^.qj on personal pronouns 243 



thc^ame manner we might fhow that " thy housed 

 was the substitute of John^s house ; and so of all the 

 others of this clafs, which on all occasions are the 

 substitute of some definitive, and of nothing else. 



On the other hand, we are also led to perceive, 

 that the words mne, thine, and others of the same 

 clafs, become the substitutes, not of the definitive a- 

 lone, but of the whok noun, with its definitive, " John's 

 house." Thus the phrase, 



" My kot:si is bftrer thw tl:}ri;," 



supposing the parties to Be James and John, as above,, 

 is precisely equivalent to the phrase, 



'• Jamers house, is betcer than Johns house." 



in which the word thine, plainly becomes the substi- 

 tute of the whole noun with its definitive, John's 

 house, though my is only the substitute of James's. 



Hence we are farther led to observe, that the words 

 of the Jirst clafs, my, thy. See. are nothing else than 

 a certain clafs of definitives derived from pronouns, 

 which may, in a pronomial faftiion, become the sub- 

 stitutes of a particular clafs of definitives derived 

 from nouns in a certain manner ; and therefore may 

 be called, for want of a better name, pronomial defi- 

 nitives. The words mine, thine, and others of this 

 elafs, however, do more, as they become the substi- 

 tutes, alike, of the noun and its definitive ; and as it 

 has been the custom on some occasions to call these 

 words pronouns pofsefsive, I can see no harm that 

 would result from allowing them still to retain the 



same name. 



According to this distinction then, our personal 

 pronouns, with these derivatives from them, might 

 stand as under. 



