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THE ANALYSIS OF PRONOUNS IN ENGLISH VIEWED FROM
SYNTACTICAL PERSPECTIVE
Padriadi Wiharjokusumo
Tourism and Hotel Academy of Darma Agung Medan, Indonesia
Email:
[email protected]
Abstract
In mastering the language, one should know at least the eight parts of speech in the grammatical usage, namely: Nouns, Pronouns, Adjectives, Adverb, Verb, Preposition, Interjection, and Conjunction. All these terms are described in grammatical structure in any languages. One of their grammatical parts will be simply discussed is about pronoun.
The purpose of this article is to express how important are the pronouns in English. There will be no complete meaning of a sentence if there is no pronoun in it, and that is why pronoun is very important to build a complete sentence.
Research was conducted by studying the current publications, gathering examination of case studies as well.
Keywords : Grammar, Pronoun, English.
Definition.
The English Grammar consists of eight parts of speech. Each part has its own definition. As the topic here, the definition of pronouns can be examined from what, Wren (1983 : 141) says that "A word that is used instead of a noun and makes sentence good and shorter is called pronoun".
From the above description, one could draw a conclusion that the words placed in the space of the noun are called pronoun. That is why, it is not necessary to repeat the same nouns several times in the same sentences.
Examine:
The boy went to the rice field, and in the rice field the boy saw the buffalo and dogs, as the buffalo and dogs played the boy.
There is no need to repeat the nouns boy, buffalo, and dogs and field as well, however the following sentence will be perfect:
The boy went to the rice field, and in it he saw the buffalo and dogs, as they played about him. Thus, he and him, are applied for the boy, they is applied for buffalo and dogs, and it is applied for field. So, she, they and it are called pronouns.
The Function, Position, and Case of Pronouns
Function
In general pronouns have the same function as noun which can function as a complete noun phrase ( in being subject or object or clause), or as a head of a noun phrase. Some of them act as substitutes or replacements for noun phrase in the sentence.
In most cases a pronoun as a whole noun phrase, therefore it does not have any determiner or modifier do attach to the noun phrase, for examples:
So, you are going to Bali for your holidays, lucky you! (familiar).
You take a slow boat, and I will take the speed one.
Many item can function as :
Both as determiner ( which require head), and as a pronoun (which does not require head);
Determiner only;
Pronouns only;
For instances:
Determiner : which book is his?
Pronoun : which is his?
Determiner only : the car is mine
Pronoun only :
John and Andy have hurted themselves.
We do not actually dislike one another.
The following examples indicate the pronouns which have the same function as noun :
Subject of verb :
She is late for the meeting.
Object of verb :
Direct object : We enjoyed ourselves during the holidays.
Indirect object : I will send you the pictures soon.
Besides, pronouns also function as adjective :
I need some money, some is a pronoun functioning as the object of need, for example I need some money.
Some is a pronoun functioning as adjective (adjectival modifier of money). Pronouns function as adjective are called determiners.
Position
As it has been mentioned previously that pronoun has the same position as noun. Subject pronoun appears before verb, whereas object pronoun appears after verb or after preposition. With certain type of preposition combination, an object pronoun appears between verb and preposition for instance : call them up.
Sometimes two personal pronouns do not usually occur together as an direct-direct object combination. For this reason, the sentence : She offers it to them, would be mentioned : She offers them it (she offers them some, or she offers them this).
A third person pronoun, a demonstrative pronoun, or a relative pronoun generally appears in some positions after the noun it refers to. The following examples indicate the position of pronouns generally after the noun it refers to :
The Smith said that they might move to New York.
This thing destroyed our plans.
The Smith, who had been working in the same office for a long time, were our best employees.
In a short introductory structure within a sentence, a personal pronoun may precede the noun it refers to :
Because she had a serious head ache, Mrs. Brown made up her mind going to see a doctor.
In series of two (more) subject or objects the pronoun I last for showing politeness:
Andy and I decided to go for a holiday together.
Case of Pronouns
Previously we have discussed about subject and object. Let's observe the following sentences :
Subject Verb Object
Roy hunted the wild boar.
The wild boar bit the farmer.
From the above sentences, the words farmer and wild boar can be the subject or object without having any change of form. As subject or complement of verb to be such as in : - It was she (not her).
