|
English Pronouns
The English pronouns form a relatively small category of words in Modern English whose primary semantic function is that of a pro-form for a noun phrase. Traditional grammars consider them to be a distinct part of speech, while most modern grammars see them as a subcategory of noun, contrasting with common and proper nouns. Still others see them as a subcategory of determiner (see the DP hypothesis). In this article, they are treated as a subtype of the noun category. They clearly include personal pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and reciprocal pronouns. Other types that are included by some grammars but excluded by others are demonstrative pronouns and indefinite pronouns. Other members are disputed (see below). Overview Forms Standard Pronouns in formal modern English . Full list Those types that are indisputably pronouns are the personal pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and reciprocal pronouns. The full set is present ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pronoun
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not consider them to form a single class, in view of the variety of functions they perform cross-linguistically. An example of a pronoun is "you", which can be either singular or plural. Subtypes include personal and possessive pronouns, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns, and indefinite pronouns. The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on an antecedent. For example, in the sentence ''That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat'', the meaning of the pronoun ''he'' is dependent on its antecedent, ''that poor man''. The name of the adjective that belongs with a "pronoun" is called a "pronominal". A pronominal is also a word or ph ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Indefinite Pronoun
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun which does not have a specific familiar referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to definite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can represent either count nouns or noncount nouns. They often have related forms across these categories: universal (such as ''everyone'', ''everything''), assertive existential (such as ''somebody'', ''something''), elective existential (such as ''anyone'', ''anything''), and negative (such as ''nobody'', ''nothing''). Many languages distinguish forms of indefinites used in affirmative contexts from those used in non-affirmative contexts. For instance, English "something" can be used only in affirmative contexts while "anything" is used otherwise. Indefinite pronouns are associated with indefinite determiners of a similar or identical form (such as ''every'', ''any'', ''all'', ''some''). A pronoun can be thought of as ''replacing'' a noun phrase, while a determiner ''introduces'' a noun phrase and precedes any a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Who (pronoun)
The pronoun ''who'', in English, is an interrogative pronoun and a relative pronoun, used primarily to refer to persons. Unmarked, ''who'' is the pronoun’s subjective form; its inflected forms are the objective ''whom'' and the possessive ''whose''. The set has derived indefinite forms ''whoever'', ''whomever'', and ''whoseever,'' as well as a further, earlier such set ''whosoever,'' ''whomsoever'', and ''whosesoever'' (see also "-ever"). Etymology The interrogative and relative pronouns ''who'' derive from the Old English singular interrogative , and whose paradigm is set out below: It was not until the end of the 17th century that ''who'' became the only pronoun that could ask about the identity of persons and ''what'' fully lost this ability. "The first occurrences of wh-relatives date from the twelfth century (with the possible exception (see Kivimaa 1966: 35)). The wh- form does not become frequent, however, until the fourteenth century." Notably, relative ''whose'' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One (pronoun)
''One'' is an English language, gender-neutral, indefinite pronoun that means, roughly, "a person". For purposes of verb agreement it is a third-person singular pronoun, though it sometimes appears with first- or second-person reference. It is sometimes called an impersonal pronoun. It is more or less equivalent to the Scots "a body", the French pronoun '' on'', the German/Scandinavian ''man'', and the Spanish ''uno''. It can take the possessive form ''one's'' and the reflexive form ''oneself'', or it can adopt those forms from the generic he with ''his'' and ''himself''. The pronoun ''one'' often has connotations of formality, and is often avoided in favour of more colloquial alternatives such as generic ''you''. Morphology In Standard Modern English, pronoun ''one'' has three shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''one'': the nominative (subjective) and accusative (objective, also known as oblique case) forms * ''one's:'' the dependent and independent genitiv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
They
In Modern English, ''they'' is a third-person pronoun relating to a grammatical subject. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''they'' has five distinct word forms: * ''they'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''them'': the accusative (objective, called the 'oblique'.) and a non-standard determinative form. * ''their:'' the dependent genitive (possessive) form * ''theirs'': independent genitive form * ''themselves'': prototypical reflexive form *''themself'': derivative reflexive form (nonstandard; now chiefly used instead of "himself or herself" as a reflexive epicenity for ''they'' in pronominal reference to a singular referent) History Old English had a single third-person pronoun '' hē'', which had both singular and plural forms, and ''they'' wasn't among them. In or about the start of the 13th century, ''they'' was imported from a Scandinavian source (Old Norse ''þeir'', Old Danish, Old Swedish ''þer'', ''þair''), where it was a masculine plural de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Singular They
Singular ''they'', along with its inflected or derivative forms, ''them'', ''their'', ''theirs'' and ''themselves'' (or ''themself''), is a gender-neutral third-person pronoun. It typically occurs with an unspecified antecedent, in sentences such as: :"''Somebody'' left ''their'' umbrella in the office. Could you please let ''them'' know where ''they'' can get it?" :"''The patient'' should be told at the outset how much ''they'' will be required to pay." :"But ''a journalist'' should not be forced to reveal ''their'' sources." This use of singular ''they'' had emerged by the 14th century, about a century after the plural ''they''. It has been commonly employed in everyday English ever since and has gained currency in official contexts. Singular ''they'' has been criticised since the mid-18th century by prescriptive commentators who consider it an error. Its continued use in modern standard English has become more common and formally accepted with the move toward gender-neu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Epicene
