PRONOUNS/DETERMINERS (ADJECTIVES)

Personal/possessive/reflexive pronouns/adjectives

Subject Object Possessive adjective

Possessive pronoun

Reflexive pronouns

I Me My Mine Myself You You Your Yours Yourself He Him His His Himself She Her Her Hers Herself It It Its Itself We Us Our Ours Ourselves You You Your Yours Yourselves They Them Their Theirs Themselves

This is my book.The book is mine.

Possessive adjectives (my, your…) are often used instead of the definite article before nouns denoting parts of our body or clothing.

e.g. She washed her hands. Put on our coats. He bit his lips.

The definite article, not the possessive adjective, is used if a part of the body does not belong to the subject of the sentence or the agent in passive sentences.

e.g. He was shot through the heart. I looked him in the eyes.

The thief struck him on the head. I took the child by the hand.

To add emphasis, own can be placed after my, your..., and after one’s.

e.g. my own room or a room of my own

Expression: I’m on my own.

I or me

In literary or in formal English, when the pronoun comes after the verb ‘to be’ the nominative form of the pronoun is used.

e.g. It was I. It is I.Normally, however, in conversation, we use the object forms.

e.g. Who is it? It is me.

But if the pronoun is followed by a clause, we use the subject forms.e.g. It was he who told me about it. It was I who did it. It was she who chose this colour.

IT – for animals, things

Sometimes we use he/she for animals (pets), cars, ships, towns, countries.

CLEFT sentences:

It was Peter who lent us the money.It’s today that he’s going. (not tomorrow)

Even with plural noun. It ’s pilots that we need, not ground staff.

Reflexive pronouns

I cut myself. – Subject and object are the same.

Tom and Ann blamed themselves for the accident. (Both of them thought they were guilty)Tom and Ann Blamed each other for the accident. (Tom blamed Ann and Ann blamed Tom)

Some verbs like enjoy, cut, hurt require a reflexive if there is no other object.

e.g. I enjoyed the party. I enjoyed myself. I cut her finger. She cut herself.

But, if there is no doubt about the identity of the person denoted by the pronoun, the simple, not the reflexive form of the pronoun is used after a preposition.

e.g. She shut the door behind her. Did you take the dog with you? Reflexive pronouns are used instead of personal pronouns (I, you, he…) if they are connected with the preceded noun by and and like.

e.g. My wife and myself were invited to the party. My brother like myself, is interested in music. There has always been complete understanding between his mother and himself.

Reflexive pronoun can be used for emphasizing.

e.g. He himself did it. Ann opened the door herself. I saw Tom himself.

*Note the difference:

I did it myself. (ja lično)I did it by myself. (sam sam to uradio)

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

THIS THESETHAT THOSE

That’s exactly what I did. Those shoes are nice.This seat is mine. These are not mine.

THE FORMER/THE LATTER

e.g. I’m learning English and French at the moment. The former is easier and the latter seems more difficult.

SUCH/SO

As an adjective:

They are such clever people.She is such a nice girl.She is so nice a girl. (formal)

As a pronoun:

He is the captain of the team and, as such, must decide who is to shoot first.His carelessness is such as to make it unlikely that he will pass the exam.Such is life.

Such as = for example

They export fruit, such as oranges, lemon…

Such as in phrases with be:

He gave me his help, such as it was. (meaning ‘but it wasn’t of much use’)I expect his friends, such as they are, will be at the party. (kakvi god da su)

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVES

Who, whom, whose, what, which

Who likes Mary? (When ‘who’ is a subject of a sentence, there is no auxiliary)Tom likes Mary.

Who does Mary like? (When ‘who’is an object, there is an auxiliary)Mary likes Tom.

In formal English, when this pronoun is used in the function of an object, the form ‘whom’ is used. This is not the case in spoken English.

Who(m) did you see?

Who(m) with the preposition:

For who(m) are you waiting?Who(m) are you waiting for?

Whose – possessive

Whose are these books?/Whose books are these?

