- •§ 1. Pronouns include a miscellaneous group of words which function in the sentence as noun pronouns or as adjective pronouns.
- •§ 2. We find the following personal pronouns in English:
- •§ 3. In addition to the above structural meanings of the per- sonal pronouns, they have a few other special applications.
- •§ 4. The personal pronouns change for case. There are two cases for personal pronouns — the nominative case and the objective case.
- •§ 5. As has been said, the pronoun it is generally used for con- crete things, abstract notions and animals.
- •§ 6. There are the following possessive pronouns in English:
- •§ 7. The possessive pronouns may also perform noun func- tions. Then they are used in their so-called absolute forms: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours and theirs.
- •§ 9. Reflexive pronouns may also be used in a different way: together with the verb they may form set phrases characterized by idiomatic meaning. The reflexive meaning of the self-pronoun
- •Emphatic Pronouns
- •Demonstrative Pronouns
- •§ 12. The pronoun this (these) refers to what is near in space, time or conception (a), that (those) to what is farther off (b).
- •§ 13. That, this are often found as part of set phrases. Here are some of them:
- •§ 14. The demonstrative pronoun such may mean of this or that kind (a) or indicate degree (b). Such is followed by the indefi- nite article before singular countable nouns.
- •Indefinite Pronouns
- •§ 20. The pronoun any is also used as an adjective pronoun and as a noun pronoun. In affirmative sentences any means 'it does not matter who, what or which'.
- •§ 21. The pronoun no is negative in meaning and used only as an adjective pronoun. It may mean 'not any' or 'not a'.
- •§ 22. There are the following compound pronouns formed with some-, any- and no-:
- •§ 23. The pronoun one in all of its uses refers exclusively to persons or things that are countable.
- •§ 25. The pronoun all can be used as a noun pronoun and as an adjective pronoun.
- •§ 26. The pronoun every is used only as an adjective pronoun. It modifies singular countable nouns when there are more than two objects of the same description.
- •§ 27. There are the following compound pronouns formed with every; everyone — everybody — everything.
- •§ 29. The pronoun other can be used as an adjective pronoun and as a noun pronoun.
- •§ 31. The pronoun both is used as a noun pronoun and as an adjective pronoun. It is plural in meaning and applied only to two persons or things.
- •§ 32. The pronouns much and many are used as noun pro- nouns and as adjective pronouns.
- •§ 33, The pronouns little and few are used as noun pronouns and as adjective pronouns.
- •Interrogative Pronouns
- •§ 35. The interrogative pronouns are: who (whom), whose, what, which, how much and how many. They are all used in form- ing questions.
- •§ 37. The pronoun whose is a possessive interrogative pro- noun. It is used as an adjective pronoun, mostly in the function of an attribute, though occasionally it occurs as a predicative too.
- •§ 40. The pronouns how much and how many are used as noun pronouns and as adjective pronouns.
- •§ 43. It is noteworthy that not all the conjunctive pronouns can be used with all kinds of clauses mentioned above. Thus, subject, predicative and object clauses can be introduced by the conjunctive
PRONOUNS
§ 1. Pronouns include a miscellaneous group of words which function in the sentence as noun pronouns or as adjective pronouns.
It is difficult to define the meaning of pronouns. Unlike nouns and adjectives, they do not name objects or qualities, but only point to them. In other words, they are devoid of concrete lexical meaning. They have a generalized meaning instead, which be- comes clear only in the context or situation.
Various individual pronouns may have different grammatical categories. Some of them have the category of number (e.g, this — these, that — those), others have the category of case (e.g. I — me, somebody — somebody's), still others are invariable (e.g. each, such, all, what and some others).
It should be pointed out that although pronouns function as nouns or adjectives in the sentence, they do not cover all the functions of the two parts of speech, but can only have some of them. Pronouns can be divided into the following classes:
personal pronouns, 6) indefinite pronouns,
possessive pronouns, 7) reciprocal pronouns,
reflexive pronouns, 8) interrogative pronouns,
emphatic pronouns, 9) conjunctive pronouns.
demonstrative pronouns,
Personal Pronouns
§ 2. We find the following personal pronouns in English:
|
Singular |
Plural |
1 st person |
I |
we |
2nd person |
you |
|
3d person |
he she it |
they |
I and we are said to be the pronouns of the 1st person, i.e. a person (or persons) who speaks (speak). You is said to be the pro- noun of the 2nd person, i.e. a person (persons) spoken to. He, she, it and they are said to be the pronouns of the 3d person, i.e. a person (persons) or a thing (things) spoken about.
We distinguish singular and plural personal pronouns. Singu- lar personal pronouns refer to one person or thing and plural per- sonal pronouns refer to more than one person or thing. The pro- nouns I, we, you, he and she are mainly used for persons. I, we and you are indifferent to gender, while he is masculine and she is feminine. The pronoun it is used for animals, concrete things and abstract notions, i.e. it refers to neuter nouns. The pronoun they is used for persons, animals and things and is indifferent to gender.
§ 3. In addition to the above structural meanings of the per- sonal pronouns, they have a few other special applications.
It is a tradition to use we instead of I in newspaper articles, scientific prose, etc. This so-called editorial we is believed to sound less assertive and, hence, more modest than I.
, e.g. We are convinced that the Government has made a grave mistake in imposing tills tax.
She is sometimes used for inanimate objects, especially ships, ; motor cars, aircraft, etc.
e.g. Come along and have a look at my new car. She is a beauty. She is also used for countries, and even cities, especially in rather formal and rhetoric speech.
e.g. France has made it plain that she will regret the proposal.
You may be used with reference to nobody in particular, to any person who might find himself in a similar position.
e.g. You don't know him. He is dishonest. You feel that he is ly- ing to you every moment of the day.
"Have you been aboard Mrs Wilcox's yacht? What do people do aboard yachts?" "I don't know. You drink, I suppose," Gregory said, shrugging his shoulders.
In my youth during Christmas holidays I loved to visit my classmates who all lived in small provincial towns. Once
you got into them, each anonymous house held a promise of fun. You didn't know who lived in them, but maybe in one of them, as you went from the station to the house of the people you were visiting, there would be a pretty girl getting ready for a dance.
They may be used to mean 'people in general', especially in the phrase they say.
e,g. They say he's going to resign.
No wonder they say the present generation hasn't got a scrap
of enterprise. The personal pronouns are used as nouns in the sentence.