REMARKS ON _IT_.
For the want of a proper knowledge of this little pronoun _it_, many
grammarians have been greatly puzzled how to dispose of it, or how to
account for its multiform, and, seemingly, contradictory characters. It
is in great demand by writers of every description. They use it without
ceremony; either in the nominative or objective case; either to
represent one person or thing, or more than one. It is applied to nouns
in the masculine, feminine, or neuter gender, and, very frequently, it
represents a member of a sentence, a whole sentence, or a number of
sentences taken in a mass.
A little attention to its true character, will, at once, strip it of all
its mystery. _It_, formerly written _hit_, according to H. Tooke, is the
past participle of the Moeso-Gothic verb _haitan_. It means, _the said_,
and, therefore, like its near relative _that_, meaning, _the assumed_,
originally had no respect, in its application, to number, person, or
gender. "_It_ is a wholesome law;" i.e. _the_ _said_ (law) is a
wholesome law; or, _that_ (law) is a wholesome law;--_the assumed_ (law)
is a wholesome law.
Pages:
235
236
237
238
239
240
241
242
243
244
245
246
247
248
249
250
251
252
253
254
255
256
257
258
259