First Burmese Baptist Church of San Francisco - e Newsletter - Grammar in 14 days

Grammar in 14 days: Day 8 - Pronouns back to e Newsletter

Words like he, you, ours, themselves, some and each are Pronouns that can be used in place of a noun.
Personal Pronouns represent specific people or things. The use depends on:
*Number: singular (e.g.: I) or plural (e.g.: we)
*Person: 1^st person (e.g.: I), 2^nd person (e.g.: you) or 3^rd person (e.g.: he)
*Gender: male (e.g.: he), female (e.g.: she) or neuter (e.g.: it)
*Case: subject (e.g.: we) or object (e.g.: us)
We use Personal Pronouns in place of the person or people.

Number	Person	Gender	Personal Pronouns
Number	Person	Gender	Subject	Object
Singular	1^st	Male/Female	I	Me
	2^nd	Male/Female	You	You
	3^rd	Male	He	Him
		Female	She	Her
		Neuter	It	It
Plural	1^st	Male/Female	We	Us
	2^nd	Male/Female	You	You
	3^rd	Male/Female/Neuter	They	Them

Examples:
I like omelet.
Jerry teaches me.
You make the decision.
Jesus loves you.
He eats slowly.
People like him.
She is smart.
Ivy knows her.
It is broken.
I can fix it.
We went to movie.
Tony drives us.
You play two rounds of golf.
Derek beats you at the game.
They build a new house.
Neighbors help them.

We use it for a single thing. However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her,
especially if the animal is a pet. Ships and some other vessels or vehicles as well as some countries are often treated as female
and referred to as she/her.
Examples:
Here comes my dog Rusty. He's a Labrador.
This is our cat Fluffy. She's a Siamese.
The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage.
I loved my first car and I took good care of her.
United States has closed her border with Mexico.
When you don't know whether to use he or she. Do this:
If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal.
If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal.

We often use it to introduce a remark:
It is nice to have a break every now and then.
It is important to dress professionally.
It's difficult to see in the thick fog.
It took some time to get here.

We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance.
It's snowing.
It's likely to be hot tomorrow.
It's almost ten o'clock.
It's 600 miles from here to Los Angeles.

A Demonstrative Pronoun represents a thing or things.

	Near	Far
Singular	This	That
Plural	These	Those

This works great.
These are the new chairs.
That is a great looking car.
Those are the neighbor's kids.
This is tougher than that.
These are stronger than those.

Demonstrative Pronouns and Demonstrative Adjectives are identical,
but a Demonstrative Pronoun stands alone, while a Demonstrative Adjective qualifies a Noun.
That shines. (Demonstrative Pronoun)
That movie is hilarious. (Demonstrative Adjective + Noun)

Interrogative Pronoun represents the thing that we ask.
There are four main Interrogative Pronouns: who, whom, what, and which.
The Possessive Pronoun whose can also be an Interrogative Pronoun.

	Subject	Object
Person	Who	Whom
Thing	What
Person / Thing	Which
Person	Whose

Examples:
Who helped you?
Whom did you tell?
What has happened?
What would you like for dinner?
Which got here first?
Whose key is this?

We sometimes use the suffix "-ever" to make Compounds from some of these Pronouns (whoever, whatever, whichever).
When we add "-ever", we use it for emphasis, often to show confusion or surprise.
Examples:
Whoever would want to do such a terrible thing?
Whatever did he say to make her cry like that?
They're all fantastic! Whichever will you choose?

Reflexive Pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).
We use a Reflexive Pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause.

	Reflexive Pronoun
Singular	Myself
	Yourself
	Himself, Herself, Itself
Plural	Ourselves
	Yourselves
	Themselves

Examples:
I hate myself for doing that.
Why did you blame yourself?
Don finally gave himself a break he so well deserve.
Jennifer did that all by herself.
The dog hurt itself.
We convince ourselves to take the challenge.
We believe you guys can handle it yourselves.
They have to learn to take care of themselves.

All the above Reflexive Pronouns can also act as Intensive Pronouns, but the function and usage are different.
An Intensive Pronoun emphasizes its predecessor.
Examples:
I did it myself.
Have you done it yourself?
The chairman himself promised to take action.
She contacted me herself.
The food itself wasn't that bad, but the atmosphere was poor.
We decided to tackle the problems ourselves.
You yourselves requested us to do it.
They recommend the movie even though they have never seen it themselves.

We use Reciprocal Pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other.
John and Sarah are talking to each other.
There are only two Reciprocal Pronouns:
*Each other
*One another
There must be two or more people, things or groups involved.
We cannot use Reciprocal Pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it. They must be doing the same thing.
Examples:
Allan and Rebecca love each other.
Paul and Fred hate each other.
The family members were blaming one another.
Both teams played hard against each other.
We gave each other gifts.
Why don't you believe each other?
They can't see each other.
The boys were fighting one another.
The branches were rubbing against each other in the wind.

