RELATIVE PRONOUNS. 51
lit. As-for (tva) the thing (mono) of which people say (in) that (to) it is a dog (inu), it is (dcsii) a thing (mono) which is (am) of (no) faithfulness (chugi). Here our single word " dog" or " dogs " is rendered by the five words inn to in mono wa.
If 82. This use of the active where a European would expect the passive sometimes causes an appearance of ambiguity. Thus shiranal hlto may signify either " a person who does not know" or "a person who is not known [to me]," i.e. "a person whom I do not know." But the context generally sufficiently indicates which way the phrase should be taken. Thus yonde 1 shimattd 1 lioii' cannot mean "the book which has finished reading," as such a collocation of words would have no sense. It can only mean " the book 3 which (I, he, etc.) have finished 2 reading 1 ." Sumau 1 tochf cannot mean " the locality 2 which resides 1 ." It must mean " the locality 2 in which (so-and-so) resides 1 ." The following are similar instances :
Tochaku shita toki. The time when (I, he, etc.) did liwe j arrived.
Wakaranai koto. Something I don't under-
liul< i stand-not thing j Stand.
Te ni motteru mono. That which he is holding in
Hand in i*-/io/</ni thing. ) his hand.
i" 83. The example just given of sumau tochi, signifying "the locality in which so and so resides," exemplifies the remarkable Japanese idiom according to which the preposition that frequently accompanies an English rela- tive pronoun is always omitted, thus : Toji no furuku natta
Rinding ' old litis-bccotnc A book of which the
hon. [binding has become old.
