Chapter 5 Pronouns
Pronouns are words that replace nouns: I, me, he, she, they, who, that, yours, his, her, ETC.
There are Personal Pronouns: She/her
Despite the name, personal pronouns do not just refer to people, but also to other kinds of entities. Sometimes, they do not even ‘mean’ anything, as we discuss below.
Personal pronouns have two different case-forms, which we refer to as the subject form and the object form, reflecting their use in clauses. They also have different forms for singular and plural, and for different persons. The following table gives the different forms of personal pronouns in English
Antecedents: is a noun or noun phrase that you use in the beginning of a sentence and then, later on, replace with a pronoun ex: The sign is too far away to read it. Sign is the antecedent, it is the pronoun.
Relative Pronouns: They are used to connect relative clause to independent clause. The woman who called earlier did not leave a message. That, what, which, who, whom.
Demonstrative Pronouns: That, this, these and those. They take the place of a noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned Indefinite Pronouns: when you refer to a person or thing that doesn’t need to be specifically identified. One, other, none, some, anybody, everybody, no one.
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns: end in -self, or -selves, myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Possessive Pronouns: Limiting and absolute. My, your, his, hers, ours, their and whose are used to show that something belongs to an antecedent. Sarah is working on her paper after school. Absolute possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours. The forms of possessive pronouns vary with person and number. In English, possessive pronouns (except his and its) also have different forms depending on whether they function as determiners in a noun phrase or constitute a noun phrase on their own, i.e. function as “true” pronouns.
Interrogative Pronouns: used in questions: Who, what, which and whose. Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative clauses, which may be either main clauses or dependent clauses (so-called indirect questions). Most English interrogative pronouns start with wh-, and are therefore often called wh-words. Consequently, interrogative clauses introduced by wh-words are often referred to as wh-questions.
The ’Dummy’ pronouns it and there
In English, the requirement that finite clauses have a preverbal subject is very strong. Therefore, even in contexts where the subject occurs late in the clause, e.g. due to discourse principles, English makes use of dummy pronouns in subject position.
In English there and it are used in different contexts, illustrated by the following examples:
(1) There has been a mouse in the garage.
(2) It is hard for me to read without my glasses.
In English, the choice between it and there is determined by the form of the postponed subject. Thus, when the postponed subject is a noun phrase, there is used as the dummy. When the postponed subject is a clause, it is used as the dummy.
