§ 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.

§ 4. The personal pronouns change for case. There are two cases for personal pronouns — the nominative case and the objective case.

The Nominative Case	The Objective Case
I you he she it we you they	me you him her it us you them

The forms of the nominative case function in the sentence as subjects.

e.g. I expect they will laugh at me.

Why, don't you know what he's up to?

The forms of the objective case function in the sentence as objects.

e.g. I met him in the street, (direct object)

He gave me some advice, (indirect object)

Please, don't tell anyone about us. (prepositional object)

When personal pronouns are used as predicatives or after than-' as and but, the nominative case is considered to be very formal; the use of the objective case is preferred in spoken English.

e.g. "Who is it?" "It's me (I)."

"Do you need anything?" "A secretary that I'll dictate my

piece to." "I'll be her." You're better off than them (they). She is as tall as him (he). No one can do it but him (he).

But only a nominative case personal pronoun can be used in the following sentence pattern where the pronoun is followed by a clause.

e.g. It was I who did it.

The Use of it