CHAPTER 10 PRONOUNS AND NUMERALS Pronouns

Pronouns represent a class with various items whose features make them differ from nouns:
- they do not admit determiners; - they often have an objective case; - they often have person distinction; - they often have gender contrast; - singular and plural forms are often not morphologically related. There are items with specific reference and others with more indefinite reference: SPE !"! Personal entral &efle'ive &eciprocal Possessive &elative !nterrogative $emonstrative Case +uantifying Partitive !#$E"!#!TE %niversal (ssertive #on)assertive #egative *eneral Enumerative

Most

pronouns in English have two cases: common , somebody- and genitive ,somebodys-. Si'

pronouns have an objective case and a three)case system. where common case is replaced by subjective and objective. *enitive and objective cases have the same form her. and there is partial overlap between subjective who and objective who. Here is the man who phoned yesterday. ,SubjectThis is the man who I told you about. ,/bjectThe genitives of personal pronouns are called 0possessive pronouns1.

Subjective: I, we, he, she, it, they, who; /bjective: me, us, him, her, it, them, who(m); *enitive: my, our, his, her, its, their, whose.
There is no inflected or 's genitive with the demonstratives or with the indefinites e'cept those in one and body. Somebody's fin erprints ha!e been found all round the "it#hen.

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Person

Personal

pronouns have the following forms:

) Subject case: I, you, he, she, it, we, and they; ) /bject case: me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. He is the new $n lish tea#her. ,SubjectI'!e "nown him for a !ery lon time.,/bjectReflexive pronouns have the following forms: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oursel!es. yoursel!es. and themsel!es. If you don't ta"e #are you'll hurt yourself. Possessive pronouns have the following forms: - $eterminer function ,adjectival-: my, your, his, her, its, our, their; - #ominal function Pronominal: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs. Her house is bi Gender er than ours. ,(djective ) pronoun-

In

the third person singular the personal. refle'ive. and possessive pronouns distinguish in gender

between masculine ,he%him% himself%his-. feminine ,she%her%herself%hers-. and non)personal ,it%itself%its-. This is his shirt. ,4asculineShe is my elder dau hter. ,"eminine&o you thin" it is a uard do 5 ,#on)personal or neutreNumber

The second person uses a single form for singular and plural in the personal and possessive series but
has a separate plural in the refle'ive , yourself, yoursel!es-. 'e. the first person plural. does not denote 6more than !7 but 6! plus one or more others7. There is thus an interrelation between number and person. 8e may e'clude the person,s- addressed; (re we 94ary and !: your friends5 ,Third and first persons)es, you are. !t may be also inclusive: (re we friends5 9you and !: )es, we are. Personal pronouns

They function as replacements for co)referential noun phrases in neighbouring or preceding clauses.
Tom phoned se!eral times but he #ouldnt spea" to anybody. (s soon as Tom dialled, he #ould hear a stran e !oi#e.

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8hen a subordinate clause precedes the main clause. the pronoun may anticipate its determining co) referent: (s soon as he dialled, Tom heard a stran e !oi#e. The personal pronouns have two sets of case)forms. The subjective forms are used as subjects of finite verbs and often as subject complement: He hoped the spea"er would be Sue and indeed it was she. The objective forms are used as objects and as prepositional complements. Especially in informal usage. they also occur as subject complements and as the subject ,mainly first person- of sentences whose predicates have been omitted: I saw her with him; Im sure it was her. 'hos spea"in * + Me, Uses of it

It

can play the function of an <empty subject<. This is met in sentences referring to temperature.

