An opera o f Verdi’s An opera o f my friend’s

but not:
*A sonata o f a violinist’s *A funnel o f the ship’s
There are conditions which also affect the noun preceding the o/-phrase.
This cannot be a proper noun; thus while we have:
M rs Brown’s M ary
we cannot have:
*Mary o f M rs Brown *M ary o f M rs Brown’s
Further, this noun must have indefinite reference: that is, it must be seen as
one o f an unspecified num ber o f items attributed to the postmodifier:
A friend o f the doctor’s has arrived
♦The daughter o f M rs Brown’s has arrived
A daughter o f M rs Brown’s has arrived
Any daughter o f M rs Brown’s is welcome
♦The War Requiem o f Britten’s
The double genitive thus involves a partitive as one o f its com ponents:
‘one of the doctor’s friends’ (he has more than one) and hence not ‘♦one
o f Britten’s War Requiem', Yet we are able, in apparent defiance o f this
statement, to use demonstratives as follows:
That wife of mine This War Requiem o f Britten’s
In these instances, which always presuppose familiarity, the demonstratives
are not being used in a directly defining role; rather, one might think
o f them as having an ellipted generic which allows us to see wife and
War Requiem appositively as members o f a class o f objects: ‘This instance
of Britten’s works, namely,. War Requiem',

Note
So too when ‘A daughter o f Mrs Brown’s’ is already established in the linguistic
context, we could refer to The/That daughter o f Mrs Brown’s (that I mentioned)’.

Pronouns
4.78

Pronouns constitute a heterogeneous class o f items (see Fig. 4 : 3) with

numerous subclasses. Despite their variety, there are several features that
pronouns (or m ajor subclasses o f pronouns) have in common, which
distinguish them from nouns:
(1) They do not adm it determiners;
(2) They often have an objective case;
(3) They often have person distinction; .
(4) They often have overt gender contrast;
(5) Singular and plural forms are often not morphologically related.
95
We can broadly distinguish between items with specific reference and those
with more indefinite reference.
personal
reflexive
■ central reciprocal
possessive
specific relative
interrogative
demonstrative

universal
assertive
indefinite partitive" non-assertive
negative
general
quantifying“
enumerative
Fig, 4 : 3 Pronouns
Note
Many o f the items dealt with here have an alternative {this, which) or exclusive {my, her)
determiner function. The interrelations make it convenient, however, to bring them together.

4.79
Case
Like nouns, most pronouns in English have only two cases: C O M M O N
{somebody) and G E N ITIV E {somebody’s). But six pronouns have an objective
case, thus presenting a three-case system, where com m on case is replaced by
SUBJECTIVE and OBJECTIVE. There is identity between genitive and
objective her, and partial overlap between subjective who and objective who.
The genitives o f personal pronouns are, in accordance with grammatical
tradition and a prim ary meaning, called ‘possessive pronouns’.
subjective I we he she they who
objective me us him her them who(m)
genitive m y our his her their whose
There is no inflected or -s genitive with the demonstratives or with the
indefinites except those in -one, -body.

4.80
Person
Personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns {Table 4 : 1) have distinctions
o f person:
1st person refers to the speaker (/), or to the speaker and one or more
others {we)\
2nd person refers to the person(s) addressed {you);
3rd person refers to one or m ore other persons or things {hejshelit, they),
96
Tobfe 4:1
PERSONAL, REFLEXIVE. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

PERSONAL POSSESSIVE
PRONOUNS PRONOUNS
REFLEXIVE
PRONOUNS
subj obj determi­ nominal
case case ner function
function

sing / me m yself my mine

1st
pers
pi we us owrsdves our ours *

sing yourself
2nd vou your yours
pcrs
pi yourselves

masc he him him self his

3rd fem she her herself her hers

sing
pers
non­
personal it itself its

pi they them themselves their theirs

Note
Both 2nd person you and 3rd person they have an indefinite usage.

4.81

Gender
In 3rd person singufar, the personal, reflexive, and possessive pronouns
distinguish in gender between masculine {helhimlhimselfjhis), feminine
{sheIherIherself Ihers), and non-personal {itIitself ¡its). Relative and interrogative
pronouns and determiners distinguish between personal and non-personal
gender.

