62 Possessive adjectives and pronouns
Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns
my
mine
your his/her/its
yours
his/hers
our
ours
your their
yours theirs
No(e that no apostrophes are used here. Students should guard against the common mistake of writing the possessive its with an apostrophe. it’s (with an apostrophe) means it is.
The old form of the second person singular can be found in some bibles and pre-twentieth century poetry:
thy thine one’s is the possessive adjective of the pronoun one.
63 Agreement and use of possessive adjectives
A Possessive adjectives in English refer to the possessor and not to the thing possessed. Everything that a man or boy possesses is his thing; everything .that a woman or girl possesses is her thing:
Tom’s father is his father but
Maty ’$ father is her father. Everything that an animal or thing possesses is its thing:
A tree drops its leaves in autumn.
A happy dog wags its tail.
But if the sex of the animal is known, his/her would often be used. If there is more than one possessor, their is used:
The girls an with their brother.
Trees drop their leaves in autumn.
Note that the possessive adjective remains the same whether the thing possessed is singular or plural:
mygiovt, my gloves his foot, his feet
Powesaives, personal and reflexive
pronouns
7 Possessives, personal and reflexive pronouns
B Possessive adjectives are used with clothes and parts of the body:
She changed her shoes. He injured his back. (But see also 7 A6.)
C To add emphasis, own can be placed after my, your, his etc. and after one’*:
my own room her own idea own can be an adjective, as above, or a pronoun:
a room of one’s own Note the expression:
I’m on my own – I’m alone.
64 Possessive pronouns replacing possessive adjectives + nouns
A This is our room or This (room) is ours.
This is their ccr. That car is theirs too. You ’ve got my pen. You ’re using mine. Where’s your’s?
B The expression of mine etc. means ’one of my’ etc.: a friend of mine « one of my friends a sister of hers « one of her sisters
65 Personal pronouns
A Form
Subject
Object
i /
MM
son you
n ht/sht/it
you Him/ktrAt
\
I UK
US
son you n (key
you
them
B
1
Singular: first person / me
second person you you
third person kt/sht/it him/ktrfit \
Plural: first person we us
second person you you
third person tkty them
The old form of the sgijinti person singular is: thou (subject) ifat (object)
Use of subject and object forms
you and it preset f qc difficulty as they have the same form for subject
and object:
Dtd you i * <V snake? – Yes, I saw it and’it saw me. – Did it
frighten ** ’
First and . * i son fort* (other fyea it) (a) I, be we, tHey can be subjects of a verb:
/ sf– He knows ,yu. They live here.
of com},’, ;s of the verb to be: It is I.
Normally, however, we use the object forms here:
Who is it?- It’s me.
Where’s Tom? – That’s him over then. But if the pronoun is foHowed by a clause, we use the subject forms:
Blame Bill! It was he who chose this colour. (b) me, him, her, us, them can be direct objects of a verb:
/ saw her. Tom likes them. or indirect objects:
Bill found me a job. Ann gave him a book. (See 66.) or objects of a preposition:
with him for her without them to us
66 The position of pronoun objects
A An indirect object comes before a direct object:
/ made Ann/her a cake. * I sent Bill the photos. However, if the direct object is a personal pronoun it is more usual to place it Directly after the verb and use to or for:
I made it for her. I sent them to him. (See 88.) The position rule does not apply to one, some, any, none etc.:
He bought one for Ann or He bought Ann one.
He gave something to Jack or He gave Jack something.
B Pronoun objects of phrasal verbs
With many phrasal verbs a noun object can be either in the middle or at the end:
Hand your papers in/Hand in your papers.
Hang your coat up/Hang up your coat.
Take your shoes off/Take off your shoes. A pronoun object, however, must be placed in the middle:
hand them in hang it up take them off (See chapter 38.)
67 Uses of it
A it is normally used of a thing or an animal whose sex we don’t know, and sometimes of a baby or small childWhere’s my map? I left it on the table. Look at that bird. It always comts to my window. Her new baby is tiny. It only weighs 2 kilos.
B it can be used of people in sentences such as: ANN (on phone): Who is that/Who is it? BILL: 7/’s me. Is that Tom over there? – No, it’s Peter.
C it is used in expressions of time, distance, weather, temperature, tide: What time is it? ~ It is six. What’s the date? ~ It’s the thirdof March.
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7 Possessives, personal and reflexive pronouns S^^l^^^^^^^^l
’ ^wf^^^^^^pP?!^^|^|^^M
How far is tt to York? ~ It is 400 kilometres. H
How long does it take to get there? ~ It depends on how you go. •
// is raining/snowing/freezing. It’s frosty. It’s a fine night.
It ’s full moon tonight. In winter it’s/it is dark at six o’clock.
It is hot/cold/quiet/noisy in this room.
It’s high tide/low tide. Note also:
It’s/It is three years since I saw him «
/ haven’t seen him for three years. (See 188.) (For it is time + subject + past tense, see also 293.)