distance. time or weather. environment. present situation. with sin#e. says and ta"e. It's -./ 0elsius below free1in . It's 23 "ilometres from T . 4ure5 to So!ata. It's pleasant here. It's a shame. Its a es sin#e I last ate a ood pi11a. It says here not to step beyond the red line. It too" them three hours to find that address. It can have the function of a <preparatory subject<. Sentences beginning with it continue with an infinitive. a gerund or a noun clause. which in fact are the subjects of the clauses. It's lo!ely to be in su#h ood #ompany. ,To be in su#h ood #ompany is lo!ely.It's wonderful #ruisin amon these beautiful tropi#al islands. It's a pity that she didn't "now about the trip. It doesn't matter how it #osts. It in this function can combine with adjectives ,difficult. vital. important. necessary. easy. advisable. likely etc.- and the following verb can be either an infinitive or an ) in form: It's diffi#ult to ta"e%ta"in a de#ision on su#h an important matter. !t combines with nouns ,a pleasure. a pity. a shame. fun. a disaster. hell. luck. a mistake. a pain. a relief. a tragedy etc-: It's fun to #oo"%#oo"in to ether. !t also combines with verbs ,appear. happen. look. seem etc.-: It seems to be an eternity sin#e we last met. 8hen we wish to emphasise a word or phrase in a sentences we usually use it is or it was = subject = that or who(m). These sentences are called <cleft sentences< because they are split into two:

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It was Ian who told me the news. It is today that we e6pe#t the results. It and an adjective can be used after verbs like find, en7oy, hate, li"e, lo!e, #onsider, feel, ima ine, thin", suppose, 7ud e, #ount, re#"on, uess etc. announcing the infinitive or a that)clause that follows: 4other finds it diffi#ult to a##ept the idea of my mo!in out. Tom hates it that he has to wa"e up e!ery mornin . It and there appear in participle constructions in formal style: It bein a frosty day, people are ad!ised to stay indoors. There bein no other ar ument a ainst this issue, e!erybody !oted for. It can be used in constructions with as if%thou h: It loo"s as if you ha!e played in the ame. It is used in passive constructions with verbs like a ree, arran e, de#ide, say, arran e, assume, belie!e, obser!e, "now, thin", understand, ima ine, rumour, estimate, e6pe#t, dis#o!er, #onsider, understand, fear, show, feel, find etc. to introduce a that)clause: It has been de#ide that the mat#h should be postponed. There is used in passive constructions with a limited number of verbs. such as a#"nowled e, alle e, belie!e, #onsider, fear, feel, "now, presume, report, say, suppose, thin", understand . usually followed by to be = complement: There is feared to be another war in Ira8. <Preparatory it< replaces )in subjects. with no much difference in meaning between an infinitive and an )in form. %sually the first implies an activity in general. while the latter an activity in progress. It's easy skiing on well9prepared s"i slopes. It's easy to ski on well9prepared s"i slopes. There are some typical e'pressions where it can be followed by )in forms. such as it's no ood, it's no%little use, it's (not%hardly%s#ar#ely) worth, it's worthwhile etc. It's no ood her #ryin o!er spilt mil". There is used together with be to introduce new information. !n this construction there has no meaning but functions as a grammatical subject: There were new#omers to the !illa e with their lu adjectives and noun clauses. There is no #han#e of ettin there before dar". It turned out that he was the murderer. There is used in some typical e'pressions. such as there's no, there's no point in, there's nothin worse than, there's no tellin etc. There's no tellin when he will et here. Reflexive pronouns a e piled in #arts. 8hen a sentence has no obvious subject there is used before nouns or noun phrases and it before

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They replace a co)referential noun phrase. normally within the same finite verb clause:
:im has #ut himself. :ane washed herself. The fo6 tore itself free. :ane told :im that she would loo" after herself%him%;himself. 8hen a mi'ture of persons is involved. the refle'ive conforms to a first person or if there is no first person. to a second person: )ou, :ane and I must beha!e oursel!es. )ou and :ane must beha!e yoursel!es. The indefinite one has its own refle'ive as in. <ne mustnt fool oneself, but other indefinites use himself or themsel!es. =o one must fool himself. !n prepositional phrases e'pressing spatial relationship. usually between concrete items. the personal pronouns are used despite co)reference with the subject: He loo"ed around him. She had her mother ne6t to her. Aut refle'ive pronouns are often preferred when the reference is metaphorical and emotive: He was beside himself with ra e. They fell o!er themsel!es to please us. There are however non)metaphorical e'amples in which there are alternatives: She felt within her(self) her heart throbbin when hearin the bad news. !n variation with personal pronouns. refle'ives often occur after as. li"e. but. e6#ept. and in co) ordinated phrases: >or somebody li"e him%himself this is real su##ess. 4y brother and I%myself made it a wee" a o. !n related but emphatic usage. refle'ives occur in apposition. with positional mobility: I!e ne!er been there myself. I myself ha!e ne!er been there. I ha!e ne!er myself been there.

