INFLEXION AND CONSTRUCTION OF WOKDS. 23 



3. After ni or li, when this word is used pleonastically in the sense of to he ; as, 

 iwo li o se e {ilwu it-is that did it), tliou di<ht it ; iya II o kpc o, mother called thee. 



§ 97. A pleonastic pronoun of the third person singular follows verbs of saying, 

 writing, <fec., in connexion with kpe, tliat, to tvit ; as, o tSnumo 8 kpe 6q ko ^e e 

 (lie affirmed it that he not did it), he affirmed that he did not do it ; mo kowe re kjie 

 emi mbo (I huilt-hooh of-it that Iwas-cov^ing), I wrote that I ivas coming. 



§ 98. Yi, he, she, it, is frequently employed pleonastically before verbs in the 

 future tense ; as, oba yi o kpa a, tlie Mng lie 'will hill him. 



OMISSION OF PRONOUNS. 



§ 99. The 2:)ersonal pronoun 6 or 6, he, she, it, is always omitted before ko, ko, 

 or ki, oiot ; as, ko ri, he does not see ; ko mt), he does not know ; ki ise cuiia rcre (iiot 

 is i^erson goodness), he is not a good man. But the full form 6q or oq, he, is not 

 omitted ; and hence, instead of the above expressions, we may use their precise 

 equivalents, 6q ko ri, he does not see ; 6q k6 mo, he does not hiow ; oq ki ise enia 

 rure, he is not a good man. 



§ 100. Possessives are sometimes omitted for the sake of brevity ; as, loh bo 

 odzu, go wash (your) face; iya de, (my) mother has come. 



Demonstrative Pronouns. 



§ 101. The demonstrative pronouns are yi, tMs ; ud, that ; m,this one, that one; 

 with their plurals woqyi, these, woni, those, formed by prefixing awor), theij, to 'yi' 

 and ' ni.' 



§ 102. The demonstratives are placed immediately after the nouns which they 

 define; as, ile yi, this house; ile woni, those houses. When the noun is followed 

 by a descriptive word, the demonstrative is placed after both ; as, enia rere nd 

 (^person of goodness that), that good person. 



§ 103. Both 'yi' and 'nd' may be attached to plural nouns; as, awoq enia yi, 

 these people; gbogbo ile nd, all those houses. 



§ 104. The pronoun 'ni' appears to be, as regards its origin, the near demon- 

 strative this. At present, however, this Avord and its corresponding substantive 

 ' eni ' have the following uses and acceptations. 



1. It is employed as an indefinite pronoun, which may be variously rendered 

 according to circumstances ; as, wi fu ni or eni {sp)eah to one or a person), spieah to 

 me or us; bd ni sise, help one, or %is, to worh ; eni ti mbo {one xoho is coming), he 

 who is coming ; emi ko ri eni kaq {I not see some one), I see no one. 



2. ' Ni' is frequently employed as a definite article (§ 108). 



3. It is combined with other pronouns in composition; as, eylni (eyi ni), that; 

 awoni (awoq ni), those; tani? (ta? ni), tohof kini? (ki? ni), what/ 



§ 105. When the demonstratives are employed substantively, they are aug- 

 mented by the addition of the usual preformatives ; as, eyi, alayi, eleyi, this; 

 oqnd, that ; of which the plurals are awoqyi, iwoqyi, nwoqyi, these ; awoni, awoqnd, 

 tliose. Sometimes 'eyi' reduplicates the second syllable; as, eyiyi, this; and fre- 

 quently it is compounded with ni, forming the compound substantive pronoun 

 epui, meaning that. 



1. The substantive demonstratives are construed like nouns ; as, eyi li o se e 