Whose with the preposition:

Of whose paper are you talking?Whose paper are you talking of?

WHAT AND WHICH

What kind of books do you like? (in general)Which of these books do you like? (selective)

What is he like?He’s nice.He’s tall.

What does he look like?He’s tall.

What does he like?He likes jazz.

Expressions:

What about going to the cinema?The two twins are so alike, I can’t tell which is which.He’s a clever fellow. He knows what’s what. (=what is good, useful.., from what is not)

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

WHO, WHOM, WHOSE, WHICH, THAT, WHATWHO, WHOM – for peopleWHICH – for things, animalsTHAT – for people, animals, thingsWHOSE - possession

WHAT – is used when antecedent is not expressed. A relative pronoun and antecedent are in one word

e.g. The man who(m) I spoke to was my brother. This is the man to who(m) I gave the letter. (This is the man I gave the letter to)

This is the boy whose father you met yesterday. The book whose pages are torn belongs to my son.=The book the pages of which are torn…

The house in which we live is big. = The house which we live in is big.

WHICH WITH A COMMA

He has to work on Sundays, which he doesn’t like.

*Ambiguous sentences:

I will wear no clothes which will distinguish me from my fellow-men.I will wear no clothes, which will distinguish me from my fellow-men.

You mustn’t use THAT in these sentences!!!

THAT not WHICH is used:

After the superlative e.g. Yesterday was one of the coldest days that I have ever known.

After the FIRST and LAST and all ordinal numbers: This is the first time that I have heard of it.

After most indefinite pronouns (all, everything, anything, nothing, none) + LITTLE, MUCH, NO and compounds of NO:

e.g. All that glitters is not gold. He never says anything that is worth listening to. There’s not much that can be done.

In the openings ‘It’s…, ‘It was’, and the corresponding interrogative forms, especially when the object is not a proper noun:

e.g. It’s the manager that we want to see. It was Ann that I saw. What was it that he wanted? Was it you that broke the window?

When the antecedent is both a person and a thing: e.g. He talked brilliantly of the men and the books that interested him.WHAT

There is no antecedent with WHAT. (Serbian translation ‘ONO ŠTO’)

CONCORD IN RELATIVE PRONOUNS

This is one of the most difficult questions that have been asked.That is one of the books that were given to us for study.

WHATEVER, WHICHEVER,WHATEVER, WHENEVER, WHEREVER, HOWEVER

Whoever gains the most points, wins the competition.Whichever team gains the most points, wins the competition. You can eat whatever you like.I’d rather have a room of my own, however small it is, then share a room.He lives in Wick, wherever that is.

WHO EVER? WHEN EVER? WHAT EVER?

It has the same meaning as: ON EARTH/IN THE WORLD

Who ever left the door open? (Ko je pobogu ostavio vrata otvorena?)Where ever have you put my book? (when you are angry)What ever are you doing in my car? (astonishment)

*Why ever not? – A zašto pobogu ne? What ever for? – A zbog čega pobogu?

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS AND ADJECTIVESALL, EACH, EVERY, BOTH, EITHER, NEITHER, SOME, ANY, NO, NONE

ALL and EVERY

ALL – a number of people or things considered as a group. (plural)EVERY – a number of people or things considered individually (singular)

All the pupils are present.Every pupil is present.

ALL is used in the singular:

As the pronoun with the meaning of everything.e.g. He cried ‘All is lost’. All is well that ends well.

As an adjective with the meaning ‘the whole of’ – save.g. All the money is spent. He worked hard all the time he was there.

EACH and EVERY

EACH – more emphasis on the individual (singular noun and verb)EVERY – less emphasis on the individual (singular noun and verb)

e.g. Every man had a weapon. (He counted the men and the weapons and found that he had the same number of each) Each man had a weapon. (implies that the speaker went to each man in turn and checked that he had weapon)

Each is a pronoun and an adjective.

He gave them each a piece of cake.Each man was given a piece of cake.

Every is an adjective.