I am whom you telephoned.
If I were a bird I would fly all over the world.
Was it they.
It might have been she (not her).
Informal conversation, however, the accusative is often used after the verb to be for examples:
It is him
Was it them ?
But the nominative should be used if the pronouns are followed by clause :
Certainly the wife has right to make the decision since it is she who pays the bill.
Pronouns function as object following than or as is determined mentally supplying verb, also should be placed in the nominative case, such as in :
She is clever than I (am).
I like you better than he (love you).
But sometimes they should be in the objective case :
He loves you more than me.
They gave him as much as me.
Person, Number, and Gender of Pronouns
Person
Kate Burridge (2010:50) says that" Person in grammatical part consists of three kinds, namely; The first person, second person and third person".
The first person is the person speaking that refers to the speaker I or the speaker on one more other we, as in :
I am the tour guide, listen to me.
We are tourists.
The second person is the person spoken to that referring to the person addressing some one. For example you.
You are a manager.
The third person is the person spoken about that refers to or more other persons or things (he, she, it, they). Examples :
He is pointing at the mountain.
Yeni thinks he is in the class but she is wrong.
Number
According to Greville Corbett (2000:25), in linguistics, grammatical number is a grammatical category of nouns, pronouns, and adjective and verb agreement that expresses count distinctions (such as "one", "two", or "three or more"). We have just observed how useful the pronouns are. All the pronouns we have had (except it) are used instead of nouns referring to personals. Pronouns that stand for person are called personal pronouns.
The pronouns I, me, she, and him, are used when they refer to only one person. They are singular examples :
You is both singular or plural number.
You are a good student (singular).
You are good students (plural).
At on time we find thou, or thee for the singular of you, but these words are applied only in poetry or in prayers. Besides that the second person uses a common form for singular and plural in the personal and possessive series but has a separate plural in reflexive such as; yourself, yourselves. We, the first person plural pronoun, does not denote more than I. (The girl-the girls) but I plus one or more others). Then is thus an interrelation between number and person. We may exclude the person (s) addressed :
Are you (Mary and I) are late, James? (3rd + 1st).
Yes you are.
When a plural noun and a singular noun are joined by or, or nor, the pronoun must be in plural, as in:
Either the tour guide or his assistants failed in their duty.
When two singular nouns are joined by and, and preceded by each or every, the pronoun must be singular, as in:
Every soldier and every sailor was his place.
When two or more singular nouns are joined by or, either-or, neither-nor, the pronoun is generally singular as in:
Andy or Salmon lend his hand.
Either Maria or Teti forgot to take her bag.
Neither Nancy nor Susi has done her assignment.
When two singular nouns are joined by and referring to the same person or thing, the pronoun must be singular as in:
The President director and vice president director conducted his job very well.
But when two more singular nouns are joined by and, the pronouns used for them must be plural as in:
Bahri and Agus work hard. They are praised by their lecturer.
Gender.
In stories we sometimes use he, him, and at other times she, her. The pronoun she, and her, are used obviously, when they stand for nouns like woman, or girl, that is for female. The pronouns he, him, are used male form of nouns such as man, boy, etc.
In grammar, the pronouns he, him, and she, her show a difference of gender. Words that stand for females are feminine gender. So, the nouns woman, girl, queen, daughter etc, and the pronouns she, her, are feminine gender.
Words that stand for things are neuter gender (neuter means masculine nor feminine). So, such nouns as pen, chair, river, tree, etc, and the pronoun it are neuter gender. Sometimes the words used for animal are neuter gender. For examples:
Where is the dog? It is behind the house.
Where is the cat? It is in the kitchen.
But sometimes (particularly when they are of our own), we think of them as masculine or feminine as:
My dog is called Robert, he is a pretty dog.
The sun shone brightly, he made my skin burning.
The ship is called Queen, she is sailing.
The pronouns I, me, you, us, can be either masculine or feminine. The pronouns they, them, may be masculine, feminine and neuter gender, such as:
The boys just come home, ask them if they enjoyed the picture (masculine).
The girls have been at home, ask them if they want to watch the television (feminine).
The apple-trees are covered with blossoms. They thought to have plenty of apples on them in the autumn (neuter).
