_The order of parsing a_ RELATIVE PRONOUN, is--a pronoun, and
why?--relative, and why?--gender, person, and number, and
why?--RULE:--case, and why?--RULE.--Decline it.
"This is the man _whom_ we saw."
_Whom_ is a pronoun, a word used instead of a noun--relative, it relates
to "man" for its antecedent--mas. gend. third pers. sing. num. because
the antecedent "man" is with which it agrees, according to
RULE 14. _Relative pronouns agree with their antecedents in gender,
person, and number. Whom_ is in the objective case, the object of the
action expressed by the active-transitive verb "saw," and governed by
it, agreeably to
RULE 16. _When a nominative comes between the relative and the verb, the
relative is governed by the following verb, or some other word in its
own member of the sentence_.
_Whom_, in the objective case, is placed before the verb that governs
it, according to NOTE 1, under Rule 16. (Repeat the Note, and decline
_who_.)
"From _what_ is recorded, he appears," &c.
_What_ is a comp. rel. pron. including both the antecedent and the
relative, and is equivalent to _that which_, or the _thing
which_--_Thing_, the antecedent part of _what_, is a noun, the name of a
thing--com. the name of a species--neuter gender, it has no sex--third
person, spoken of--sing. number, it implies but one--and in the obj.
case, it is the object of the relation expressed by the prep. "from,"
and gov. by it: RULE 31. (Repeat the Rule, and every other Rule to which
I refer.) _Which_, the relative part of _what_, is a pronoun, a word
used instead of a noun--relative, it relates to "thing" for its
antecedent--neut. gender, third person, sing. number, because the
antecedent "thing" is with which it agrees, according to RULE 14. _Rel
pron_. &c. _Which_ is in the nom. case to the verb "is recorded,"
agreeably to
RULE 15. _The relative is the nominative case to the verb, when no
nominative comes between it and the verb_.
"_What_ have you learned? Nothing."
_What_ is a pron. a word used, &c.--relative of the interrogative kind,
because it is used in asking a question--it refers to the word "nothing"
for its _subsequent_, according to
RULE 17. _When the rel. pron. is of the interrog. kind, it refers to the
word or phrase containing the answer to the question, for its
subsequent, which subsequent must agree in case with the interrogative.
What_ is of the neut. gend. third pers. sing. because the subsequent
"nothing" is with which it agrees; RULE 14. _Rel. pron. agree_, &c.--It
is in the obj. case, the object of the action, of the active-transitive
verb "have learned," and gov. by it, agreeably to RULE 16. _When a nom_.
&c. See NOTE 1, under the Rule.
NOTE. 1. You need not apply gend. pers. and numb, to the interrogative
when the answer to the question is _not_ expressed.