# English in Use/Pronouns


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A **pronoun** is a word used instead of a noun: as,

-   \"The boy loves his book; he has long lessons, and he learns them
    well.\"

Pronouns are not a requirement of a sentence, and it is possible for
them to never to be used in sentences. However, many sentences become
unwieldy without them:

-   \"Alistair is doing what Alistair thinks is best according to
    Alistair\'s rights as a human being.\"
-   Better, \"Alistair is doing what he thinks is best according to his
    rights as a human being.\"

The pronouns in English language are twenty-four; and their variations
are thirty-two: so that the number of words of this class, is fifty-six.

Pronouns are divided into three classes; personal, relative, and
interrogative.

Pronouns also change depending on whether they refer to one person or
thing (singular) or a group of people or things (plural).

## Personal pronouns

A personal pronoun or **personal** is a pronoun that shows, by its form,
of what person it is: as,

-   \"Whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so you
    believed.\"---1 Cor., xv, 11.

The simple personal pronouns are five: namely, *I*, of the first person;
*you (thou)*, of the second person; *he, she*, and *it*, of the third
person.

The compound personal pronouns are also five: namely, *myself*, of the
first person; *yourself (thyself)*, of the second person; *himself,
herself*, and *itself*, of the third person.

First person pronouns are used when referring to oneself:

-   \"*I* think *I* am not silly.\"

Second person pronouns are used to refer to someone who you are
conversing with, the person the sentence is intended to be heard by:

-   \"*You* are not very silly.\"

(\"*Thou* art not very silly.\")

Third person pronouns are used when referring to something else that is
outside the conversation, either some other person, or an object not
capable of understanding or communicating:

-   \"I like the tree because *it* is beautiful.\"
-   \"I don\'t like the RIAA because *they* sued me.\"

Third person singular pronouns are the only pronouns marked for gender.
If gender is unknown, use *he or she* or use a plural.

## Relative pronouns

A relative pronoun or **relative** is a pronoun that represents an
antecedent word or phrase, and connects different clauses of a sentence:
as,

-   \"No people can be great, who have ceased to be virtuous.\"---Dr.
    Johnson.

The relative pronouns are *who, which, what, that, as*, and the
compounds *whoever or whosoever, whichever or whichsoever, whatever or
whatsoever*.

*What* is a kind of double relative, equivalent to \"that which\" or
\"those which\"; and is to be parsed first as antecedent, and then as
relative: as,

-   \"This is what I wanted; that is to say, the thing which I
    wanted.\"---L. Murray. III.

## Interrogative pronouns

An interrogative pronoun or **interrogative** is a pronoun with which a
question is asked: as,

-   \"Who touched my clothes?\"---Mark, v, 30.

The interrogative pronouns are *who, which*, and *what*; being the same
in form as relatives.

*Who* demands a person\'s name; *which*, that a person or thing be
distinguished from others; *what*, the name of a thing, or a person\'s
occupation and character.

Pronouns have the same modifications as nouns; namely, persons, numbers,
genders, and cases. Definitions universally applicable have already been
given of all these things; it is therefore unnecessary to define them
again in this place.

The declension of a pronoun is a regular arrangement of its numbers and
cases.

## Simple personals

The simple personal pronouns are thus declined:

    I, of the first person, any of the genders.

    Sing. Nom.  I,             Plur. Nom.  we,
          Poss. my, or mine,         Poss. our, or ours,
          Obj.  me;                  Obj.  us.

    You, of the second person, any of the genders.

    Nom.  you,
    Poss. your, or yours,
    Obj.  you.

    He, of the third person, masculine gender.

    Sing. Nom.  he,            Plur. Nom.  they,
          Poss. his,                 Poss. their, or theirs,
          Obj.  him;                 Obj.  them.

    She, of the third person, feminine gender.

    Sing. Nom.  she,           Plur. Nom.  they,
          Poss. her, or hers,        Poss. their, or theirs,
          Obj.  her;                 Obj.  them.

    It, of the third person, neuter gender.

    Sing. Nom,  it,            Plur. Nom.  they,
          Poss. its,                 Poss. their, or theirs,
          Obj.  it;                  Obj.  them.

## Compound personals

The word *self*, added to the simple personal pronouns, forms the class
of compound personal pronouns; which are used when an action reverts
upon the agent, and also when some persons are to be distinguished from
others. They all want the possessive case, and are alike in the
nominative and objective. Thus:

    Myself, of the first person, any of the genders

    Sing. Nom.  myself,   Plur. Nom.  ourselves
          Poss. ------,         Poss. ---------,
          Obj.  myself;         Obj.  ourselves.

    Yourself, of the second person, any of the genders.

    Sing. Nom.  yourself,
          Poss. --------,
          Obj.  yourself.

    Plur. Nom.  yourselves,
          Poss. ----------,
          Obj.  yourselves.

    Himself, of the third person, masculine gender.

    Sing. Nom.  himself,  Plur. Nom.  themselves,
          Poss. -------,        Poss. ----------,
          Obj.  himself;        Obj.  themselves.

    Herself, of the third person, feminine gender.

    Sing. Nom.  herself   Plur. Nom.  themselves,
          Poss. -------,        Poss. ----------,
          Obj.  herself;        Obj.  themselves.