Kind of Pronoun
Bhat Darbhe (2007: 1) says that " The pronouns in English consist of thirteen kind", namely:
Personal Pronouns
The main examples of such pronouns are : I, thou, you, he, she, it, they, we. These are called personal pronouns, because they stand for the three kinds of persons as the follows:
When a person speaks about himself, he does not mention his name, but often uses some forms of pronoun such as I. This called the first person personal pronoun. For example:
I (Andy) hope to pass the exam (the speaker). Here I is the pronoun used for the noun (Andy).
To a person spoken, we do not mention his name but instead such form as you. This is called the second person pronoun. For example:
Every one praises you (Bahari) for your (Bahari's) success.
The pronouns you and your are used for the noun Bahari.
When some persons or things are spoken of, we do not repeat the noun by denoting the person or thing if the persons or things have been mentioned already. They are called the pronouns of the third person personal pronoun. For example:
Fruit is good, and it attracts my appetite.
The students study hard, and they all pass the exam.
Here it is the pronoun used for noun fruit, and they, as well as for students. From the above examples it can be notated that a pronoun of the second person is often used for person spoken to whereas the third person personal pronoun is often used for the person or thing spoken of.
Demonstrative Pronoun
These pronouns are used to point out some things. For instance: Both cars are good, but this is the better than that, or : Make haste, that he is a good boy. Pronouns that point out some things are called Demonstrative Pronoun.
Now let's us examine the following sentences:
This pen is yours.
It is pen.
In the first sentence, this is an adjective because it stands with noun, and it is Demonstrative Adjective. In the second sentence it is a pronoun because it stands instead of noun. It is Demonstrative Adjective.
Possessive Pronoun
The words that show possession in sentences are called possessive pronoun, for examples:
The dictionary is not his, it is hers.
Lend them you car, mine is broken.
The words mine, his, hers, etc do not qualify nouns and they are standing instead of nouns. His in the first example means his dictionary whereas mine in the second example means my car.
Sometimes one may often find that the possessive pronouns are used with of, such as in:
She is friend of mine (not a friend of me).
It may then be concluded that pronoun that show possession are possessive pronoun.
Interrogative pronoun
The sentences below are showing pronouns which are often used for asking question (direct and indirect). For examples:
Who are you (person).
What did you do (thing).
Pronoun that are used to ask question are interrogative pronoun.
Relative pronoun
The relative pronoun are who, whom, whose, which, and that. These are relative pronouns, because they relate some nouns or personal pronouns that have been already mentioned. This noun is called Antecedent, which means preceding. For examples:
The woman who answered the phone was happy.
Where is the dog that hunted the wild boar.
This is the man on whom I depended.
In who, the subject of the verb answered in the adjective clause answers the phone. That is the relative pronoun having dog is its antecedent. Whom is relative pronoun, having man as its antecedent.
From the above examples, we may notate that relative pronoun refer to the antecedent noun which precede them. They introduce adjective clauses which function subject or object. Sometimes as also serves as a relative pronoun. For example, He likes the same things as (that) his wife does.
The pronouns are formed by adding ever, so, soever, as in whoever, whoseever, whichever, whatever, whatsoever, and whose they are called Compound Relative Pronouns, for examples:
Whoseever (any and every person) who exalted himself shall be abased.
The form whoever, whichever, whatever, whomsoever are often used such as in:
Whoever comes is welcome
Whatever he does well (anything).
f. Reflexive pronoun
When the word self is attached to my, your, him, her, it and selves or to our,your, them, they are called compound personal pronouns. These self pronouns are called Reflexive Pronouns, when they are located upon the subject. For examples:
One must be allowed to treat oneself.
He hurt himself.
You saw yourselves in the mirrow.
Each of these reflexive pronouns are used as the object of verb, and refer to the same person or thing as that denoted by the subject of the verb. Sometimes, especially in a poetry, a simple pronoun is used as reflexive, as in : Now I lay me down to sleep. The word self is also often used as noun, as in: She cares for nothing but self.
g. Indefinite Pronoun
Such pronouns refer to indefinite (usually unknown) person or thing, or to indefinite quantities. The pronouns involve are one, none, all, some, every, many, everybody, no, etc.,
They are all singular in form and used without noun antecedents.
