STRUCTURE OF ENGLISH - PRONOUNS

• Pronouns


  Stand for, refer to, or replace a noun or a noun phrase within a text
• Antecedent


  The word or words that a pronoun stands for
• Pronouns can also be a direct reference to an outside situation
• Animals closely related to people can be referred to by he, him, and his or she, her, and hers
• Use it and its to refer to inanimate objects except ships, which are always referred as she
• Countries and schools are sometimes referred to by she or her
• Traditionally, the pronouns he, him, and his have been used for mixed groups or groups in which the sex is unknown. Many people now object to this use, so they use both the masculine and feminine forms or the plural forms to avoid the problem
• If I, me, my or mine or their plural counterparts are part of a pair or a series, put them last
• Reflexive Pronouns


  Used as the object of the verb form or preposition to refer to the subject of the sentence
• Intensive Pronouns


  Occur directly after the word it modifies or at the end of the clause
• Reciprocal Pronouns


  Each part of the subject did the action and also received the action
• Demonstrative Pronouns


  Occur alone, do not precede nouns, can show distance or contrast
• Use singular verbs with compound pronouns and use singular pronouns to refer to them in formal writing
• Interrogative Pronouns


  Who, whom, whose, which, and what can begin questions
• Relative Pronouns


  Introduce dependent clauses, can be who, whom, whose, which, that
• That is a neutral form, can be a substitute for both who (+human) or which (-human)
• In informal writing, whom is optional; in formal writing, whom must be used
• That, which, and whom are the only relative pronouns that can be left out
• Who, whom, and whose can be used in both essential/restrictive and nonessential/non-restrictive clauses
• That instead of which is used only in essential or restrictive clauses, so do NOT put commas around clauses beginning with that
• Use which in nonessential or nonrestrictive clauses. Separate nonessential clauses from the rest of the sentence by commas
• Relative Pronouns used in noun clauses

  that, what, whatever, whoever, whomever, whichever
• Look at the antecedent of who, that, or which when used as a subject to decide whether the verb following should be singular or plural