UNIT 7.

PART OF SPEECH: PRONOUN – PREPOSITION - CONJUNCTION

UNIT OUTLINE
PRONOUN
I. Definition
II. Types

I. Definition
Pronoun: a word standing for a noun, so it takes the meaning, person, number, and
gender of the noun.
II. Types
1. Personal pronouns subject: I, you, he, she …
Object: me, you, him, her
2. Possessive pronouns: mine; yours, his, hers, …..
3. Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those, it … when they stand alone.
Ex: I don’t like this book. I prefer that. It is my new car. (it = that)
4. Indefinite pronoun: all, some, many, one, two … when they stand alone or before an
‘of phrase’.
Ex: Have you got any children? Yes, I’ve got two; one of them is a son.
5. Interrogative pronouns: who?, what?, which? …. When they stand alone and in a
question.
Ex: What do you want? (inter. Pro)
What you want is over my ability. (indef. Pro)
He asked me what you wanted. (inter. Pro)
What subject do you like best? (inter. Adj.)
6. Reflexive pronouns: S = O (both subject & object refer to the same person): myself,
yourself …
They play some grammatical function in the sentence.
Ex: He killed himself (Direct Object)
He bought a car for himself (Object of Preposition)
He made himself a new suit. (Indirect Object)
7. Intensive pronoun: similar to reflexive pronoun, but they do not have any
grammatical function in the sentence, only for emphasis, so can be omitted.
Ex: He himself killed that man.
He killed that man himself.
8. Reciprocal pronouns: S ⇔ O (Subject does something for Object and vice versa):
each other, one another. Ex: They met each other and they loved one another.
9. Impersonal pronouns: It This pronoun doesn’t replace any one or anything; it is
usually used to talk about weather, time …
Ex: It rains heavily. It is 10:00.
10. Relative pronouns: who, which …
 There must be an antecedent ( the noun the relative pronoun replaces)
 They begin a relative clause / adjective clause as modifier of the antecedent.
 They vary with the antecedent not only in person, number, function, but also
form.
 Person: who(m), that
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  Animal / thing: which / that
 Place: where
 Time: when, before, after …
 Reason: why
 Manner: how
 Comparison: (the same / such) + noun + as
 Opposition: but; used in a negative sentence forming a double
negation for emphasis.
Ex: I don’t remember the town where I was born. (AC / M: which town?)
I don’t remember where I was born. (NC / DO; no antecedent, remember
what?)
I’ll live where you live. (AdvC / M: no antecedent; live where?)
I’ll see you the day before you leave for America. (AC / M: which day?)
I’ll see you after you’ve graduated from university. (Adv.C / M: see you
when?)
That’s the reason why I love you. (AC / M: which reason?)
That’s why I love you. (NC / SC: that’s what?)
I’ll show you the way how you can win her heart. (AC / M: which way?)
I’ll show you how you can win her heart. (NC / DO: show what?)
She offered me the same food as she offered to her boy friend . (AC / M)
There’s no one here but wants to be in your position. (AC / M: but = who
does not)
Exercise 23
Supply suitable pronouns in the following. Alternatives are possible
1. Who’s that? – It’s …me/him/us/them……….!
2. Who wants to know what we are having for dinner tonight? - ……….!
3. Who wants to help me in the garden? – Not ……….!
4. You can invite him to your place. - ……….! You must be joking!
5. It was ……….who told you, not my brother.
6. She’s taller than ………., but not as strong as ……….am.
7. He’s more intelligent than……….am, but not as good at sports as……….

Exercise 24
Supply my or the
Note: When we talk about a part of the body and there is no misunderstanding possible, we use
the instead of possessive adjective. Ex: I stare at her in the eyes. (not her eyes)
1. He hit me in ……the…… eye.
2. Something has got into …my………eye.
3. You don’t have to pull me by ……the……collar.
4. It’s nice to see you. How’s …the………family?
5. What’s wrong? – I’ve hurt …my………arm.
6. …my………collar is too tight. I can’t bear it.
7. ……my……hair is getting too long. I must get it cut.
8. She looked me in ……the……face and said, ’No’.
9. What’s worse than a pain in …the………back.
10. The house is quiet with …my………children away.

