PRONOUNS # (SOFTSKILL)
Pronouns
Definition
Generally
(but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an
individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose
identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by
writers who claim something like
- They say that eating beef is bad for you.
They is a pronoun referring to
someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of
pronouns is unfair.
Not
all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.
- Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.
The
word "everyone" has no antecedent.
The
problem of agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent and between a pronoun
and its verb is treated in another section on Pronoun-Antecedent
Consistency. The quizzes on pronoun usage are also listed at the
end of that section.
This section
will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns
Personal
Pronouns
Unlike
English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s
ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the
possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form
according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the
subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various
ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as
the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal
pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they.
These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available
that shows the various Cases of the
Personal Pronouns.
Personal pronouns can also be
characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the
speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for
plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written
to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the
person or people being spoken or written about ("he,"
"she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural).
The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the
Personal Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change
form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes
"me" when used as an object ("She left me") and
"my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car");
"they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like
them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their
way").
When a personal pronoun is
connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not
change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if
Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are
taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before
"I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a
"polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called
for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also
received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha
and me." For more on this, see cases of
pronouns.
When
a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and
second-person pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be
appropriate if the noun were not there.
- We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.
- The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.
With
the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is
the same as the object form, "you":
- "You students are demanding too much."
- "We expect you students to behave like adults."
Among
the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative
possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.
- Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful.
- This new car is mine.
- Mine is newer than yours.
The
family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as
pronouns or as determiners.
As
pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.
- That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
- I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
- Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)
As
determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A
sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the
choice of these pronouns/determiners:
- These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
- Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
- This [book in my hand] is well written;
- that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.
A
sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the
demonstrative pronouns:
- You're going to wear these?
- This is the best you can do?
Pronouns used
in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence.
When
used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be
used to refer to objects as well as persons.
- This is my father.
- That is my book.
In
other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other
words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were
loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is
perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not
write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would
have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal
suspended those students for two days."
The
relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to
nouns or other pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does
the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student,
to the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly
between which and that and between who and whom
leads to what are probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English
grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the Notorious
Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to
Michael Quinion's article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes).
Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical
in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the
essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause"
is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on
the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence
and are not set off with commas. The pronoun which refers to things; who
(and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it
can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer
to the section on Consistency.
We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of who and whom
at the end of that section.
The
expanded form of the relative pronouns — whoever, whomever, whatever —
are known as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences
should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":
- The coach will select whomever he pleases.
- He seemed to say whatever came to mind.
- Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.
What is often an indefinite relative
pronoun:
- She will tell you what you need to know.
The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one)
do not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone
is wondering if any is left.)
One
of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact
that "everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person,
but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of
this word as meaning "every single body," the confusion usually
disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or
plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning
"not any") except when something else in the sentence makes us regard
it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is
fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it
refers to something countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun
Consistency for help on determining the number of the indefinite
pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the verbs that accompany them).
There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one.
There are
other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners:
enough, few,
fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each,
any, either, neither, none, some
- Few will be chosen; fewer will finish.
- Little is expected.
See the
section on Pronoun
Consistency for help in determining the number (singular/plural)
characteristics of these pronouns.
The
intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves)
consist of a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a
noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is possible (but rather
unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I
don't believe a word he says.)
The
reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns)
indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb.
(Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting themselves. You paid yourself
a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that
whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to
whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence
"Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is
no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and
we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as
"I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it
would be correct.
When
pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person
- Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.
or,
when there is no first person, the second person:
- You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.
The
indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One
must have faith in oneself."), but the other indefinite pronouns use
either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire
page on the pronoun one.) It is probably better to
pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.
- No one here can blame himself or herself.
- The people here cannot blame themselves.
The
interrogative pronouns (who/which/what) introduce questions. (What is
that? Who will help me? Which do you prefer?) Which is
generally used with more specific reference than what. If we're taking a
quiz and I ask "Which questions give you the most trouble?", I am
referring to specific questions on that quiz. If I ask "What questions
give you most trouble"? I could be asking what kind of questions on that
quiz (or what kind of question, generically, in general) gives you trouble. The
interrogative pronouns also act as Determiners:
It doesn't matter which beer you buy. He doesn't know whose car he hit. In this
determiner role, they are sometimes called interrogative adjectives.
Like
the relative
pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses,
and like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns play a subject role
in the clauses they introduce:
- We know who is guilty of this crime.
- I already told the detective what I know about it.
The
reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are
convenient forms for combining ideas. If Bob gave Alicia a book for Christmas
and Alicia gave Bob a book for Christmas, we can say that they gave each other
books (or that they gave books to each other).
- My mother and I give each other a hard time.
If
more than two people are involved (let's say a whole book club), we would say
that they gave one another books. This rule (if it is one) should be applied
circumspectly. It's quite possible for the exchange of books within this book
club, for example, to be between individuals, making "each other"
just as appropriate as "one another."
Reciprocal
pronouns can also take possessive forms:
- They borrowed each other's ideas.
- The scientists in this lab often use one another's equipment.
Example of Pronoun
·
The experience left them no
choice except to return
·
They told me that they had seen him during
their vacation
Demonstrative
Pronouns
·
Hand me that hammer.
Reflexive
/ Intensive Pronouns
·
I saw myself in the mirror.
·
I’ll do it myself.
Indefinite
Pronouns
·
Somebody is coming to dinner.
·
Several
have suggested canceling the meeting
Interrogative
Pronouns
·
What do
you want?
·
Who is
there?
Relative
Pronouns
·
The people Who gets the
highest score gets the gold medal
·
The car That we bought
doesn’t run well
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