Chapter XVII: Section III

OF THE AGREEMENT OF A PRONOUN WITH ITS ANTECEDENT.

The Personal and Possessive Pronouns follow the _Number_ of their Antecedents, _i.e._ of the Nouns which they represent. Those of the 3d Pers. Sing. follow also the Gender of their antecedent; as, sheas a'bhean aig _a_ chosaibh, agus thoisich _i air am_ fliuchadh leis _a_ deuraibh, agus thiormaich _i iad_ le gruaig _a_ cinn, _the woman stood at his feet, and she began to wet them with her tears, and she wiped them with the hair of her head_, Luke vii. 38. They follow, however, not the Gender of the Antecedent, but the sex of the creature signified by the Antecedent, in those words in which Sex and Gender disagree, as, an gobhlan-gaoithe mar an ceudn' do sholair nead dh'i fein _the swallow too hath provided a nest for herself_, Psal. lxxxiv. 3. Gobhlan-gaoithe _a swallow_, is a mas. Noun, as appears by the mas. Article: but as it is the dam that is spoken of, the reference is made by the Personal Pronoun of the fem. gender. Ta gliocas air a fireanachadh leis a cloinn _Wisdom {147} is justified by her children_, Matt. xi. 19. Gliocas is a mas. noun; but as Wisdom is here personified as a female, the regimen of the Possessive Pronoun is adapted to that idea[100]. See also Prov. ix. 1-3. In this sentence Och nach b' i mhaduinn e, Deut. xxviii. 67, the former pronoun _i_ is correctly put in the fem. gender, as referring to the fem. noun _maduinn_; while the latter pron. _e_ is put in the mas. gend. because referring to no expressed antecedent.

If the Antecedent be a sentence, or clause of a sentence, the Pronoun is of the 3d Pers. Sing. masculine; as, dh' ith na b[`a] caola suas na b[`a] reamhra, agus cha n-aithnichteadh orra _e_, _the lean cattle ate up the fat cattle, and could not be known by them_.

If the Antecedent be a collective Noun, the Pronoun is of the 3d Pers. Plur. as, thoir [`a]ithne do 'n t-sluagh, d' eagal gu m bris _iad_ asteach _charge the people lest they break in_, Exod. xix. 21.

An Interrogative combined with a Personal Pronoun, asks a question without the intervention of the Substantive verb; as, co mise? _who [am] I?_ co iad na daoine sin? _who [are] those men?_ cia i a' cheud [`a]ithne? _which [is] the first commandment?_ In interrogations of this form, the noun is sometimes preceded by the Personal Pronoun, and sometimes not; as, co e am fear? _who [is] the man?_ co am fear? _what man?_ Co am fear? is evidently an incomplete sentence, like _what man?_ in English. The ellipsis may be supplied thus; co e am fear a ta thu ciallachadh? _who is the man whom you mean?_ This example may be abridged into another common interrogation, in which the Interrogative is immediately followed by the Relative; as, co a ta thu ciallachadh? _who [is he] whom you mean?_ ciod a ta thu faicinn? _what [is it] that you see?_

In an interrogative sentence including a Personal Pronoun and a Noun, as, co e am fear sin? if the Noun be restricted in {148} its signification by some other words connected with it, such as the Article, an Adjective, another Noun in the Genitive, or a relative clause, then the Pronoun usually follows the Gender of the Noun, or the Sex of the object signified by the Noun, if the Gender does not correspond to it; as, co _e_ am fear a theid a suas? _who is the man that shall ascend?_ co _i_ am boirionnach sin? _who is that woman?_ cia _i_ a' cheud [`a]ithne? _which is the first commandment?_ If the Noun be not _so restricted_, the Pronoun is of the masculine gender; as, ciod e uchdmhacachd? _what is adoption?_ ciod e urnuigh? _what is prayer?_[101]

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