Questions tagged [personal-pronouns]
Questions related to personal pronoun, an independent pronoun which can have various forms according to gender, number, person, and case.
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Did English ever have a formal version of "you"?
Off the top of my head, Danish "De" (practically never used), German "Sie", Chinese "您", French "vous", Spanish "usted" are formal ways of addressing ...
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Is there a correct gender-neutral singular pronoun ("his" vs. "her" vs. "their")?
Is there a pronoun I can use as a gender-neutral pronoun when referring back to a singular noun phrase?
Each student should save his questions until the end.
Each student should save her questions ...
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"My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner"
I just stumbled upon a Reddit post titled:
My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner. How does it look?
Sure enough, the top comment immediately points out that it should be "my wife's and my". ...
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Why should the first person pronoun 'I' always be capitalized?
Why should we capitalize the first person pronoun 'I' even when it does not appear at the beginning of a sentence? Why is it not the case for other pronouns?
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Is it correct to use "their" instead of "his or her"?
Is this sentence grammatically correct?
Anyone who loves the English language should have a copy of this book in their bookcase.
or should it be:
Anyone who loves the English language should have a ...
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Use of "I", "we" and the passive voice in a scientific thesis [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Style Question: Use of “we” vs. “I” vs. passive voice in a dissertation
When the first person voice is used in scientific writing it is mostly used in ...
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Is "Is it a girl or a boy?" really calling the infant an "it"?
So, my boss comes in, railing that "English is a stupid language!" Since this is pretty much a thrice-weekly occurrence 'round these parts, I barely raised an eyebrow, and waited for him to continue.
...
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When do I use "I" instead of "me?"
From some comments in the answers for common English usage mistakes (now deleted, 10k only), there's confusion around the usage of I vs. me:
While the sentence, "the other attendees are myself and ...
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What is the difference between "thee" and "thou"?
What is the difference between thee and thou and how are they used?
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"Who wants ice-cream?" — Should I say "(not) I" or "(not) me"?
With the enthusiastic question of "Who wants ice-cream?", what is the more correct response?
(Not) I.
(Not) me.
Neither response is a sentence. The first response of "(not) I" sounds ...
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The hidden flaw in "singular they"—what to do about reflexive pronouns?
We have a highly regarded answer by nohat to a question about gender-neutral pronouns, in which he points to the "singular they" and its long history of use in English. (Note that he also advises ...
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What rules make “Remember me, who am your friend” grammatical?
An acquaintance recalled this specific example from an English textbook, but it is jarring to my native ear. Is this an example of prescriptive grammarians gone wild?
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Did English ever have a "you" plural?
Apart from the dialect form used in the Southern US, "y'all," has English ever had a plural "you"? If not, how does English get around using this form?
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What is the difference between “they” and “it” for people, especially for those people who identify as non-binary?
I’ve heard that they is used as a word to refer to people who are
non-binary. Since English is not my first language, I’m not sure what the
difference is between they and it in these usages.
Of course,...
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Is it poor form to start too many sentences with I?
I often find myself writing a lot of comments to blog posts and responses on forums, and have noticed a tendency to start a lot of sentences with 'I'. 'I think...', 'I had no idea', 'I used to...' etc....
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Which is correct: "This is her" or "This is she"? [duplicate]
Upon answering the telephone, the person calling asks if Joan is available. If Joan is the person who answered the phone, should she say "This is her" or "This is she"?
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Is it correct to say “I myself”?
I thought it was incorrect to say I myself as in:
I myself don’t like this idea.
However, last night I was watching the second Harry Potter movie, and one of the characters said:
In case you ...
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When to use "me" or "myself"?
Which one is correct:
Someone like me...
or
Someone like myself...
Is "like myself" ever correct?
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___, ___, and I am/are…
What is the proper way of saying: "Jim, John, and I am going to the beach."
Whenever I say "Jim, John, and I are going somewhere", I stumble over "I are going".
Should it be "am" or "are", or ...
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Why 'a friend of mine' is not 'my friend's friend'?
I have some questions about the expression "a friend of mine" and I'm quite confused with it. Actually I have found some threads about this topic but they don't hit my point. I'm not a native English ...
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Could "them" mean "those"?
Background
Nowadays, I see "them" used to mean "those" a lot. I don't know if it was as common in the past.
For example, take "one of them people".
On researching about ...
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Referring to objects as "she" [duplicate]
Sometimes people are referring to mechanical objects as "she":
I love my car. She always gets the best service.
Are there any rules when it is appropriate to use "she" instead of it, and is "he" ...
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Advice for using multiple same-gender personal pronouns in the same sentence
I have often struggled with sentences that contain two characters of the same gender. For example, if there are two females, Alice and Carol, then the following sentence can be confusing.
Alice ...
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Does English use the word ‘thou’ in any situations nowadays? [closed]
Does English use the word thou in situations nowadays? For example, to humiliate an opponent by being overly familiar?
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Why is emphatic "Yes, I know THAT" okay, but not "Yes, I know IT"?
In the context of this ELL question asking about using pronoun "it" as an object, it struck me that whereas it's perfectly natural to place heavy stress for emphasis on the "...
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"Bob and us" or "Bob and we" or "Bob and ourselves"?
In the singular, it is quite clear that one uses "I" when referring to a third party and oneself, as in:
Bob and I are going to build an aircraft.