4.82

Number
The 2nd person uses a com m on form for singular and plural in the
personal and possessive series but has a separate plural in the reflexive
{yourself yourselvesy We, the 1st person plural pronoun, does not denote
‘more than Г {cf: the boy ^ the boys) but ‘I plus one or m ore others’.
There is thus an interrelation between num ber and person. We may exclude
the person(s) addressed:
4 p. Кверк Mдр. 97
 Are we [John and I] late, M ary? {ie 3rd -f 1st)
(‘Yes, you are’)
or it may be inclusive:
Are we [you and I] late, M ary? {ie 2nd 4- 1st)
(^Yes, we are’)
Are we [you, John, and I] late, M ary? {ie 2nd + 3rdH- 1st)
Note
In several dialects, and fairly generally in familiar AmE, there are devices for indicating
plural you: you all (Sthn AmE), you guys, etc.

4.83

Personal pronouns
The relation o f personal to reflexive and possessive pronouns is shown in
Table 4 : 5. Personal pronouns function as replacements for co-referential noun
phrases in neighbouring (usually preceding) clauses:
John waited a while but eventually he went home
John told M ary that she should wait for him
When John arrived, he went straight to the bank
W hen a subordinate clause precedes the m ain as in this last example, the
pronoun may anticipate its determining co-referent:
When he arrived, John went straight to the bank
The personal pronouns have two sets of case-forms. The subjective forms
are used as subjects o f finite verbs and often as subject complement:
He hoped the passenger would be M ary and indeed it was she
The objective forms are used as objects, and as prepositional complements.
Especially in informal usage, they also occur as subject complements and
as the subject (chiefly 1st person) o f sentences whose predicates have been
ellipted:
I saw her with them; at least, I thought it was her
A : W ho broke the vase? B: Me.

Reflexive pronouns
4.84

Reflexive pronouns replace a co-referential noun phrase, normally within the

same finite verb clause:
John has hurt him self
M ary intended to remind herself
The rabbit tore itself free ' -
98
 herself
M ary told John that she would look after him
1 *himself
W hen a mixture of persons is involved, the reflexive conforms to a 1st person
or, if there is no 1st person, to a 2nd person:
You, John and I m ustn’t deceive ourselves
You and John m ustn’t deceive yourselves
The indefinite one has its own reflexive as in ^One m ustn’t fool oneself, but
other indefinites use him self or themselves:
No one must fool him self

4.85
In prepositional phrases expressing spatial relationship, usually between
concretes, the personal pronouns are used despite co-reference with the subject:
He looked about him
Have you any money on yo u l
She had her fiancé beside her
They placed their papers in front o f them
But reflexive pronouns are often preferred when the reference is m etaphorical
and emotive; in the following example, the reflexive is obligatory:
She was beside herself with rage
There are however non-m etaphorical examples in which there is considerable
vacillation:
Holding a yellow bathrobe around her (self), she went to the door
In variation with personal pronouns, reflexives often occur after as, like, but,
except, and in coordinated phrases:

F or somebody like this is a big surprise

My brother and < 1

> went sailing yesterday
[my selfJ
In a related but emphatic usage, reflexives occur in apposition, with
positional mobility:
I’Ve never been there m yself
I m yself have never been there
I have never m yself been there

4.86
Reciprocal pronouns
We can bring together two sentences such as
John likes M ary M ary likes John
4* 99
with a reciprocal structure somewhat similar to a reflexive:

John and M ary Uke

(one another
In this example, with two antecedents, each other would be commoner, but
where m ore than two are involved, one another is often preferred:
The four children are fond o f one another
He put all the books beside one another
The reciprocal pronouns can be freely used in the genitive:
The students borrowed each other's notes

4.87
Possessive pronouns
The possessive pronouns combine genitive functions (as described for nouns
with the -5 genitive) with pronom inal functions. In the latter respect, the
co-referential item they replace may be in the same clause (as with reflexives)
or a neighbouring one (as with the personal pronouns):
John has cut his finger; apparently there was a broken glass on his desk
The possessives belong to two scries: the attributives {my, your, etc, which
are syntactically determiners) and the nomináis {mine, yours, etc, which are
used like the genitive with ellipsis).
Compare
M ary’s
^ " У ’’ УЬоок The book is
Her hers
Unlike m any other languages, English uses possessives with reference to
parts o f the body and personal belongings, as well as in several other
expressions:
, He stood at the door with his hat in his hand
M ary has broken her leg
D on’t lose your balance!
They have changed their m inds again!
The definite article is, however, usual in prepositional phrases related to the
object, or, in passive constructions, the subject:
She took me by the hand
The man m ust have been hit on the head

