- •§ 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
Indefinite Pronouns
§ 18. The indefinite pronouns express various degrees and var- ious kinds of indefiniteness. We find the following subgroups among them:
1) indefinite pronouns proper:
some, any, no;
somebody, anybody, nobody; someone, anyone, no one; something, anything, nothing;
one, none
2) distributive pronouns:
all, every, each, other, either, neither, both;
everybody, everyone, everything
3) quantitative pronouns:
much, many, little, few, a little, a few, a lot of, lots of, a great deal, a great many, etc.
§ 19. The pronoun some may be used as an adjective pronoun and as a noun pronoun. It has several meanings. Some usually ex- presses an indefinite number or amount or indefinite quality.
e.g. On such days my mother would give me some pennies to buy
sweets or a magazine.
They did give us some nice things to eat, didn't they? I was terrified that some disaster was waiting for me. I had been playing cricket with some of the neighbouring
children.
The visitor asked me to describe some of the work we do in our laboratory.
Some, used with a singular countable noun, may mean 'a par- ticular but unidentified person or thing'.
e.g. Some boy had written a Latin word on the blackboard. We must first think of some plan.
Some is very often used for contrast. Then it is strongly stressed. e.g. I enjoy some music, but not much of it.
Some of us agree with the statement, some disagree.
Some may also mean 'approximately', e.g. It happened some twenty years ago.
When used as a noun pronoun, some may be singular or plu- ral. It depends on whether some refers to countable or uncount- able nouns.
e.g. Some of his opinions were hard to accept.
Some of the food was packed in waterproof bags.
As a rule, some is used in affirmative sentences (see the exam- ples above). In interrogative and negative sentences it is changed into any or no (see §§ 20-21 below). However, there are instances when some remains unchanged in interrogative and negative sen- tences. It happens when the question or negation does not concern the part of the sentence containing some, i.e. when the part of the sentence containing some remains affirmative in meaning.
e.g. May I give you some more tea?
I could not answer some of his questions. Did you see some of his poems published in the magazine? I'm going away for a week. So I shan't be able to see some interesting games.
Not all your answers are correct. Some are, some aren't. You know some women can't see the telephone without taking the receiver off.
§ 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'.
e.g. Come any day you like.
I was interested in any new prospect of change. Any who have questions to ask are requested to do so in writ- ing. "Which newspaper do you want me to buy?" "Any will do."
Her voice carried well in any hall. Note. Any number of is a set phrase, meaning 'a great many', e.g. I have any number of plants in my garden.
In interrogative and negative sentences any is used instead of some.
e.g. Is there any chance of seeing any of his pictures? I did not see any change in his life. They asked him for some money. He said he didn't have any.
It should be noted that a negative meaning may be conveyed in the sentence not only by not, but also by never, without, sel- dom, hardly, etc. It may also be expressed in another clause.
e.g. He never had any luck.
He went away without saying good-bye to any of us.
Now that he lived in the country he seldom had any visitors.
The Dutchman spoke French with hardly any accent.
No one is under any obligation to you.
I don't think any of us ought to wish the result to be different.
Any is used when some doubt or condition is implied. This of- ten occurs in object clauses introduced by if or whether or in con- ditional clauses.
e.g. Let me know if you hear any news.
I wonder if you have met any of these people before. If you have any news, call me up right away.
If you still have any of my father's letters, send them to me, please.
Any may be used as an adverbial modifier of degree in the sen- tence.
e.g. He isn't any better.
In spite of your advice she isn't any the wiser.