Questions tagged [pronouns]
A pronoun is a word that stands in for a noun or noun phrase.
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Is there an alternative modern approach to the fused-head noun phrase?
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Page 410) defines "Fused-head NPs" as follows:
Fused-head NPs (noun phrases) are those where the head is combined with a dependent function ...
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It’s an insult to us each
The Cambridge Grammar of the English Language (Pages 427-28) has this:
Universal personal pronouns of the type us all
[6] i a. They’ve invited us all. b. It’s an insult to us both. ii a. She likes ...
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What is correct to say: "I don't like it when ..." OR "I don't like when ..."?
Very simple question. Which is correct to say:
I don't like it when ...
I don't like when ...
Is there a difference?
For example:
I don't like it when people can't understand me.
...
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Why does English only have one form of we/us?
I have tried googling this and looking here to no avail. Why does English only have one we? What I mean is, why aren't there two forms for:
Me and someone else excluding you
Me and someone else ...
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What part of speech is 'enough' in '[Subject] is enough.'?
All the dictionaries I know of classify 'enough' in 'Something is enough.' as a pronoun, not an adjective.
Dictionaries such as LEXICO, Oxford Learner's Dictionaries and Collins classify it as a ...
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Is "one" a pronoun in these usages?
In the question "Can you use “including” after an uncountable word?" on the SE.ELL site, forms such as
He listened to all of the music, including the bad ones.
are discussed. My answer there ...
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Difference between he/him in nominative case?
So I sat through a presentation on APA wherein the professor was stressing to us the importance of proper writing as pertaining to turning in assignments (which I think was basically telling the ...
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Conjugation when not substituting pronouns for proper nouns
Pronouns take the place of proper nouns when context allows. However, it seems proper nouns are only ever conjugated in the third person, singular or plural. Is this a rule?
For example, if I'm ...
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Does an inverted protasis mean just plain “if”, or does it mean “even if”?
When the first part of a conditional’s if-clause is inverted and the if consequently dropped, is the missing if just a plain old “simple if”, or is it more of an “even if”? For example, in this ...
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Inexplicable 'it'
I have myself used and been OK with it in sentences like:
What is it that you're doing?
What is it that it means?
But now I can't quite understand why it is necessary here.
Also a very ...
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Posessive pronouns after a noun?
I seem to recall reading something like "anguish thine is but a dream". The posessive pronoun thine is after a noun anguish it relates to. Probably, it is from some verse.
I don't encounter such ...
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"As becomes obvious" or "As it becomes obvious"?
An essay of mine has been corrected so that my original sentence:
As it becomes obvious, going to the market has not been my favorite thing to do.
becomes:
As becomes obvious, going to the ...
user157304
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2
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How did "I" come to be used in sentences like "he said to Fred and I"?
I have noticed increasing confusion with the use of the nominative and accusative forms for the first person singular. Why has this come about? I can only assume that it might be the result of ...
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"She" or "her" for describing a character's point of view
I'm editing a book. The book starts with the following phrase:
SHE, when she was still wondering who she was...
It then goes on to narrate from the female character's point of view.
"It was ...
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Why ships and countries are 'her' in the old texts but not 'it'?
I have read both of these two good questions and answers and I got the answer of my question, that in the modern English "it" is used more than "her" while referring to a ship or ...
user431762
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“Try on some of them” or “Try some of them on”?
I’ve learnt that some phrasal verbs such as “pick up” or “try on” require us to put the object, especially when it is a pronoun, between the verb and preposition. Is it also possible to say “You ...
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Does a pronoun usually refer to the nearest preceding person(s)?
See the following paragraph:
Then Judah said to his brothers, “What profit is it if we kill our brother and conceal his blood? Come, let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let not our hand be upon ...
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Would it be correct to say that "whose" is "the only interrogative possessive pronoun"?
I am creating a crossword puzzle for submission to a newspaper. For the entry WHOSE, would it be correct to say "The only interrogative possessive pronoun" as the clue? Would pedantic solvers approve ...
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She is more than a friend. [parse]
She is more than a friend.
As I understand, "more than a friend" is a constituent. The dependent "than a friend" is a prepositional phrase. The head "more" is a pronoun. Am I right? Thanks!
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“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few”
Think of Star Trek's quote:
“The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few” (or “the one”)
In the context of Star Trek, does the many/few refer to a specific group of many/few beings or many/...
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Combination of different types of nouns results in which pronoun?
When I combine a noun that refers to a person and another noun, do I use whom or which? Like in the following simple example.
Jesus was crucified because of Caiaphas and the Roman Empire, whose (/...
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Why "him" in "For neuer resting time leads Summer on / To hidious winter and confounds him there, ..." instead of it or her?
There is a passage in William's V sonnet that confounds me :
For neuer resting time leads Summer on,
To hidious winter and confounds him there,
Sap checkt with frost and lustie leau's quite gon.
...
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Can i use "the same" as a pronoun in this sentence?
He lent me some money on the condition that i should return (the same/it) before November.
Is it formal to use "The same" when we want to refer the previously stated thing after a conjunction or in ...
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Write without using pronouns extensively
I have just started learning English as my third language and struggling to write meaningful short essay without using pronouns extensively. I read mainly non-fiction English books and perhaps that ...
