companion.”—­Steele, Spect., No. 534.  “But in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves.”—­ Philippians, ii, 3.  “And let none of you imagine evil in your hearts against his neighbour.”—­Zechariah, viii, 17.  “For every tree is known by his own fruit.”—­Luke, vi, 44.  “But she fell to laughing, like one out of their right mind.”—­Castle Rackrent, p. 51.  “Now these systems, so far from having any tendency to make men better, have a manifest tendency to make him worse.”—­Wayland’s