4.88
Relative pronouns
The functions and interrelations o f the relative pronouns are best handled
in connection with relative clauses and nom inal relative clauses. Here we
need only tabulate an inventory o f the items, none o f which shows number
distinction.
100
 (a) The WÄ- series reflects the gender (personal/non-personal) o f the
antecedent:
personal: who, whom, whose
non-personal: which, whose
There is an inflected genitive (used as a relative determ iner: ‘the
man whose daughter’) for both who and which, but there is a preference
for the o/-genitive {of which) with non-personal antecedents. The
personal objective whom is often replaced by who but never when
preceded by a preposition. For nominal relative clauses, there is the
personal whoever and the non-personal pronoun and determiner
which (ever) I in addition there is a nom inal relative pronoun and
determiner what (ever) . "What (ever) (money) I have you can borrow ’.
(b) That is a general purpose relative pronoun, used irrespective o f
gender or case except that the genitive must involve postposed of:
‘the knife that I broke the blade o f (informal).
(c) Zero is used identically to that except that it is unacceptable where
the relative pronoun is subject in its clause:
The pen / want is missing
♦The pen writes best is missing

4.89
Interrogative pronouns
The interrogatives are identical in form and in case relations with the
relative pronouns, but in addition to the basic difference between interroga­
tive and relative there are functional differences in detail.
(a) Interrogative determiners
personal: whose
personal or non-personal: which, what
(b) Interrogative pronouns
personal: who, whom, whose
non-personal: what
personal or non-personal: which
W hether as pronouns or determiners, which and what have a constant
relationship to each other with respect to definiteness; what has indefinite
reference and which has definite reference:
Which
W hat { to o k s}
Which here implies that the choice is made from a limited number o f
known girls or books, whereas what implies a choice from an indefinite
number o f girls or books, not previously specified. M oreover, the answer to
a H'/i/c/i-question would probably be more specific than the answer to a
•vAaZ-question. Like many other determiners (eg: both and all), which has
an alternative ^/-phrase construction:
girls
Which (of the) do you like best?
books
101
4.90
Demonstrative pronouns
The demonstratives have num ber contrast and can function both as determin­
ers and pronouns. The general meanings of the two sets can be stated as
‘near’ and ‘distant’ reference: ^
singular plural
‘near’ reference: this these
‘distant’ reference: that those

In this respect, they m atch the pairs herejthere, nowjthen, and, as with these,
the relative immediacy and relative remoteness operates both literally and
m etaphorically:
I like these (pictures, which are near me) better than those (pictures,
over there on the far side)
I like this (idea that you’ve just mentioned) better than that (other one
that you wrote to me about last year)
I will tell you this secret [forward or cataphoric reference] because you
kept that other one [back or anaphoric reference] so faithfully
By further m etaphorical extension, we have thislthese used to connote
interest and familiarity in informal style (‘Then I ' saw, away in the
distance, this lovely girl, and ...’). There can be a corresponding emotive
rejection implied in thatjthose (‘Here is that awful Jones and those
children o f his’).
As subject, pronouns may have personal or non-personal reference:

This/That 1
This/That g irlj . ^
J
This/That pen
This/That
is mine

In other than subject function, pronoun reference is non-personal:

„ . . ^ [this girl [this picture
pic
He is going to m arry < . , . I bought < , . ^
(^’^this (^this

As relative antecedent, thatjthose can appear in formal use but there is no

contrast with thisjthese, and only those can have personal reference:
that which was expensive (rare)
♦that who danced well
He admired
those which were expensive
those who danced well

4.91

Universal pronouns and determiners

The universal pronouns and determiners comprise each, all, every, and
the every compounds. Two have -s genitives: everyone’s, everybody’s.
Despite their singular form, the com pounds have collective reference,
102
and along with every they entail reference to a number of three
(usually) more. Each entails reference to two or mpre, and has individual
reference. Thus:
There were two boys who called and I gave an apple to <

There were seven boys who called and I gave an apple to

There is, however, a meaning difference between each and everybody.

Each refers to individuals already specified^ whereas everybody does not:

I walked into the room and gave an apple to |

[everybody
Every one, each (one), and all have c?/-constructions; and except all, these
pronouns can have a singular or plural pronoun for co-reference:
Every one'l ftheir]
Each > of the students should have \ > own books
Each one J

Every can also be used with plural expressions such as every two weeks, every
fe w months, and there is a universal place com pound everywhere a^ in
Everywhere looks beautiful in the spring.
Note
It all can also be used in reference to non-personal divisible count nouns:
I have started the book but I haven’t read it all

4.92

Partitive pronouns
Parallel to the universal pronouns, we have three sets o f partitive pronouns
with associated determiners : see Table 4 :2 ., Their use can be illustrated
as follows;
He saw something ¡some m aterial
Did he see any thing ¡any material?
He saw nothingjno material
As well as its use with plurals and non-count nouns, the determiner
some can be used with singular count nouns when it is stressed (and
frequently followed by or other):
There was ‘some 'BÔ O K (or other) published on the subject last year
Note
[a] In familiar style, the stressed some means ‘extraordinary*-
That’s ‘some PÊN you have there!
[¿] We should note the pai-titive place compounds as in He went somewhere, Did he go anywhere?,
He .went nowhere.

