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A pronoun is a word that can be used in place of a noun or a noun phrase, as the word
itself tells us:pro-noun. We use pronouns like she, he, it and they when we already know
who or what is referred to. This saves us from having to repeat the name or the noun
whenever we need to refer to it:
Determiners are always followed by a noun. Pronouns such as some or this followed by
a noun function as determiners when they stand on their own, they function as ponouns:
1- PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Subject: I you he she it we you they
Object: me you him her it us you them
Though these words are called personal pronouns, they do not refer only to people. Eg :
Your breakfast is ready. It is on the table.
Personal pronouns display a person contrast; that is, they have separate 1st, 2nd and 3rd
person forms. Person distinguishes the speaker or writer (1st person: I, we) from the
addressee (2nd person: you) and from those persons or things which are neither (3rd
person: he, she, it, they) E.g.:
Third person coordinates usually have the masculine before the feminine, the pronoun
before the noun phrase. Eg
- He and she were both elected.
- She and another student were both elected
In the third person (he, she, it), there is three-way gender contrast: masculine, feminine
and nonpersonal, the choice of pronouns depends on the noun being replaced.
Personal pronouns agree with the nouns they replace in number, showing us whether they
are referring to singular or plural.
If you see Mary, please giver her this present (singular)
If you see Mary and Tom, please give them this wedding present (plural)
Case in personal pronouns involves a distinction making broadly the grammatical roles
of subject and object. Compare:
The choice of subjective or objective forms does not depend solely upon the strict
grammatical distinction between subject and object. Rather, usage shows that we are
concerned more with subject territory (the pre-verbal part of a clause) in contrast to object
territory (the post verbal part of a clause)
EXCEPTIONS
She is as old as me
You are taller than him.
However, subject pronouns are used if as or than are followed by subject + verb.
She is as old as Iam/ as he is
The pronoun it
a) Any singular noun phase that does not determine reference by he or she, is referred
to by it, thus collectives and noncount concretes. E.g.
The committee met son after it had been appointed. (collective)
He bought some salmon because it was his favourite food. (noncount)
One can be linked with one’s, just as you can be linked with your. However, constructions
with one, one’s and oneself are often awkward because of the repetion of one:
One should do one’s best at all times.
In AmE one’s /oneself can be repaced by his /her, himself/herself.
2- REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
The reflexive pronouns are always coreferential with a noun or another pronoun,
agreeimg with it in number, gender and person.
Verónica herself saw the accident
The dog was scratching itself
He and his wife poured themselves a drink.
By contrast, in:
He and his wife poured them a drink
The indirect object them refers to people other than the subject. The co reference must be
within the clause, thus we have a contrast between:
There are some verbs in English that must be always followed by reflexives. For example,
absent, avail, pride, ingratiate
Other verbs are commonly followed by reflexives. Eg amuse, blame, cut, enjoy, hurt,
introduce
The reciprocal pronouns each other and one another are used to indcate that two people
do the same thing, feel the same way or have the same relationship. For example, if your
friend Paul loves his girlfriend Anne and Anne loves him back, you can say “Paul and
Anne love each other” or “Paul and Anne love one another.”
Reciprocal pronouns are not used as the subject of a clause but as the object of a verb.
We help each other a lot.
4- POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
Compare:
Possessives show possession, i.e., that someone or sometinhg belongs to somebody. They
answer the question Whose?
These are his children These children are his
5- DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
6- RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronouns comprise two series:
1- Who whom whose which
2- That zero (ø)
Relative pronouns relate to a preceding noun or pronoun and introduce relative clauses.
These clauses describe the noun or pronoun so postmodified (called the antecedent- the
word to which the relative clause relates). E.g.:
The man is coming to tea. (well, what man?)
The man who called you yesterday is coming to tea.
Compare:
I’d like to come and see the house which/that/ø you have for sale.
In neither series are there distinctions of person or number, but in (1) we have some
distinctions of gender and case. With who and whom the antecedent must have personal
gender, with which it must have nonpersonal gender, with whose the antecedent is
usually personal but can also be nonpersonal. Then:
They differ from relative pronouns in that a) they do not relate to a preceding noun or
pronoun, and b) their antecedent is not within the sentence. Eg
He proposed a motion, which was accepted. (the relative pronoun relates to
motion)
I don’t know which they accepted. (the interrogative pronoun relates to something
not present in the sentence)
Whose, who and whom can be used only with reference to items of personal gender.
While whom can function only in the objective case, who can be both subjective and
objective except after a preposition. Eg
Who owns this house?
Who(m) does this house belong to?
To whom does this house belong? (formal)
Whose is this house?
When what is used as a pronoun, the questioner assumes that the reference is nonpersonal:
But what and which can also be determiners, and in this function the noun phrase can be
personal or nonpersonal, the difference then being that which assumes a limited choice
of known answers:
What doctor(s) would refuse t osee a patient?
Which doctor(s) (of those we are discussing) gave an opinión on this problem?
As determiner, whose retains its personal reference:
Whose house is this?
The distinction between who, what and which is brought out in a set like the following:
Who is his wife? The novelist Felicity Smith
What is his wife? She is a novelist.
Which is his wife? The woman nearest the door.
8- INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
They are characterized by having a general and nonspecific reference which the term
“indefinite” tries to capture. They are called “indefinite” because we do not always know
who or what we are referring to. Equally, they are characterized by having functions
directly involves in expressing quantity, from totality (all) to its converse (nothing).
Reference in some cases involves gender, such that items in body are personal, items in -
thing nonpersonal. Several of the indefinites can function both as determiners and as
pronouns, as we shall see in what follows.
Indefinite pronouns can be divided into universal indefinites and partitive indefinites
a) Universal indefinites
Positive: everyone everything everybody each every all both
Negative: no one nothing nobody none neither no
We may first consider: everybody, everyone, everything, no one, nobody, nothing. These
function only as pronouns and, although they have plural meaning, they take a singular
verb.
The party was great. Everyone/ everybody was having a good time.
Two further indefinites are: each and noneñ the are both able to opérate irrespective of
gender.
Many members hesitated but each was pressed to act
Is there any sugar? No, there’s none
Are there any bread Rolls?- no, there are none.
Where they differ is that each is more targeted on the individual among the totally itself.
With the dterminer no which corresponds to none, plural and singular reference is used:
Partitive indefinites
In dealing with the partitives, we must make a primary distinction between (a) those in
assertive use, i.e., those that occur in positive declarative sentences, and (b) those in
nonassertive use, i.e., those that occur in negative and interrogative sentences.
When some and any are used as pronouns, they suaully have clear contextual
reference to a noun phrase:
Compare:
The pólice did not arrest either (suspect) ( nonassertive)
Assertive forms can be used in nonassertive territory when the presupposition is positive:
Can you see someone in the garden? (0 there is someone in the garden; can you see him/
her?