Subject:
Subjective Personal Pronouns: I, you, he, she, we, you, they (io, tu, egli, essa, noi, voi, loro, etc.).
Explain these pronouns as briefly and practically as possible from the point of view of speaker and listener, etc., one child commanding the others while they execute the command along with him.
Example: The teacher, named for instance Anna Fedeli, explains in this way: "I don't say Anna Fedeli; I say I." "To Carlino here I don't say Carlino; I say, you." "Of Gigino, over there, I don't say Gigino; I say he," etc., etc.
Command:—
The command is given by a child; but he himself executes the first personal form along with the other children:
—I walk around the table
—You walk around the table
—She walks around the table
—He walks around the table
—We walk around the table
—You walk around the table
—They walk around the table
—I raise my arms
—You raise your arms
—She raises her arms
—He raises his arms
—We raise our arms
—You raise your arms
—They raise their arms
—I lift the chair
—You lift the chair
—He lifts the chair, etc., etc.
—I take the ink-stand
—You take the ink-stand
—He takes the ink-stand, etc., etc.
—I wave my handkerchief
—You wave your handkerchief, etc., etc.
From these exercises the notion gradually develops that:
the first person is the one who speaks;
the second person is the one who listens;
the third person is the one spoken of.
Other commands may be dramatized by small groups as follows:
—The first person must put a question the second must answer, and the third from a distance must try to hear both of them.
—Let the first one write, the second one watch, and the third one say "That is not right."
The following commands may be read aloud by the child:
—I ask you a question very softly. You answer me; and he, over there, must try to hear both of us.
—I shall write; you must act as if you were trying to read what I am writing; and then he, over there, will call out: "That is not right."
Subject:
Direct Objective Personal Pronouns: me, you, him, her, us, you, them (mi, ti, si, lo, la, ci, vi, si, li, le).
Reflexives and reciprocals: myself, yourself, etc., each other.
Command:—
(Here too one child commands executing the first personal forms, while the others act out the second and third):
—I touch the oil-cloth on the table; I touch myself; I touch you; you touch yourself; I touch him; you touch her; let us touch each other; you touch me.
—Charles, take the whisk-broom and brush the table; Charles, brush me; Charles, brush him;
Charles, brush her; Charles, brush yourself.
—Mary and I bow to the teacher; now we bow to you; now we bow to him; now we bow to her; now we bow to each other.
—I lead George by the hand to the window; I lead you by the hand to the window; I lead him by the hand to the window; he leads us by the hand to the window; we lead her by the hand to the window.
Subject:
Indirect object personal pronouns: me, te, se, mi, ti, si, le, gli, lui, lei, noi, voi, ci, vi, loro (the disjunctive pronouns, used after prepositions, etc., do not differ in English from the simple direct object forms).
(The commands are still executed as above):
Commands:—
—I am going to distribute these pencils: one to you, one to him, one to her; one to myself.
—Louis, give me a command; give him a command; give her a command; give yourself a command.
—Attention! Charles, give her a blue bead! Mary, give him a red bead!
—Alfred, give a white bead to me; give me also a yellow bead!
Subject:
Demonstratives for persons (questi, costui, colui; the second person, "that one near you," is lacking in English, which also fails to distinguish between persons and things and between genders).
When the distinctions in space represented by these pronouns have been taught as above the children read and execute as follows:
Commands:—
Distribute the pronouns to different children in the class; questi, "this one (near me)," costei (feminine); costui, "that one (near you)," costei (fem.); colui, "that one (over there)," colei (fem.); when the children are in their proper places, give to each child a different command.
—Call to you a boy and a girl, and then command: that one (costui) go and get a case; that one (costei) go and get a counter; those (costoro) keep far away and preserve complete silence.
—Point to two children, one standing near you and one far away; then command: that one (colui) go and fetch an armchair for that one (fem. costei) and a chair for this one (questo); then have him return to his place. Then have all the children execute the commands which those (costoro) will now give.
In case the class is made up entirely of girls or entirely of boys, the children find considerable amusement in trying to imitate the manners of whichever opposite sex is missing.
Subject:
Demonstratives of things (questo, cotesto, quello, ciò, ne); here also English has no pronoun of the second person (that near you), nor does it possess the general indefinite ciò (referring to a general idea: that (ciò) is true).
When the meaning of these words, in terms of space location, has been taught, the children execute as follows:
Commands:—
—You children divide into three groups; then go and occupy three different places; change places as follows: you leave that (cotesto) and occupy that over there; the others leave that (quello) and occupy this (questo).
Subject:
Possessives: mine, yours (thine), his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs.
Commands:—
—Point out various objects, saying: This is my slate; that one is yours, that is hers, and this one is his.
—Point at the different seats, saying: Here are our places, that is mine and this is yours.
Those over there are theirs.
—Pass around little baskets, saying: This is my basket. Whose is that? Is that yours? Is this hers? Are these ours? Is this one his?
We dealt with the relatives only incidentally in the analyses (Group C above); we do not treat them here, postponing the study of them in detail to the chapter on sentence-analysis.
P
ARADYMSIn teaching the declension of the pronouns we use the method employed by us in teaching all inflections: bundles of cards, of which one group is tied separately and serves as a guide. The child arranges the cards on the table, working first on the guiding group and putting the pronouns in order of persons: first, second, third.
GROUP A (Personal Pronouns)
Masculine Feminine
I we io noi io noi
you, thou you tu voi tu voi
he they egli loro ella loro
she they esso essi essa esse
it they lo li la le
me us lui lei
you, thee you gli le
him them
her them
it them
GROUP B
(Demonstratives of Person)
Masculine Feminine
this these questi costei
that those costui costei
this one these colui colei that one those costoro costoro
coloro coloro GROUP C
(Demonstratives of Things)
Masculine Feminine
this these questo questi questa queste
that those cotesto cotesti cotesta coteste this one these quel(lo) quegli, quei quella quelle that one those ciò ciò
ne ne
GROUP D (Relatives)
Persons Persons and Things
Masculine Feminine
who il quale i quali la quale le quali;
whose che che
whom chi chi
that cui cui
Things
which chi (compound = "he who") that
what (compound = that which)
GROUP E (Possessives)
mine its
yours (thine) ours
his yours
hers theirs
GROUP F (Interrogatives) Persons Persons
who? chi?
whose?
whom? quale?
which?
Things Things che?
what? cosa?
che cosa?
which? quale?