103
Table 4:2
UNIVERSAL AND PARTITIVE PRONOUNS AND DETERMINERS
COUNT
NONCOUNT
Personal Non-Personal
everyone everything
pronoun everybody each it (...) all
each {place: every-
singular V^here)

determiner every
1 each

pronoun (they (...)) all/both aU

(them) all/both
plural
predeter­ all/both
miner

someone something
pronoun somebody {place:
singular somewhere)
determiner a(n)
1 some
plural pronoun
and de­ some
terminer

pronoun anyone anything

anybody {place:
anywhere)
? singular
determiner cither any
1 any

plural pronoun
and de­ any
s terminer

no one nothing
nobody {place:
pronoun nowhere)
singular
none none
1
pronoun
1 and de­ neither
terminer

plural pronoun none

determiner no

104
433
NoiM9serti?e usafe
The contexts which require the any series or ‘non-assertive’ forms chicfly
involve
(a) the negatives not, never, no, neither, nor;
(b) the ‘incomplete negatives’ hardly, little, few , least, seldom, etc;
(c) the ‘implied negatives’ before; fail, prevent; reluctant, hard, difficulty
etc.; and comparisons with too\
(d) questions and conditions.
Although the m ain m arkers o f non-assertion are negative, interrogative,
and conditional clauses, it is the basic meaning o f the whole sentence
which ultimately determines the choice o f the some or the any series. F or
example, in the sentence
He contributed m ore than anyone to the organization o f the Tourist
Bureau
the use o f the non-assertive anyone is related to the fact that the basic
meaning is negative, as appears in the paraphrase
N obody contributed m ore to the organization o f the Tourist Bureau
than he
Conversely, some is often used in negative, interrogative, or conditional
sentences, when the basic meaning is assertive:
somebody
Did telephone last night?
anybody
The difference between these last two can be explained in terms o f different
presuppositions: somebody suggests that the speaker expected a telephone call,
whereas anybody does not. In m aking an invitation or an offer, it is for
tjie same reason polite to presuppose an acceptance:
W ould you like some wine?

Note

The following examples further illustrate the use o f the some series in superficially non-assertive
contexts:
If someone were to drop a match here, the house would be on fire in twominutes
But what if somebody decides to break the rules?
Will somebody please open the door?
Why don’t you do something else?
Conversely» the any scries is used with stress in superficially assertive sentences with the
special meaning o f ‘no matter who, no matter what*:
He will eat anything
Anyone interested in addressing the meeting should let us know
Any offer would be better than this
You must marry SOMEone — and you mustn’t marry just ANYone

105
4.94

Either, neither, and the negatives

Among the partitive pronouns, the relationship between either, neither, and
none is similar to that between each, every, and none among the universal
pronouns. Both as pronouns and as determiners, either and neither have
in fact a strictly dual reference. Com pare:
f many I 'I
N one (of the \ thirty J > students)
Neither (of the [two] J failed the exam
Neither (student)

. [(o f the [two] students)] . .

{(student) I

4.95
Quantifiers
The general quantifiers used pronoriiinally are (a) the ‘m ultal’ many and
much, (b) the ‘paucal’ fe w and little, and (c) several and enough. Their
use in respect to count and non-count reference matches the position
outlined in connection with their determiner function.

Numerals
4.96

The uses of one

(a) N U M E R IC A L O N E when used with animate and inanimate singular
count nouns is a stressed variant of the indefinite article a ( n ) . l i \ s in
contrast with the dual two and both and the plural numerals three,
four, etc; several, and indefinite some. It has similar contrasts when
used pronom inally:
, fa nail , , isome nails
I need \ I need s
[one [som e

(The) o i ^ l ^ boys/pens

(The) one is also in contrast with the other in the correlative

construction :
One went this way, the other that way

Note that there is a somewhat form al or old-fashioned use of one

meaning ‘a certain’ before personal proper names:
I remember one Charlie Brown at school
106