Grammar Crammer: How to Write Perfect Sentences

2. Pronouns

2 PRONOUNS Pronouns cause a lot more confusion in writing than nouns, partly because grammarians made up some rules that aren't used in speech-and weren't in writing either until the rules were invented. But most errors creep in because some pronouns have several forms and the pronoun's place in the sentence determines the correct form. CLUE 1: PRONOUNS COME IN SMALL GROUPS If it's any comfort, English pronouns used to be far more complicated than they are now: lam Thou art He} She is It Weare You are They are When the singular of you was thou, the singular of to you was to thee, your home was thy home, and yours was thine. When the thee forms died out, somewhere around the seven17 18 THE GRAMMAR CRAMMER teenth century, it made life a lot easier for students. Some of the other forms are fading fast from spoken American English, but in standard school English they're alive and kicking. If any of the pronouns in the table on the following page are unfamiliar to you, memorize them. The first group is called definite pronouns, because they refer to one or more definite persons or things. Among them are the personalpronouns, which change form depending on how they're used. Notice that all forms of you are the same in singular and plural except the reflexive, yourself changing to yourselves when it's more than one. We've also italicized the other irregularities that cause trouble. There are two other groups of definite pronouns. The demonstrative pronouns show or point to a noun: this, that, these, those. (Them is not a demonstrative pronoun. In standard English it's incorrect to say or write Look at them shoes.) The relative pronouns have two jobs at once: they not only stand in for nouns, but at the same time they introduce clauses. They are: who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose (but not whosever; it's not a word), which, whichever, what, whatever, that For more on relative pronouns, see page 25. There's also a group of words that are sometimes pronouns , sometimes other parts of speech. When used as pronouns , they're called indefinite pronouns because they don't refer to anyone or anything in particular: one, anyone, someone, no one, everyone, either one, neither one anybodY,sornebody, nobody, everybody either, neither each, each one, each other Personal Pronouns subjective objective possessive reflexive (subjecto! (used!orobject when sentence (objecto! with without it's the same person or clause) verb) noun noun or thing as the subject) I I me my mine myself singular you you your yours yourself he. she, it him, her. it his, her, its his. hers. its himself. herself, itself I we us our ours ourselves plural you you your yours yourselves they them their theirs themselves interrogative who (whom) whose whose himself. herself, :p c (questioning) itself; themselves ::s c s:: ::s~ ~ \0 20 THE GRAMMAR CRAMMER Each used as a pronoun: Each of us is going. = Jane, Bob, and I are going,. Each used as an adjective: Eat some citrus each day. = Eat some one day and some another day. (Each doesn't substitute for day or citrus.) The indefinite pronouns rarely cause trouble, even when you can't decide on the correct grammatical name. Catch 1: Is It I or me? In spoken language, people say "It's me" or "It is me" and the meaning is clear as rain: List A It's me. It's us. It's you. It's you. It's him. It's them. It's her. This use of the objective case after forms of the verb be is proof that English keeps changing despite the stranglehold of the grammarians. They'd love us all to use the subjective case after be: ListB It is we. It is you. It is they. It is I. It is you. It is he. It is she. Pronouns 21 The evolution of it is me is worth tracing. In Old English, the order of our words was more like German than Modern English. Folks used to say Ie hit eorn, which translates as I it am. In Middle English the h dropped off the word it and folks turned the phrase around to both It I am and the more popular It am...