Reciprocal pronouns

We can put together two sentences like:

:ane hates Sue. Sue hates :ane, with a reciprocal structure somewhat similar to a refle'ive: :ane and Sue hate ea#h other%one another.

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!n this e'ample. with two antecedents. ea#h other would be more common. but where more than two are involved. one another is often preferred: She put all the bills beside one another on her husbands des". The reciprocal pronouns can be freely used in the genitive: The #hildren borrowed ea#h others toys. Possessive pronouns

They
pronouns-:

combine genitive functions with pronominal functions. !n the second case. the co)referential

item they replace may be in the same clause ,as with refle'ives- or a neighbouring one ,as with the personal :ane has washed her fa#e; she always uses her own soap. The possessives belong to two series: the attributives , my, your. etc. which are determiners- and the nominals ,mine, yours. etc. which are used like the genitive with ellipsis-: :anes%Her bi"e is outside. The bi"e is :anes%hers. English. unlike other languages. uses possessives with reference to parts of the body and personal belongings. as well as in other e'pressions: He prayed in front of the altar with his hat in his hand. :ane has bro"en her arm. He lost his balan#e when he #limbed the stairs, They are always #han in their minds, The definite article is. however. usual in prepositional phrases related to the object. or. in passive constructions. to the subject: He too" her by the hand. He must ha!e been hit on the head with a stone. Relative pronouns

Their

functions and interrelations are best shown in connection with relative clauses and nominal

relative clauses. They do not show number distinction. a- The wh9 series reflects the gender ,personalCnon)personal- of the antecedent: personal D who, whom, whose; non)personal D whi#h, whose. There is an inflected genitive ,used as a relative determiner: 0the woman whose son1- for both who and whi#h. but there is a preference for the of)genitive ,of whi#h- with non) personal antecedents. The personal objective whom is often replaced by who but never when preceded by a preposition. "or nominal relative clauses. there is the personal whoe!er and the non)personal pronoun and determiner whi#h(e!er); in addition there is a nominal relative pronoun and determiner what(e!er)? 'hat(e!er) (boo"s) you need you #an find in the #ity library. b) That is a general purpose relative pronoun. used irrespective of gender or case e'cept that the genitive must involve postposed of: 0the knife that ! broke the blade of1 ,informal-.

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#) !n defining relative clause. the relative pronoun is often omitted when it is the object of the clause. not the subject of the clause: The man I spo"e to is my tea#her. ;The man spo"e to is my tea#her.

Interrogative pronouns

They

are identical in form and in case with the relative pronouns. but in addition to the basic

difference between interrogative and relative. there are some functional differences. a- !nterrogative determiners: personal D whose; personal or non)personal D whi#h, what; b- !nterrogative pronouns: personal D who. whom, whose; non)personal D what; personal or non) personal D whi#h. 'hi#h and what have a constant relationship to each other with respect to definiteness; what has indefinite reference and whi#h has definite reference: 'hi#h%'hat irls do you li"e* 'hat%'hi#h boo"s do you li"e best* 'hi#h here implies that the choice is made from a limited number of girls or books. whereas what implies a choice from an indefinite number of girls or books. not previously specified. The answer to a whi#h)Euestion would probably be more specific than the answer to a what)Euestion. which has an alternative of)phrase construction. 'hi#h (of the) irls%boo"s do you li"e best* Demonstrative pronouns

They have number contrast and can function both as determiners and pronouns. The general meanings
of the two sets can be stated as 0near1 and 0distant1 reference: this, these; that, those. "rom this point of view. they match the pairs here%there, now%then. and the relative nearness and relative remoteness operates both literally and metaphorically: I li"e this ,idea that you1ve just mentioned- better than that ,other one that you told me yesterday-. Ill tell you this se#ret ,forward or cataphoricB reference- be#ause you "ept that other one ,back or anaphoric2 reference- so faithfully. Ay further metaphorical e'tension. we have this%these used to mean interest and familiarity in informal style: Then I saw, away in the distan#e, this lo!ely irl, and I thou ht it was you. There can be a corresponding emotive rejection implied in that%those:
B 2

"rom *reek "ataphor@: #arryin forward, brin in down. "rom *reek anaphor@: carrying back.

