Owen — Bcvision of Pronouns. 27 



The proxy of this type may rednce the number of the ideas 

 expressed by its principal to unity or even to zero. To illus- 

 trate, ^^ There was a bridal couple on the train. They seemed ill 

 at ease. She was dressed in Avhite. Neither was very young." 

 Of the proxies employed ^^They" is equivalent, having exactly 

 the scope of ^'couple". '^She" is reductive, reinstating a single 

 member of the original pair. "Neither," strictly taken, is 

 what may be called exclusive; that is, the number of conceived 

 persons, describable as very young, is zero.-^ 



The proxy may even both reduce and auginent, in a single vi- 

 carious act. Thus, ''x\n elephant's trunk is a useful member. 

 With it they perform the most delicate operations.'' AYithout 

 discussing the elegance or expediency of such usage, I note that 

 "elephant's" presents initiativeh' a single individual and further 

 the idea say of possession. "They" omits the idea of possession 

 and expands the individual into the species. 



VII. THEIR FALLIBILITY. 



Where many eligible principals occur in close succession, it 

 may or may not be evident, which one a proxy is intended to 

 serve. There is, indeed, a tendency to regard the dominant 

 word as principal ; but this is offset by another tendency so to 

 regard the nearer ; and either tendency may be abrogated in fa- 

 vor of a word neither near nor dominant. This embarrassment 

 may be relieved when the principals differ, as in number and 

 gender. Thus, given "Brown's sister has bought a horse. He, 

 she, or it is in the country", each proxy is available for a single 

 principal only. But given "Brown's brother has heard from 

 Smith's nephew. He, by the way, is going to Europe," "He" 

 may reinstate the idea expressed by either preceding noun ; and, 

 barring special knowledge of the speaker's linguistic methods, it 

 cannot be determined which possible principal is actually served 

 by "He". 



This difficulty, which may be known as that of the which, is 

 matched by another, which may be known as that of the how 



^The policy of ranking words lil^e "neither" as negative (in the sense in which 

 "not" is negative) is matter for interpellation in a special review of linguistic 

 negation. 



