Pronouns

Types of Pronouns - Possessive

Pronouns that owns something. Example:

1. my (adjective), mine (nouns)
2. our, ours
3. your, yours
4. her, hers
5. his, his
6. it, its
7. their, theirs

They follow one rule: no apostrophe (')

Examples

1. That is my book. (adj)
2. That book is mine. (noun)
3. Mine is in the cupboard. (noun)
4. That is Birish's hat. (noun)
5. That is his hat. (adj)
6. That hat is his. (noun)
7. His is the hat with Polha dots. (noun)

Types of Pronouns - Reflective (self)

Pronouns that reflect onto the subject. Example:

• me ➔ myself
• us ➔ ourselves
• you ➔ yourself / yourselves
• it ➔ itself
• her ➔ herself
• him ➔ himself
• them ➔ themselves

Examples

• Janelle made herself breakfast. (reflecting)
• Janelle made us breakfast. (ordinary)
• Can you talk to yourself? (reflecting)
• Can you talk to Vidya? (ordinary)
• Can you talk to me? (ordinary)
• Can you talk to yourself before talking to Vidya or me? (reflecting, then ordinary)

Types of Pronouns - Relative

These pronouns link independent and dependent clauses together instead of its original use. They are:

• Referring to people
  • who
  • whom
• Referring to things
  • whose (owner to, display ownership)
  • that
  • which

Example:

• The man who sold the world is coming by on Tuesday.
  • The man is coming by on Tuesday.
  • The man sold the world.
• The salad that I bought was wilted.
  • The salad was wilted.
  • I bought the salad.
• The man that I saw smiled.
  • The man smiled.
  • I saw the man.
• The witch who cast the spell is dead.
  • The witch is dead.
  • The witch cast the spell.

Then vs Which

Guidelines

1. That is bad with comma (,)
2. Which is BAD with people

Rationales

• Native speaker doesn't do it that way.
• Give and take between prescriptivist (faction who believes it has rules) vs. descriptivists (faction who believes no rules apply)

Examples

• The carrot which was orange is tasty. (OK)
• The carrot, which was orange is tasty. (OK)
• The carrot which was orange, is tasty. (OK)
• The carrot, that was orange, was tasty. (Uncommon, not natural)
• The carrot that was orange is tasty. (OK)
• The carrot that was orange, is tasty. (Uncommon, not coherent)
• The witch which cast the spell is ugly. (Uncommon, sound repetitively)
• The witch that cast the spell is ugly. (OK)
• The dog that I saw ... (OK)
• The dog which I saw ... (Uncommon)
• The snow that fell ... (OK)
• The snow which fell ... (Uncommon)
• The woman that boarded the plane ... (OK)
• The woman which boarded the plane ... (Uncommon)

Who vs Whom

Guidelines

• Who can be deployed for both subject and object
• Whom is strictly object.

Rationales

• due to language evolution. Who is slowly replacing whom; similar case to whoever to whoso.
  • Whoso pull this sword from this stone is right wise born King of England.

Examples

• Whom are you talking to? (technically correct)
• Who are you talking to? (not technically correct, but it's fine)
• You are talking to whom? (technically correct)
• You are talking to who? (not common, but it's fine)
• The spy who loved me ... (correct)
• The spy whom I loved ... ( correct)
• The spy who I loved ... (correct)
• The shy whom loved me ... (technically incorrect and sound wrongly)

Subject and Object

Subject - does a thing (she, he, etc.)

Object - being acted upon (his, her, etc.)

Exception

• you and it are the same across subject and object.

Examples

1. Reina (subject) wrote an email (object).
2. Reina (subject) wrote. (intransitive usage)
3. She wrote an email.
4. She wrote hers.
5. I give her a present.
6. She gave me a present.
7. You gave it a present.
8. It gives you a present.

