pronouns

pronouns

1.   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.

 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 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.

  Demonstrative Pronouns

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.

Relative Pronouns

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).

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.

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

• all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Note that many indefinite pronouns also function as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the following sentences:

• He has one job in the day and another at night. (pronoun)
• I'd like another drink, please. (adjective)

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.

Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). Look at these examples:

• Each of the players has a doctor.
• I met two girls. One has given me her phone number.

Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement:

• Many have expressed their views.

	pronoun	meaning	example
s i n g u l a r	another	an additional or different person or thing	That ice-cream was good. Can I have another?
	anybody/ anyone	no matter what person	Can anyone answer this question?
	anything	no matter what thing	The doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours.
	each	every one of two or more people or things, seen separately	Each has his own thoughts.
	either	one or the other of two people or things	Do you want tea or coffee? / I don't mind. Either is good for me.
	enough	as much or as many as needed	Enough is enough.
	everybody/ everyone	all people	We can start the meeting because everybody has arrived.
	everything	all things	They have no house or possessions. They lost everything in the earthquake.
	less	a smaller amount	"Less is more" (Mies van der Rohe)
	little	a small amount	Little is known about his early life.
	much	a large amount	Much has happened since we met.
	neither	not one and not the other of two people or things	I keep telling Jack and Jill but neither believes me.
	nobody/ no-one	no person	I phoned many times but nobody answered.
	nothing	no single thing, not anything	If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing.
	one	an unidentified person	Can one smoke here? | All the students arrived but now one is missing.
	other	a different person or thing from one already mentioned	One was tall and the other was short.
	somebody/ someone	an unspecified or unknown person	Clearly somebody murdered him. It was not suicide.
	something	an unspecified or unknown thing	Listen! I just heard something! What could it be?
	you	an unidentified person (informal)	And you can see why.
p l u r a l	both	two people or things, seen together	John likes coffee but not tea. I think both are good.
	few	a small number of people or things	Few have ever disobeyed him and lived.
	fewer	a reduced number of people or things	Fewer are smoking these days.
	many	a large number of people or things	Many have come already.
	others	other people; not us	I'm sure that others have tried before us.
	several	more than two but not many	They all complained and several left the meeting.
	they	people in general (informal)	They say that vegetables are good for you.
s i n g u l a r / p l u r a l	all	the whole quantity of something or of some things or people	All is forgiven. All have arrived.
	any	no matter how much or how many	Is any left? Are any coming?
	more	a greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things	There is more over there. More are coming.
	most	the majority; nearly all	Most is lost. Most have refused.
	none	not any; no person or persons	They fixed the water so why is none coming out of the tap? I invited five friends but none have come.*
	some	an unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things	Here is some. Some have arrived.
	such	of the type already mentioned	He was a foreigner and he felt that he was treated as such.

Examples of Indefinite Pronouns

·        That ice-cream was good. Can I have another?

·        Can anyone answer this question?

·        The doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours

·        Little is known about his early life

·        We can start the meeting because everybody has arrived

·        If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing

Intensive 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.)

Reflexive Pronouns

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.

Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.

• Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision.
• These decisions will be made by myself me.
• If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones.

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.

  Interrogative Pronouns

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.

Reciprocal Pronouns

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.

Source:

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pronouns-indefinite.htm

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indefinite_pronoun

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/pronouns1.htm