An Indefinite Pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite".
Some typical Indefinite Pronouns are:
all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody,
none, one, several, some, somebody and someone
Most Indefinite Pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another.
The most common Indefinite Pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.
Examples:
Each of the players receives a bonus.
One of the two girls I met has given me her phone number.
Many have expressed their concerns.

Singular
Another	An additional or different person or thing	I would like to have another ice-cream.
Anybody / Anyone	No matter what person	Anyone knows it's wrong to cheat on the exam.
Anything	No matter what thing	I am so hungry I would eat anything.
Each	Every one of two or more people or things, seen separately	Each citizen has his own opinion.
Either	One or the other of two people or things	Either one of you has to give up your seat.
Enough	As much or as many as needed	We can't find enough volunteer to help.
Everybody / Everyone	All people	Everybody has to work hard for the company to survive.
Everything	All things	They lost everything in the fire.
Less	A smaller amount	The company makes less profit this year.
Little	A small amount	We have little time to finish the job.
Much	A large amount	Much has changed since we met.
Neither	Not one and not the other of two people or things	Neither one of us is going to the convention.
Nobody / No one	No person	Nobody leaves before the show ends.
Nothing	No single thing, not anything	If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing.
One	An unidentified person	All the students but one took the bus to school.
Other	A different person or thing from one already mentioned	One was fat and the other was slim.
Somebody / Someone	An unspecified or unknown person	Someone is at the door.
You	An unidentified person	Now you can understand how I feel.
Plural
Both	Two people or things, seen together	They both went to college.
Few	A small number of people or things	Few students know how to solve the problem.
Fewer	A reduced number of people or things	Fewer voters show up to vote.
Many	A large number of people or things	Many watch the World Cup Soccer this evening.
Others	other people; not us	I believe others have tried this before.
Several	More than two but not many	Several have dropped out of the contest.
They	People in general	They believe the alleged kidnapper is innocent.
Singular or Plural
All	The whole quantity of something or of some things or people	All is forgiven.
All	The whole quantity of something or of some things or people	All eyes are on you.
Any	No matter how much or how many	Is any thing wrong?
Any	No matter how much or how many	Are there any thing left to do?
More	A greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things	There is more than one way to tackle this problem.
More	A greater quantity of something; a greater number of people or things	There are more challenges than we thought.
Most	The majority; nearly all	Most is lost.
Most	The majority; nearly all	Most have declined the offer.
None	Not any; no person or persons	None is left.
None	Not any; no person or persons	None have come to claim the watch.
Some	An unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things	Here is some.
Some	An unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things	Some have failed to renew their memberships.
Such	Of the type already mentioned	They speak loudly in the theatre; such behavior is bad.

A Relative Pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It "relates" to the word that it modifies.
The person who dropped in last night is my former boss.
There are five Relative Pronouns: who, whom, whose, which and that.
Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people.
Whose is for possession.
Which is for things.
That can be used for people and things and as subject and object.

Relative Pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

Defining	Subject	The lady who came to the party last night is our neighbor. The lady that came to the party last night is our neighbor.
		The train which stopped unexpectedly at the station was an express. The train that stopped unexpectedly at the station was an express.
	Object	The person whom we met last night is the captain of my son's basketball team. The person that we met last night is the captain of my son's basketball team. (The Relative Pronoun is optional, we can drop whom and that) The person we met last night is the captain of my son's basketball team.
		The car which I bought is blue. The car that I bought is blue. The car I bought is blue.
	Possessive	Tax payers whose incomes are low pay less taxes. The parents whose kids are in the team should volunteer. The detective is looking for the car whose rear window was broken. The detective is looking for the car of which rear window was broken.
Non-defining	Subject	Joe, who is very kind, is the bank manager.
		The machine, which was old, broke. The machines, which were old, broke.
	Object	Jane, whom I like very much, is my English teacher. Greg and Sharon, whom I like very much, are my business partners.
		The sport car, which I was driving at the time, suddenly broke down.
	Possessive	The gentleman, whose speech you just heard, is the CEO of the company. The house, whose roof blew away, was completely ruined. The house, the roof of which blew away, was completely ruined.

Pronouns (and Nouns) in English display "Case" according to their function in the sentence. Their function can be:
*Subjective (acting as the subject)
*Objective (acting as the object)
*Possessive (showing possession of something else)

			Subjective Case	Objective Case	Possessive Case
Personal Pronouns	Singular	1^st	I	Me	Mine
		2^nd	You	You	Yours
		3^rd	He She It	Him Her It	His Hers Its
	Plural	1^st	We	Us	Ours
		2^nd	You	You	Yours
		3^rd	They	Them	Theirs
Relative / Interrogative Pronouns			Who	Whom	Whose
			Whoever	Whomever
			Which / That / What	Which / That / What
Indefinite Pronouns			Everybody	Everybody	Everybody's

Here's something interesting:
"Joe and I" or "Joe and me"?
Joe and I are delighted to meet you.
Joe and I are subjects, that's why the pronoun takes the Subjective Case "I".
The spot light was aimed at Joe and me.
Joe and I are objects, which is why the pronoun takes the Objective Case "me".

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