Pronouns - Persons Perspectives Agreement

• First Person - me, us, I, we
• Second Person - you
• Third Person - he, she, it, they, everybody, nothing, his, her, it, theirs

Rules

• Always agree the subject person perspective to avoid confusion.
• If multiple subjects appeared and selection occurs, use the proper noun to properly select the subject.

Examples

1. One (3rd person) caught not to place one's (3rd person) hand on a hot stove.
   • Clearly, the same person should not place his/her hand on a hot stove.
2. One (3rd person) caught not to place your (2nd person) hands on a hot stove.
   • Confusing as the subject person doesn't agree. Does it means the reader hand or someone's hand?
3. Hollie and Jackson (3rd persons) ate that food. Jackson (3rd person, selected) fell sick.
   • Clearly, Jackson fell sick from the two of them.
4. Brian and Jackson (3rd persons) ate that food. He (3rd person, selected) fell sick.
   • Confusing, who fell sick? Brian or Jackson?

Grammatical Number

• Singular - me
• Plural - us

Rule

• Be consistent throughout the context.

Exception

• You and They are the same across singular and plural usage. (They can be singular)

Examples

1. I (singular) looked at my (singular) watch.
2. I (singular) looked at our (plural) watch.
   • Wrong - Doesn't agree, even the watch is not in plural form
3. The dog (singular) wagged its (singular) tail.
4. We (plural) made our (plural) beds.
5. We (plural) made my beds.
   • Technically Correct - my many beds. "Beds" is in plural form.

Type of Pronouns - Indefinite

Pronouns that has uncertain number of subjects. They are usable as subject and object. These are:

• any
• anybody
• each
• everyone
• everybody
• Both (maintain duality - 2 objects/subjects)
• Either (maintain duality - 2 objects/subjects)
• Neither (maintain duality -2 objects/subjects)

Caveat

• Each, anybody, everyone and everybody, although plural by its meaning, usually refers to singular third person (selecting one person from the masses)

Examples

• Yes please! I'd love some.
• Yes, please! Some would be great.
• I like both mango and cherries.
• Nobody was home.
  • refers to "absent of anyone" as one
• Everybody knows that I love onions.
• Everyone was crouched behind furniture to surprise me; but I already knew they were there.

Types of Pronouns - Emphatic

Reflective pronouns optionally used for emphasis and increase the intensity. Optional means the sentence retains its meaning after the removing the said pronouns.

Examples

• I made myself a breakfast. (reflective)
• I'll make the breakfast.
• I'll make the breakfast myself! (emphasis)
• I heard it.
• I heard it myself! (emphasis)
• I myself heard it. (emphasis)
• The princess is running the charity.
• The princess herself is running the charity. (emphasis)

Singular They

Language evolution. This is due to the generic reference debates:

• generic "he" is not generic
• generic "she" is not generic
• generic "it"
• generic "they"

Example:

• When a journalist (singular) files a story, they (singular) should always check the sources.
• Steady as it (generic) goes.

Checklist for Grammar Review

1. What are and how many subject and object in the sentence?
2. What person perspective we're looking at?
3. Any selection for plural subjects or objects?
   1. If yes, is the selection confusing? Otherwise use proper nouns to address the selection clearly.
4. Is the sentence maintaining the person perspective agreeably and resonantly?
5. If "they" is used, is the context refers to generic means or plural means?
   1. If generic means, singular they is acceptable.
6. Is/Are the subject/objective indefinite quantity?
   1. If everybody / everyone / each / anybody is used, are they deployed as singular (3rd person)?
   2. If both / either / neither is used, are they maintaining their duality?
7. If reflective pronouns is used?
   1. Is it optional (emphasis) or compulsory (true reflective)?
8. Are possessive pronouns used correctly?
   1. Is there any apostrophe at the end?
9. If relative pronouns are used:
   1. Is the dependent context refers to people? (who / whom)
      1. Is whom being used as subject? (who)
   2. Is the dependent context refers to ownership? (whose)
   3. Is the dependent context being linked with comma? (which)
   4. Is the dependent context being linked with person? (that)
10. Is the pronoun being used correctly?