Epicenity is the lack of gender distinction, often reducing the emphasis on the masculine to allow the feminine. It includes androgyny – having both masculine and feminine characteristics. The adjective ''gender-neutral'' may describe epicenity (and both terms are associated with the terms ''gender-neutral language'', ''gender-neutral pronoun'', '' gender-blind'', and ''unisex''). Specialized uses In linguistics, an ''epicene'' word has the same form for male and for female referents. In some cases, the term ''common gender'' is also used, but should not be confused with ''common'' or ''appellative'' as a contrary to ''proper'' (as in proper noun). In English, for example, the epicene (or common) nouns ''cousin'' and ''violinist'' can refer to a man or a woman, and so can the epicene (or common) pronoun ''one''. The noun ''stewardess'' and the third-person singular pronouns ''he'' and ''she'' on the other hand are not epicene (or common). [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
It (pronoun)
In Modern English, ''it'' is a singular, neuter, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Modern English, ''it'' has only three shapes representing five word forms: * ''it'': the nominative (subjective) and accusative (objective) forms. (The accusative case is also called the "oblique".) * ''its:'' the dependent and independent genitive (possessive) forms * ''itself'': the reflexive form Historically, though, the morphology is more complex. History Old English Old English had a single third-person pronoun – from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *''khi''-, from PIE *''ko''- "this" – which had a plural and three genders in the singular. The modern pronoun ''it'' developed out of the neuter, singular. The older pronoun had the following forms: This neuter pronoun, like the masculine and feminine ones, was used for both people and objects (inanimate or abstract). Common nouns in Anglo-saxon had grammatical genders, which were not necessarily the same as the gender of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
She (pronoun)
In Modern English, ''she'' is a singular, feminine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''she'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''she'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''her'': the accusative (objective, also called the 'oblique'.) form; the dependent genitive (possessive) form * ''hers:'' the independent genitive form * ''herself'': the reflexive form History Old English had a single third-person pronoun – from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *''khi''-, from PIE *''ko''- "this" – which had a plural and three genders in the singular. In early Middle English, one case was lost, and distinct pronouns started to develop. The modern pronoun '' it'' developed out of the neuter, singular in the 12th century. ''Her'' developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms. The older pronoun had the following forms: The evolution of ''she'' is disputed. Some sources claim it evolved "from Old English ''seo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
He (pronoun)
In Modern English, ''he'' is a singular, masculine, third-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''he'' has four shapes representing five distinct word forms: * ''he'': the nominative (subjective) form * ''him'': the accusative (objective) form (also called the oblique case)) * ''his:'' the dependent and independent genitive (possessive) forms * ''himself'': the reflexive form History Old English had a single third-person pronoun — from the Proto-Germanic demonstrative base *''khi''-, from PIE *''ko''- "this" — which had a plural and three genders in the singular. The modern pronoun '' it'' developed out of the neuter singular, starting to appear without the ''h'' in the 12th century. ''Her'' developed out of the feminine singular dative and genitive forms, while the other feminine forms and the plural were replaced with other words. The older pronoun had the following forms: In the 12th century, ''it'' started to separate and appear without an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I (pronoun)
In Modern English, ''I'' is the singular, first-person pronoun. Morphology In Standard Modern English, ''I'' has five distinct word forms: * ''I'': the nominative (subjective) form **''I'' is the only pronoun form that is always capitalized in English. This practice became established in the late 15th century, though lowercase ''i'' was sometimes found as late as the 17th century. * ''me'': the accusative (objective) forms (The accusative case is also called the 'oblique'.) * ''my:'' the dependent genitive (possessive) form * ''mine'': the independent genitive * ''myself'': the reflexive form History Old English had a first person pronoun that inflected for four cases and three numbers. ''I'' originates from Old English (OE) ''ic'', which had in turn originated from the continuation of Proto-Germanic *''ik'', and ''ek''; The asterisk denotes an unattested form, but ''ek'' was attested in the Elder Futhark inscriptions (in some cases notably showing the variant ''eka''; see ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Genitive Case
In grammar, the genitive case (abbreviated ) is the grammatical case that marks a word, usually a noun, as modifying another word, also usually a noun—thus indicating an attributive relationship of one noun to the other noun. A genitive can also serve purposes indicating other relationships. For example, some verbs may feature arguments in the genitive case; and the genitive case may also have adverbial uses (see adverbial genitive). Genitive construction includes the genitive case, but is a broader category. Placing a modifying noun in the genitive case is one way of indicating that it is related to a head noun, in a genitive construction. However, there are other ways to indicate a genitive construction. For example, many Afroasiatic languages place the head noun (rather than the modifying noun) in the construct state. Possessive grammatical constructions, including the possessive case, may be regarded as a subset of genitive construction. For example, the genitive constru ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