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Is it OK to add 'one' after the smallest? And what's the difference between adding 'one' or eliminating it?
The sentence is :
The red laptop is the smallest among the three.
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Correct use of the pronoun reference
Is this the correct use of the pronoun reference "this". Were you able to tell what the pronoun this is referring to?
Based on the feedback received, my strengths were having strong arguments as well ...
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What are the rules for what "they" refers to when there are two plural nouns in a sentence?
Some examples:
The Wilsons are angry at the Smiths for the way they parked their car.
The Wilsons haven't hated this Smiths this much since they moved.
The South hasn't hated the North this much ...
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"one" as a pronoun for uncountable nouns
Is it grammatically right to use one as a pronoun to substitute for the word water?
I prefer plain water to sparkling one.
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On the principle governing pronoun forms with verbs and after prepositions
As I understand it, the following is a principle (or "rule" if you wish) of English grammar:
Finite verbs take subject pronouns: I sing.
Non-finite verbs take object/possessive pronouns: That's me ...
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Term for first person complement of the "Royal We"
The "Royal We" or nosism refers to the usage of "we" to mean "I", ("We are not amused", meaning "I am not amused"), or "you", ("We need to mop that floor", which may mean "you must mop the floor").
...
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All I can think about is vs all I can think about are
All I can think about is the sun, oak tree, and large bird.
vs.
All I can think about are the sun, oak tree, and large bird.
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Omittance of Relative Pronoun
Below is the excerpt from English Proficiency Test
Our professional designers produce high-quality custom logo designs (a) that exhibit just the image (b) that our clients want to project.
Question ...
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Questions with Infinitive
While writing questions with infinitive, I realized that it is common to say
How to + verb
What to + verb
When to + verb
Where to + verb
Who to + verb
But it is very uncommon to say
Why to + verb
...
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Where to put the pronoun in a sentence when using the gerund verb form?
Which sentence is correct?
it seems we are all living in a weird land
or
it seems we all are living in a weird land
?
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different from them vs. different from themselves
"Some people choose friends who are different from themselves, while others choose friends who are similar to themselves."
"Some people choose friends who are different from them, while ...
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Any one thing: syntactic analysis
None remembered any one thing he’d said.
How should any one be analyzed here?
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Referring to a proper noun
I am writing an analytical compare and contrast/map the crisis essay, and I was wondering about the ambiguity of pronouns in my thesis.
Which of these is correct?
T.S. Eliot depicts Thomas Becket’...
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Glad to hear it / this / that - are all of these correct?
In most cases, I have seen "Glad to hear it" or "Glad to hear that", which expresses your feelings about smth you have heard or read. Is it ok to write "Glad to hear THIS"...
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How do you refer to a 'they' character in a poem in a possessive sense?
I am writing a paper about Emily Dickinson's ‘They shut me up in Prose –.’ The two characters of the poem are the speaker and an unidentified group only referred to as 'they' and later as 'themself.' ...
user103757
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What causes the predominantly female gendering of objects?
In English, objects are not generally gendered, as we have neutral pronouns used specifically for that purpose. I've noticed that when gendered pronouns are used for non-gendered objects, though, ...
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What is the difference between "Us girls gotta stick together" and "We girls gotta stick together"?
I am looking into the difference between the "we" and "us" pronouns, and have found some very useful information here.
In the context of emphasizing a particular group, you can put ...
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Direct vs indirect object pronoun forms
I understand that it would be trivial to ask whether or not English has object pronouns classifiable as either direct or indirect - this is a matter of grammatical structure.
My question is whether ...
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Subjective or Objective pronouns in dialogues?
Let's say I'm quoting a dialogue between me and my friend, should I use subjective pronouns (I / He) or objective pronouns (Me / Him)?
For example:
Me: What's up?
Him: The sky.
Or:
I: What's up?
He:...
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Is it "She is whom he fights for", "She is who he fights for" or neither?
Another way to say nearly the same thing would be "He fights for her" which makes me think of two things in particular:
Because "her" is used, the correct choice should be "...
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Meaning of "it will take for granted that you always took it for granted"
I am reading William Empson's "Seven Types of Ambiguity", and I have difficulty with the following passage, especially with the part in bold and the preceding sentences.
A single word,
...
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Relative pronoun qualifies one or more pronouns?
In the sentence "I have a cat and dogs who are dumb", does "who are dumb" qualify only the dogs or does it qualify of the dogs and the cat? Or is it ambiguous?
Depending on the ...
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What pronouns should I use to refer to humanity?
I am writing an essay on existential risks and I want to refer to humanity but also need to say "we" and "our" in order to make the delivery of the message practical to each of us ...
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Omitting a pronoun from a cleft sentence
I believe this is
a cleft sentence:
It was 10:18 ᴀᴍ when it happened.
However, I cannot explain why the pronoun when can’t
be removed when you rewrite that sentence into this one:
When it (=the ...
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Correct pronouns with participial phrases
In reference to a photo: There’s Bill and I on the mound, he having walked the batter, I handing him the ball...
he/his/him having walked
I/me handing him
Did I get the right pronouns in the above ...
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Interpretation of subjects of gerunds
A paper on the implicit subjects of gerunds that I'm currently reading says that the sentences (1a) and (2a) sound off because John, though semantically appropriate, cannot be the antecedent for the ...
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