    Itself, of the third person, neuter gender.

    Sing. Nom.  itself,   Plur. Nom.  themselves,
          Poss. ------,         Poss. ----------,
          Obj.  itself;         Obj.  themselves.

## Relatives and interrogatives

The relative and the interrogative pronouns are thus declined:

    Who, literally applied to persons only.

    Sing. Nom.  who,      Plur. Nom.  who,
          Poss. whose,          Poss. whose,
          Obj.  whom;           Obj.  whom.

    Which, applied to animals and things.

    Sing. Nom.  which,    Plur. Nom.  which,
          Poss. ----,           Poss. -----,
          Obj.  which;          Obj.  which.

    What, applied ordinarily to things only.

    Sing. Nom.  what,     Plur. Nom.  what,
          Poss. ----,           Poss. ----,
          Obj.  what;           Obj.  what.

    That, applied to persons, animals, and things.

    Sing. Nom.  that,     Plur. Nom.  that,
          Poss. ----,           Poss. ----,
          Obj.  that;           Obj.  that.

    As, applied to persons, animals, and things.

    Sing. Nom.     as,    Plur. Nom.  as,
          Poss.    ----,        Poss. ----,
          Obj.     as;          Obj.  as.

## Compound relatives

The compound relative pronouns, *whoever or whosoever, whichever or
whichsoever*, and *whatever or whatsoever* are declined in the same
manner as the simples. Thus:

    Whoever or whosoever, applied only to persons.

    Sing. Nom. whoever,     Plur. Nom.  whoever,
          Poss.whosever,          Poss. whosever,
          Obj. whomever;          Obj.  whomever.

    Sing. Nom.  whosoever,   Plur. Nom.  whosoever,
          Poss. whosesoever,       Poss. whosesoever,
          Obj.  whomsoever;        Obj.  whomsoever.

    Whichever or whichsoever, applied to persons,
    animals, and things.

    Sing. Nom.  whichever,   Plur. Nom.  whichever,
          Poss. ---------,         Poss. --------,
          Obj.  whichever;         Obj.  whichever.

    Sing. Nom.  whichsoever, Plur. Nom.  whichsoever,
          Poss. ---------,         Poss. --------,
          Obj.  whichsoever;       Obj.  whichsoever.

    Whatever or whatsoever, applied ordinarily to things only.

    Sing. Nom.  whatever,    Plur. Nom.  whatever,
          Poss. --------,          Poss. --------,
          Obj.  whatever;          Obj.  whatever.

    Sing. Nom.  whatsoever,  Plur. Nom.  whatsoever,
          Poss. ---------,         Poss. --------,
          Obj.  whatsoever;        Obj.  whatsoever.

## Unclear Usage of Pronouns

Although helpful to eliminate repetitiveness of nouns, pronouns, when
used too much, can make a sentence extremely vague: as,

-   \"Pictures on walls make *it* look pretty.\"

The reader does not know what *it* is.

-   \"The teachers prepared the food. The students ate it. *They* had
    fun.\"

The reader does not know who *they* are.

## Y\'all

The pronoun *y\'all* is a contraction of \"You all\". It is
traditionally used in the south of the United States, where in the north
you all is more common. *Y\'all* follows the same conjugation rules as
*they*. Very often it is incorrectly spelled *ya\'ll*.

## A short syntax

A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, as \"This is the book; it is
excellent,\" except the following cases: something indefinite, as \"Tell
me who it was,\" a neuter pronoun, as \"I cannot view it,\" the pronoun
*it*, as \"It is not for kings,\" the adjective *many*, as \"Many a
great genius, they have no friends,\" enallage, as \"We shall close our
remarks,\" another sense, as \"Lamps is of the plural number,\"
nominatives, as \"Who are you?\", absolute nominatives, as \"It need not
be any wonder,\" possessives, as \"Him whose yoke is easy,\" objectives,
as \"Those whom she persuaded,\" neuter verbs, as \"Whom did you suppose
me to be?\", familiar language, as \"The man \[whom\] I trust,\"
omission of the relative, as \"The worst thing \[that\] could happen,\"
a collective noun, as \"The council were divided,\" the conjunction
*or*, as \"James or John will favour us with his company,\" the
conjunction *and*, as \"Saul and Jonathan were pleasant in their
lives,\" one person or thing, as \"This great philosopher and
statesman,\" empathy, as \"The good man, and the sinner too, shall have
his reward,\" and *each*, *every*, or *no*, as \"Every plant and every
tree produces others after its kind.\"

## References

-   A part of the text in this article, was taken from the public domain
    English grammar \"The Grammar of English
    Grammars\" by Goold Brown,
    1851.

## See also

-   The Wikipedia article on Ain\'t
-   The Wikipedia article on Generic you
-   The Wikipedia article on Personal
    pronouns
-   The Wikipedia article on Possessive
    pronouns
-   The Wikipedia article on Relative
    pronouns
-   The Wikipedia article on Singular they
-   The Wikipedia article on Y\'all
-   The Wikipedia article on You
-   The Wikipedia article on Who "wikilink")

de:Englisch: Pronomina
fr:Anglais:Pronoms