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Here is that awful :ones and those #hildren of his. (s subject. pronouns may have personal or non)personal reference: This%That ( irl) is 4ary. This%That (pen) is mine. !n other than subject function. pronoun reference is non)personal: He is oin to marry this irl%;this. I bou ht this pi#ture%this. (s relative antecedent. that%those can appear in formal use but there is no contrast with this%these. and only those can have personal reference: that whi#h was e6pensi!e% ;that who dan#ed well% He admired those whi#h were e6pensi!e% those who dan#ed well.

Universal pronouns and determiners

These
e!erybodys. e!ery.

pronouns are ea#h. all, e!ery. and its compounds. Two have As genitives: e!eryones and $espite their singular form. the compounds have collective reference. and along with entail reference to a number of three or more. 4ary and :ane and I a!e a sample to ea#h%;e!erybody. se!eral s#hoolfellows and I a!e a sample to ea#h%e!erybody.

they I met I met

There is. however. a difference in meaning between ea#h and e!erybody. $a#h refers to individuals already specified. whereas e!erybody does not. I wal"ed into the room and a!e a sample to ;ea#h%e!erybody $!ery one, ea#h (one) and all have of)constructions; and e'cept all. these pronouns can have a singular or plural pronoun for co)reference: $!eryone%$a#h%$a#h one of the members should ha!e their%his own identity #ards. $!ery can also be used with plural e'pressions such as e!ery two wee"s. e!ery few months. and there is a universal place compound e!erywhere as in. $!erywhere loo"s beautiful in sprin . It all can also be used in reference to non)personal divisible countable nouns: I ha!e started the boo" but I ha!ent read it all. Partitive pronouns

Parallel
determiners.

to the universal pronouns there are three groups of partitive pronouns with associated

She bou ht somethin %some fabri#.

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&id she buy anythin %any fabri#* She bou ht nothin %no fabri#. The determiners some and any can be used with singular countable nouns when they are stressed. Some is freEuently followed by or other. (ny apolo y would be better than nothin . There was some ma a1ine (or !n familiar style the stressed Thats some irl you met at other) issued on the sub7e#t last year. some means 0e'traordinary1. the party,

Non-assertive usage

The conte'ts which reEuire the any series or 0non)assertive1 forms mainly involve:
a- the negatives: not, ne!er, no, neither, and nor; b- the 0incomplete1 negatives: hardly, little, few, least, seldom. etc. c- the 0implied1 negatives: before; fail, pre!ent; relu#tant, hard, diffi#ult . etc.; comparisons with too; d- Euestions and conditions. (lthough the main markers of non)assertion are negative. interrogative and conditional clauses. it is the basic meaning of the whole sentence which ultimately determines the choice of the some or the any series. "or e'ample. in the sentence. $instein #ontributed more than anyone to the understandin of relati!ity. The use of the non)assertive anyone is related to the fact that the basic meaning is negative. as appears in the paraphrase: =obody #ontributed more to the understandin of relati!ity as $instein. Some is often used in negative. interrogative. or conditional sentences. when the basic meaning is assertive. &id somebody%anybody tell you the news* The difference can be e'plained in terms of different presuppositions: somebody suggests that the speaker e'pected some news. whereas anybody does not. !n making an invitation or an offer. it is polite to e'pect an acceptance: 'ould you li"e some sherry* Some is also used in superficially non)assertive conte'ts: If someone were to drop a mat#h here, the house would be on fire in two minutes. But what if someone de#ides to drop a mat#h* 'ill someone please open the window* 'hy dont you do somethin else* ,+uirk G *reenbaum B>>?: B@; The any series is used with stress in superficially assertive sentences with the special meaning of 0no matter who. no matter what7 He will eat anythin . (nyone interested in addressin the meetin should let us "now.

