Читать книгу The Etymology and Syntax of the English Language Explained and Illustrated онлайн

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Now, if the term be admitted in questions and answers where the subject may be either male or female, and of the first, second, or third person, it surely is admissible in those cases also where the subject is in the plural number. Nay, to use in the answer any other word to express the subject than that by which it is signified in the question, would be in all cases, if not productive of ambiguity, at least less precise. “Who is it?” says a master to his servant, hearing a voice in the hall. “It is the gentlemen who called yesterday,” replies the servant. Who sees not that “they are the gentlemen,” would be an answer less accordant with the terms of the question, and would less clearly show that “the gentlemen,” and “the subject of inquiry,” both being denoted by one term, are one and the same? Had the master known that it was the voice of a gentleman, and that there were more than one, and had he accordingly said, “Who are they?” the answer would have properly been “They are the gentlemen.” But when the question is “Who is it?” I apprehend the only apposite answer is, “It is the gentlemen,” the identity of the terms (it being repeated) clearly evincing an identity of subject in the question and in the answer; in other words, that the subject of the inquiry, and the subject of the answer, are one and the same.