“For all are friends in heaven; all faithful friends;
    And many friendships in the days of Time
    Begun, are lasting here, and growing still: 
    So grows ours evermore, both theirs and mine.”
        —­Pollok, C. of T., B. v, l. 335.

OBS 2.—­The gender of pronouns, except in the third person singular, is distinguished only by their antecedents.  In expressing that of a pronoun which has antecedents of different genders, the masculine should be preferred to the feminine, and the feminine to the neuter.  The parser of English should remember, that this is a principle of General Grammar.

OBS 3.—­When two words are taken separately as nominatives, they ought not to be united in the same sentence as antecedents.  In the following example, therefore, them should be it:  “The first has a lenis, and the other an asper over them.”—­Printer’s Gram., p. 246.  Better thus:  “The first has a lenis over it, and the other an asper.”

OBS. 4.—­Nouns that stand as nominatives or antecedents, are sometimes taken conjointly when there is no conjunction expressed; as, “The historian, the orator, the philosopher, address themselves primarily to the understanding:  their direct aim is, to inform, to persuade, to instruct.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 377.  The copulative and may here be said to be understood, because the verb and the pronouns are plural; but it seems better in general, either to introduce the connective word, or to take the nouns disjunctively:  as, “They have all the copiousness, the fervour, the inculcating method, that is allowable and graceful in an orator; perhaps too much of it for a writer.”—­Blair’s Rhet., p. 343.  To this, however, there may be exceptions,—­cases in which the plural form is to be preferred,—­especially in poetry; as,

   “Faith, justice, heaven itself, now quit their hold,
    When to false fame the captive heart is sold.”—­Brown, on Satire.

OBS. 5.—­When two or more antecedents connected by and are nominally alike, one or more of them may be understood; and, in such a case, the pronoun must still be plural, as agreeing with all the nouns, whether expressed or implied:  as, “But intellectual and moral culture ought to go hand in hand; they will greatly help each other.”—­Dr. Weeks.  Here they stands for intellectual culture and moral culture.  The following example is incorrect:  “The Commanding and Unlimited mode may be used in an absolute sense, or without a name or substitute on which it can depend.”—­O.  B. Peirce’s Gram., p. 80.  Change it to they, or and to or.  See Note 6th to Rule 16th.

IMPROPRIETIES FOR CORRECTION.

FALSE SYNTAX UNDER RULE XII.