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Exercise 25
Use reflexive pronouns or object pronouns in the following.
1. Paul knows how to take care of ……….
2. Have you got any money on……….?
3. Come and sit beside ……….
4. Strictly between ………., she’s wrong.
5. She’s very certain of ……….
6. There’s a big truck in front of ……….
7. Granddad doesn’t like living by ……….
8. Jimmy tied his shoelaces all by ……….

PREPOSITION
A preposition never stand alone. It is always followed and completed by an object called
object of preposition (OP). Ex: I want to sit beside you.
P OP
1. Types
 Simple: one word: in, on at, behind, after ….
 Compound ≥ 2 words: because of, due to, in front of, in case of, on behalf of, on
account for, in connection with, …..
 -ing preposition: during, according to, naming including, considering ….

2. Distinguishing preposition and other types of the same form

 Preposition & adverb
 Prep. always followed by an object
 Adverb can stand alone
Ex: I turn the car around (adverb); I turn around the car. (prep.)
 Preposition and subordinator
 Preposition: followed by a word, phrase, noun clause as OP
 Subordinator : followed by an adverb clause
Ex: After dinner, I go to bed.
P N / OP
After having dinner, I go to bed.
P GP / OP
You can go with whomever you like
P NC / OP
 Preposition and particle ( V + P and Phrasal verb)
 Preposition: not affect the meaning of the verb.
 Particle: affects the meaning of the verb
Ex: look at # look after; wait for # look for (in these verbs, we cannot omit the
particles ‘after & for in look, but we can do that with ‘look at and wait for)

3. Usually the use of preposition after a word is conventional

Ex: depend on; consist of; wait for; look at; listen to; object to; ….

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 Some special cases
 Wearing clothes: in ( the woman in a black dress)
 Carrying things: with ( the girl with a leather handbag)
 Physical characteristics: with ( the girl with big blue eyes)
 Character: of ( a man of bad temper)
 Age: of ( a girl of 20)
Time
 Point of time: at (at 6 o’clock; at noon; at midnight…)
 Day: on ( on Monday…)
 Part of day: in ( in the morning; in the afternoon; in the evening)
 Month, season, year, century …: in
 On time: at exact time. Ex: You must be on time at work.
 In time: a little before. Ex: Yesterday I arrived in time for the first match.
 On Christmas: on Christmas Day
 At Christmas: on the occasion of Christmas
 At the end: at the end of something. Ex: At the end of the film,
 In the end: finally. Ex: In the end, they got married with each other.

We use at mainly with:

 Public places/buildings: at the airport, the bus stop, the Grand Hotel, the
butcher’s..
 Addresses: at his sister’s, 310 Huynh van Banh
 Nouns with zero article: at home, church, college, school, university
 Events: at a concert, a dance, a dinner, a funeral, a meeting, a party, a weeding
Ex: He’s gone to a party. He is at a party.
 Small places: at the station; at the park

We use in mainly with:

 Large areas: in Europe, Asia, the Atlantic, the Sahara, …
 Towns/parts of towns: in HCM city, Manhattan, the center of the city ..
 Outside areas: in the garden, the park, the street, the desert…
 Rooms: in the bathroom, the bedroom, the garage, the kitchen..
 Noun with zero article: in bed, chapel, church, hospital, prison

CONJUNCTION
1. Definition
Conjunctions are words to link units
2. Types
 Coordinators: link 2 units of the same form & function: and, or, but, so, nor, for,
yet (FANBOYS) => parallelism
 Correlative: compound coordinators used in pair: both…and, either…or,
neither….nor, not only…. but also => parallelism
 Subordinators: link a subordinate clause to a main clause. NC, AC, AdcC)
 Conjunctive adverbs: adverbs used as conjunctions to link sentences. They have
the same meaning as coordinators but differ in punctuation.
Coordinator Conjunctive adv
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, and ; moreover, (furthermore, in addition, besides…)
,but ; however, (nevertheless, meanwhile, whereas…)
, so ; therefore, (consequently, as a result, …)
, or ; otherwise.