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(ny offer would be better )ou must marry someone Either

than this. and you mustnt marry 7ust anyone.

neither and the negatives either. neither and none is similar to that between ea#h, e!ery, and none

The relationship between

reference: =one (of the many%thirty)%

among the universal pronouns. Aoth as pronouns and as determiners. either and neither have a strictly dual

=either (of the CtwoD) women% =either woman.

wanted to be photo raphed

$ither (of the CtwoD women)%(woman) wanted to be photo raphed. !uantifiers

The general Euantifiers used pronominally are

a- the 0multal1 many and mu#h. b- the 0paucal1 few and little. and c- se!eral and enou h. Their use in respect to countable and uncountable reference matches the position outlined in connection with their determiner function. ,+uirk and *reenbaum B>>?: BBBNumerals "he uses of one a- =umeri#al one. is used with animate and inanimate singular countable nouns to stress the indefinite article a(n). !t is the opposite of the dual two and both and the plural numerals three, four. etc.. se!eral and the indefinite some. !t has the same contrast when used pronominally: I need a boo"%one. I need some boo"s%some. (The) one%( boy%pen. <ne of the boys%pens. (The) one is also in contrast with the other in the correlative construction: <ne remembered a story, the other another story. There is a somewhat formal use of one with the meaning of 0a certain1 before personal proper names: )esterday I #ame a#ross one :ohn :ohnson from #olle e. b- Eepla#i!e one is used as an anaphoric substitute for a singular or plural countable noun. !t has the singular form one and the plural ones. &eplacive one can take determiners and modifiers ,though not usually possessives or plural demonstratives-: (? Id li"e a #ertain shade of #olour for my #ar. B? Is this the one you mean*

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(? )es, Id li"e a #offee, but 7ust a small one. B? I thou ht you preferred lar e ones. !t is more often modified by the As genitive than the of)genitive. in contrast with the demonstratives which can take only the of)genitive: I prefer :anets idea to her husbands one%that of her husband. c- !ndefinite one means 0people in general1. implying inclusion of the speaker. This use of one is mainly formal and is often replaced by the more informal you: <ne would%)oud thin" it will snow tomorrow, !ndefinite one has the genitive ones and the refle'ive oneself. !n (mE. repetition of co)referential one is characteristically formal. he or ,informally- you being preferred instead: <ne #ant be more #o9operati!e, #an one%you* The corresponding indefinite which implies e'clusion of the speaker is they: They say (it is said) they (some rele!ant unspe#ified people) are oin to di up our street ne6t month.

Cardinals and ordinals

The

system of cardinal ,one, two, three. etc.- and ordinal ,first, se#ond, third. etc.- numerals can

function pronominally or as pre)modifiers. e'cept that nou ht? occurs mainly as the name of the numeral. being replaced by the determiner no or the pronoun none in general use. !n front of hundred, thousand, million. the indefinite article often replaces one. Pronominally. the ordinals are preceded by an article. Today is the -Fth of 4ay. EJE& !SES 54. Fill in the blanks with the words from the list. Some a ear more than on!e.

they, hundred, other, we, their, my, twenty, me, thirty, ours, them, some, whi#h, it. ! had three ,B- ..hundred.. cooks to dress my victualsF. in little convenient huts built about my house. where they and ,2- K families lived. and prepared ,?- K two dishes apiece. ! took up ,F- K waiters in my hand. and placed ,H- K on the table: a hundred more attended below on the ground. some with dishes of meat. and ,I- K with barrels of wine. and ,3- K liEuors. slung on their shoulders; all ,;- K the waiters above drew up as ! wanted. in a very ingenious manner. by certain cords. as we draw the bucket up a well in Europe. ( dish of their meat was a good mouthful. and a barrel of ,>- K liEuor a reasonable draught. Their muttons yields to ,B@- K. but their beef is e'cellent. ! have had a sirloin so large. that ! have been forced to make three bits of ,BB- K; but this is rare. 4y servants were astonished to see me eat ,B2- K bones and all. as in our country ,B?- K do the leg of a lark. Their geese and turkeys ! usually ate at a mouthful. and ! must
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,also naught-: The figure @; ,archaic- nothing. #ictuals $%vit&lL: M ,dated- food and drink; provisions

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confess ,BF- K far e'ceeded ours. /f their smaller fowl ! could take up twenty or ,BH- K at the end of ,BIK knife. ,Nonathan Swift ) Gulli!er's Hoya e to Iilliput55. S" l# s"itable rono"ns in the followin$.