However, in the plural, it is a lot less clear. ...
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Who is "we" in my thesis?
in our field (mathematics) it is somewhat standard to write things like
" In Chapter 4 we show that ..." "The experiments we have conducted (meaning: me, together with my collaborators)
or:
" ...
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Is the signature of a letter a subject or an object?
I want to sign a letter jokingly not by name, but by a personal pronoun. Is the signature a subject or an object? I feel like using object pronoun (me) sounds better, but why? The signature looks more ...
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How are pronoun ambiguities resolved?
Are pronoun referents in English resolved syntactically or semantically? Do they always refer to the closest matching noun?
A Wikipedia article has these examples:
We gave the bananas to the monkeys ...
user2978
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"Alex and I" vs. "me and Alex" [duplicate]
Is it improper to say "me and Person X"?
I always hear it said as "Person X and I", but have personally learned to say "me and Person X".
Is there a difference between the two versions and is one of ...
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What are the origins of the regional pronoun “yinz” of southwestern Pennsylvania?
A common informal word used in southwestern Pennsylvania and the forefront example of what is commonly known as "Pittsburghese" is the word yinz, pronounced /jɪnz/ in IPA.
Alternatively it ...
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"Us Americans" or "We Americans"?
If there is a group of individuals identified by a name, what's the right way for one of the group to refer to them all?
For example, if one of a group of 10 Americans wants to refer to the group, is ...
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"Me and my wife" or "my wife and me"
Which order is more correct: me and my wife or my wife and me? The sentence in which this is used is
Ms. Smith informed me and my wife that she was afraid of being accosted.
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Is “her” a possessive or an objective pronoun in “A mother takes care of her children”?
I had a sort of debate with my teacher to whether the her in the sentence
A mother takes care of her children.
is a possessive or an objective pronoun.
I told my teacher that it was a possessive ...
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Art cold? To what extent can pronouns be dropped in English?
Many European languages conjugate their verbs, thus:
I am
You are | Thou art
She is
We are
You are
They are
The form of the verb changes, depending on the person. In some languages (...
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When is it acceptable to address someone else in the first person, as in the classic nurse's question to a patient: "How are we this morning?"
I am sure the nurse means this question as bright and breezy, perhaps inviting the response "We are (more likely "I am") fine, thank you." However, it is hard to avoid the ...
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Choice of “it” versus “he/she”
I am not sure what is the underlying rule for when the use of “it” is appropriate and when “he / she”. Consider the following two examples:
There is a lady at the door. It is my aunt.
Do you know ...
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Use of "myself" in business-speak
Occasionally, I will hear or read coworkers using "myself" in place of "me," as in:
If you have any questions, you can contact Gimli or myself.
I have sent the list to Legolas, ...
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"Your and my [something]" vs "Yours and my..."
Prompted by comments against this question, I'd like some help figuring out why some people (myself included) prefer yours over the apparently more logical/grammatically consistent your in this kind ...
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Can a pronoun and its referent have different plurality?
My question is as the title says: Is it allowed for a pronoun and its referent to have different plurality? A specific example I am considering is a sentence like this:
I love this cookie so much ...
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Which is correct: "If it were I" or "If it were me"?
I'm fairly sure it's the former, but it sounds even more stilted than the usual cases in which "I" is less common, but more correct.
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T-V distinction
In many languages, there is such thing as T-V distinction. Basically, it's when you use different pronouns in "formal" (or "polite") speech, and in informal speech.
Now, I do realize there is no ...
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You yourself - double pronoun
You have made it up yourself.
This is obviously ok.
But if the pronoun it should be repalced by a long noun-phrase:
You have made up the illusory world in which you move yourself.
It would ...
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What is the proper usage of "Y'all" in southern American dialects
The construction of the word to me implies that "you" is singular, whereas "y'all" is plural.
To a football team: "Y'all are going to play a great game."
To a tennis player: "You are going to play a ...
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"He" / "she" vs. "it" regarding beloved objects
Is that normal to regard a beloved object (an animal, a car, a book) as he/she? If yes, what gender should be used in this case?
One comment in this question touched the tendency to humanize things ...
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"People like you" versus "people like yourself"?
In the latest South Park episode, I noticed a line:
We have so many abandoned babies and
not enough people like yourself who
care.
Which kinda struck me, because I'd expect it to be people ...
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Analyzing 'genitive/accusative + V-ing phrase (gerund-participle phrase)' as different constructions
(1) I regretted [his leaving the firm].
(2) I regretted [him leaving the firm].
(3) I regretted [leaving the firm].
(4) He didn’t bother [giving me a copy].
Regarding the above sentences The ...
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Is there a grammatical name for the third-person 'you'?
I've had this conversation several times in my life, where I use a second-person pronoun when actually using the third-person:
"If you were dressed up as a clown at night holding black balloons, ...
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"Scarlet with rage, she swept past her employer and stormed up the stairs." — "Scarlet with rage" modifies "she", so adjectives can modify pronouns?
collinsdictionary.com:
(1) Scarlet with rage, she swept past her employer and stormed up the stairs.
I thought adjectives can modify personal pronouns only in short phrases like "poor me" or ...
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Reflexive pronoun use when subject is a subset of the prepositional object
If a pronoun is in object position in a sentence, you don't normally use the reflexive form of the pronoun -
Sally bought a ticket for him.
unless the subject and object of the sentence are the same ...
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