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PRONOUNS, RELATIVE AND INTERROGATIVE. Which interchanged with who and that

Which (E. E. adj. hw-ilc, "wh(a)-like") is used interchangeably with Who and That. It is interchanged with who in

“Then Warwick disannuls great John of Gaunt,
Which did subdue the greatest part of Spain;
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
And, after that wise prince, Henry the Fifth,
Who by his power conquered all France.
”

Like who (263), which implies a cause in

“Deposing thee before thou wert possess'd,
Which (for thou) art possess'd now to depose thyself.
”

It is often used for that (see 261), where the personal antecedent is vocatively used or preceded by the article:

“The mistress which I serve.
”

So M. for M. v. 1. 305; W. T. i. 2. 455, v. 2. 60.

“Abhorred slave,
Which any point of goodness will not take.
”

“And thou, great goddess Nature, which hast made it.
”

So in our version of the Lord's Prayer.

A Shakespearean Grammar. Edwin Abbott Abbott. London and New York. Macmillan and Company. 1870.

NSF, NEH: Digital Libraries Initiative, Phase 2 provided support for entering this text.

This text was converted to electronic form by professional data entry and has been proofread to a medium level of accuracy.

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