B. 8e go to our villa in !taly every ...other.. year. 2. Oow do you know she<s getting married5 P ! got K straight from the horse<s mouth. She told me K ?. Tom left Susan and it stirred a real hornet<s nest. because K was angry about his bad character. F. 8e<ll let you off the hook this time. but if you tell K more lies about the boss. you<ll lose K job. H. (ll the singers are good but K is as good as Nimmy. I. Qou can buy the red dress or the blueK. Ksuits you. 3. ! met arol<s two brothers but K impressed me much. ;. ! was talking to none K than the famous Aritish film actor. >. 8e were talking about K or other when the door pushed open suddenly. B@. They all tried to help K other but nothing could help them reach a solution. 5%. Fill in the $a s with words from the followin$ list. Some are "sed more than on!e. whom, all, one, other, e!ery one, themsel!es, his, some. There were people sitting ... all...,B- over the stone)flagged floor. and K,2 - people. packed tightly together. were sitting on metal bunks. K,?- above the other. 8inston and his mother and father found K ,Fa place on the floor. and near them an old man and an old woman were sitting side by side on a bunk. The old man had on a decent dark suit and a black cloth cap pushed back from very white hair: K,H- face was scarlet and his eyes were blue and full of tears. Oe reeked of gin. !t seemed to breathe out of his skin in place of sweat. and K,I- could have fancied that the tears welling from his eyes were pure gin. Aut though slightly drunk he was also suffering under some grief that was genuine and unbearable. !n K ,3- childish way 8inston grasped that K ,;- terrible thing. something that was beyond forgiveness and could never be remedied. had just happened. !t also seemed to him that he knew what it was. Someone K,>- the old man loved. a little granddaughter perhaps. had been killed. K,B@- few minutes the old man kept repeating: <8e didn<t ought to <ave trusted <em. ! said so. 4a. didn<t !5 That<s what come of trusting <em. ! said so all along. 8e didn<t ought to <ave trusted the buggers.< ,*eorge /rwell ) =ineteen $i hty9>our5&. 'nsert it or there in the blank s a!es. B. There<s no point in calling on him; he hasn<t got home yet. 2. K<s little use buying her presents; she won<t forgive him. ?. K<s not worth talking like that; he<s a good person at heart. although he doesn<t show it. F. K<s a nightmare waiting for your children late at night.

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H. K<s nothing worse than falling into a river without knowing how to swim. I. K<s no telling what she will be saying ne't. She<s so unpredictable. 3. K<s a relief knowing that all of you have passed your e'ams. ;. Kwas rude of her interrupting her husband all the time. >. Kare few things about the town<s life that she doesn<t know. B@. K<s ten kilometres from here to the nearest petrol station. 5(. P"t the words in the ri$ht order. B. a message your for it<s you. from there boss is. 2. need ! any got nice; one ! to skirts haven<t buy. ?. on jacket his put his left and he hat and. F. weeks are holiday we on three now going from. H. travelling by always so he has someone to he accompany hates himself him. I. because looked noise her a she strange behind heard she. 3. money she had as ! any couldn<t ask no from whatsoever her. ;. in will the employee manager turn he take to his wishes each holiday when tell. >. all seen them every Steven Spielberg<s and ! of liked !<ve one of films. B@. of travelled friends to have none the my States. 5). *at!h the first art of the senten!es from 1+10 with the !om letions from a+,. B. ! have invited a few people to the party tonight. ) # 2. 8hy don<t you ask somebody in that office5 ?. 4a. did you wash my red shirt5 F. an you give me some advice5 H. $o you have many pen)friends5 I. 8ho built your hen house for you5 3. Oave you invited anyone else to the party5 ;. Shall we eat out tonight5 >. 8hy didn<t you buy anything5 B@. There is little chance of his getting a job. a- ! can<t. ! don<t have much money. !<m afraid. b- !<m afraid ! haven<t got any knowledge in the field. c- ! hope there will be room for them all. d- Qou<re right. Oe has no e'perience. e- 8ell. ! washed two shirts. but neither of them was red. f- Aecause none of those bags were large enough for me. g- Qes. and all of them live abroad. h- Qes. the Arowns. but ! begged them not to take their children over.

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/h. there isn<t anybody there. #o one. 8e did it ourselves.

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