Introductory it
it can introduce sentences of the following type (’cleft sentences’): // was *Peter who lent us the money, (not Paul) // ’s ltoday that he’s going, (not tomorrow) it is used even with a plurai noun:
It’s ^pilots that we need, not ground staff. (See also 76.)
When an infinitive is subject of a sentence, we usually begin the sentence with it and put the infinitive later; i.e. we say:
It is easy to criticize instead of
To criticize is easy.
It is better to be early instead of
To be early is better.
It seems a pity to give up now instead of
To give up now seems a pity.
If it + be is preceded by find/think (that), the be and the that can often by omitted:
He thought (that) it (would be) better to say nothing.
We found it impossible to get visas.
it can be used similarly when the subject of a sentence is a clause. It would be possible to say:
That he hasn ’t phoned is odd
That prices will go up is certain. But it would be much more usual to say:
It’s odd that he hasn’t phoned.
It’s certain that prices will go up. Other examples:
// never occurred to me that perhaps he was lying.
It struck me that everyone was unusually silent.
it/this can represent a previously mentioned phrase, clause or veto: He smokes in bed, though I don’t like it. (it – his smoking in bed) Ht suggested flying, but I thought it would cost too muck.
(it – flying)
it also acts as a subject for impersonal verbs:
it seems it appears it ooks it happens
t t’
7 Possess!ves, personal and reflexive pronouns
68 you, one and they as indefinite pronouns
A you and one
As subjects, either can be used:
Can you/one camp in the forest? As objects, you is the normal pronoun:
They fine you for parking offences.
you is more common in ordinary conversation. It is a more ’friendly’ pronoun and implies that the speaker can imagine himself in such a position.
one is more impersonal and less o/ten used, though the possessive one’s is quite common:
It’s easy to lose one ’s/your way in Venice. The correct possessive form must be used:
One has to show one’s pass at the door.
You have to show your pass at the door.
If instead of one or you we use a singular noun, the possessive adjective will obviously be his or her:
One must do one’s best.
A traveller has to guard his possessions.
B they
they is used as subject only, they can mean ’people’:
they say = people say, it is said
They say it is going to be a cold winter.
they can also mean ’the authority concerned’, i.e. the government/ the local council/one’s employers/the police etc.:
They want to make this a one-way street.
69 Use of they/them/their with neither/either, someone/everyone/no one etc.
Thesp expressions are singular and take a singular verb. Their personal pronouns therefore »h< >uld be he/she and the possessive adjectives should tx> his/her (he/his fur malo and mixed sexes; she/her for females). But many native speakers find this troublesome and often use they/their, even when only one sex is involved:
Neither of them remembered their instructions.
Would someone lend me thtf binoculars?
Everyone has read the notice, haven’t they?
No one objected, did they;1 (See also 51 C.)
70 Reflexive pronouns
A These are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Note the difference between the second person singular yourself, and the second person plural yourselves. The indefinite reflexive/emphasizing pronoun is oneself.
7 Possessives, personal and reflexive pronouns
B. myself, yourself etc. are used as objects of a verb when the action of the verb returns to the doer, i.e. when subject and object are the same person:
/ cut myself. He can’t shave himself.
It is not always easy to amuse oneself on holiday.
Tom and Ann blamed themselves for the accident.
This refrigerator defrosts itself.
Note the change of meaning if we replace the reflexive pronoun by the reciprocal pronoun each other:
Tom and Ann blamed each other. (Tom blamed Ann and Ann
blamed Tom. See 53 C.)
C myself, yourself etc. are used similarly after a verb + preposition:
He spoke to himself. Did she pay for herself?
Look after yourself. Take care of yourselves.
I ’m annoyed with myself. He sat by himself, (alone)
She addressed the envelope to herself.
But if the preposition indicates locality, we use the ordinary, not the reflexive, pronouns:
Did you take your dog with you?
They put the child between them.
Had he/Did he have any money on him?
71 myself, himself, herself etc. used as emphasizing pronouns
myself etc. can also be used to emphasize a noun or pronoun:
The King himself gave” her the medal. self is then stressed in speech.
When used in this way the pronoun is never essential and can be omitted without changing the sense. It usually emphasizes the subject of the sentence and is placed after it:
Ann herself opened the door. Tom himself went. Alternatively it can be placed after the object if there is one:
Ann opened the door herself or after an intransitive verb:
Tom went himself.
If the intransitive verb is followed by a preposition •«• noun, the emphasizing pronoun can be placed after this noun:
Tom went to London himself or Tom himself went to London. When it emphasizes another noun it is placed immediately after it:
/ saw Tom himself. I spoke to the President himself.
She liked the diamond itself but not the setting. Note the difference between:
/ did it myself (It was done by me and not by someone else) and
/ did it by myself (I did it without help).
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