As mentioned above pronouns which are only used for persons or things really need what are called indefinite pronouns. As early as 1980, Norman Coe (1980:65) says that "Pronouns that refer to persons or things in general way, but do not refer to any persons or things in particular are called indefinite pronouns", for examples:
Many of them tour guides.
Do good to others.
One hardly know what to do.
h. Emphatic Pronoun
The compound personal are used for the sake of emphasis (they could be missed out from sentences without lacking the sense) are called emphatic pronouns, or emphasizing pronouns. For examples:
They will conduct it themselves.
She herself said to me.
Emphasizing pronouns sometimes have the meaning of alone, in which case, they often have by with them. For examples:
I run my business by myself.
He booked the flight to Berlin by himself.
Quantitative Pronoun
Pronouns used as quantifiers or denoting quantity (amount) are called quantitative pronouns. Examples:
He tried to do his best to make us both (all welcome)
Somebody is laughing.
The pronouns all, another, any, both, each, either, few, least, less, a lot of, many etc., are quantitative pronouns. All of these pronouns also function as adjective, except none, which has the corresponding adjective no. Every is an indefinite pronoun that functions only as an adjective.
Every student should do his assignment.
j. Distributive Pronoun
The words each, either, and neither are called distributive pronouns. Because they refer to persons or things one at a time. For this reason they always have singular form.
In the following sentences each, either, and neither are used as adjective. They are followed by nouns of the singular number, for examples:
Each lecturer has the scholarship for post graduate degree.
Neither data is authentic.
k. Negative Pronoun
The words nobody, nowhere, no one, none, etc., which are negative statements or make the whole clauses in which they occur as negative are called negative pronouns. For examples:
No one went to the theater class.
None are doing the works.
These pronoun are functioning as determiner too, such as in:
There is no salt left.
Neither of them is ready to deliver speech before the class.
l. Impersonal Pronoun
Impersonal pronoun is the pronoun that stands for no noun whatever, but this can readily supplied by verb. Such pronoun often co-occurs with a predicate adjective (sometimes as predicate noun) plus an adverbial. For examples:
It is pleasant in the bar.
It would be wise if you went there now.
Impersonal may also introduce predicates that have special meaning of. This case may be classified as follows:
Identification : Who is it? It is Andy.
Weather : It's hot outside.
Time : It's Sunday.
Distance : It's 176 km from Medan to Lake Toba.
Impersonal it co-occurs with a clause that modifies a subjective complement. This construction permits greater emphasis on the complement that does the alternate construction without it.
m. Reciprocal Pronoun.
Like the reflexive pronouns, the reciprocal pronouns have the same identity as the subject. The reciprocal indicates that the individual member of a plural subject mutually reacts on the other.
The reciprocal pronouns are each other that should be used for two persons, and one another for three or more which is not be observed by educated speaker, for examples:
Hengki and Ana like each other.
The four children are very fond of one another.
C. Conclusion
The previous chapter has discussed the definition of pronouns; the function, positions, and case of pronouns, persons, number, and gender of pronouns; kinds of pronouns in English. Discussing about the definition, the grammatical structures, pronouns are words used instead of nouns. Referring to the distribution and cases of pronoun in sentences they concern subject, object and modifier.
Suggestion
In learning grammatically the personal pronouns in English we as non-native speakers of the language concerned must remember the pronouns. At the beginning, it is usually rather difficult to understand. Learners must try first with easy examples, followed with difficult elements. This effort needs full concentration. Later, learners develop it step by step. If the learners are active the subject matter will be familiar for them.
Note: This article has been published on the journal of Darma Agung Medan Volume: XXIII No: 1/April 2015/Page: 96 – 101.
References
Burridge, Kate,(2010). Introducing English grammar (2nd ed.). London: Hodder Education.
Coe, Norman. (1980). A Learner's Grammar of English. Hongkong: Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd.
Corbett, Greville (2000). Number, Textbooks in Linguistics, Cambridge University Press,
Darbhe, Bhat (2007). Pronouns (Paperback ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Wren (1983). High School English Grammar and Composition. 34 Edition. New Delhi: S.Chard & CO. Ltd.