Every man was given a piece of cake.

BOTH – one and the other (plural noun and verb)

e.g. Both doors are open. Both the wheels = Both of the wheels Both your wheels = Both of your wheels Both of us knew him. We both knew him. It was both cold and wet.

ALL, BOTH, EACH (OF)

All the town All (of) Tom’s boysAll his life All of these

Both of us = We bothAll of us = We all

All (Both) of them were broken = They were all/both broken.All (Both) of us went. = We all/both went.We ate both/all of them = We ate them both/all.

Auxiliary usually precedes ALL/BOTH.e.g. We are all waiting. You must both help me.

except in short answers:e.g. “Who is ready?” “We all are”.

When there is no auxiliary, verbs follow BOTH/ALL.e.g. You all have maps. They both knew where to go.

EACH (singular noun and verb)

Each of the boys = Each of them

Each of you = You each

e.g. We each sent a report. They gave us each a form to fill in.

Each takes singular veb:e.g. Each of us has a map.

But:e.g. We each have a map. They have each been questioned.

NEITHER/EITHER (singular verb)

NEITHER – not one and not the otherEITHER – any one of two

I tried both keys but neither (of them) worked.Neither of the boys knew the way. Neither boy knew the way. Neither of them knows the answer.

NEITHER … NOR/ EITHER … OR

Neither threats nor arguments had any effect on him.You must either go at once or wait till tomorrow.

Neither Tom nor Mary is here.Neither Tom nor his children are here.

Neither can also mean ‘as well’:If you don’t go, I won’t either.

SOME, ANY, NO, NONE

Some is used:

With affirmative verbse.g. They bought some honey.

In questions where ‘Yes’ is expected:e.g. Did some of you smoke in here? (I know you did)

In polite offers and requests:e.g. Would you like some wine?

Any is used:

With negative verbs and questions:e.g. I haven’t got any money. Have you got any money?

With ‘hardly, barely, scarcely’ (which are almost negatives)e.g. I can hardly give you any advice. She could barely see anything.

With ‘without’:e.g. He did it without any difficulty.

After ‘if/whether’and in expressions of doubt.e.g. If you need any money, please let me know. I don’t think there is any petrol in the tank.

NO, NONE

No – adjectiveNone – pronoun

I have no apples. I had some last year but I have none this year.No work was done.None of the tourists wanted to climb the mountains.None of us is perfect.

NONE is used with a singular or with a plural verb. The singular verb is considered by some grammarians to be the more correct.

SOMEBODY, SOMEONE, SOMETHING/EVERYBODY, EVERYONE, EVERYTHING/ANYBODY, ANYONE, ANYTHING/NOBODY, NO ONE, NOTHING

Compounds with some, any, every and no take a singular verb, so personal pronouns and possessive adjectives should logically be: he/she/it and him/her and his/her.

But in colloquial English plural forms are more common.e.g. Has anyone left their luggage on the train? No one saw Tom go out, did they?

However, with something, anything, nothing we still use ‘it’.e.g. Something went wrong, didn’t it?

They can be possessive:

Someone’s passport has been stolen.I don’t want to waste anyone’s time.

With ELSE:

Somebody else’s coatNo one else’s luggage was open.

ANOTHER, OTHER, OTHERS

ANOTHER + singular nounOTHER + plural noun (always adjective)OTHERS – pronoun THE OTHER + singular noun = the second of two

A: ‘’Have you met Bill’s sisters?” B: “I’ve met one. I didn’t know he had another (sister).”A: “Oh, he has two others (=two other sisters).

One student suggested a play, another (student) wanted a concert.One student suggested a play, other students (=others) wanted a concert.

One of my brothers is named Tom, and the other (one) is Richard.

ONE ANOTHER and EACH OTHER

Tom and Ann looked at each other.

Both ONE ANOTHER and EACH OTHER can be used of two or more, but EACH OTHER is preferred when there are two and ONE ANOTHER when there are more than two.

e.g. The two sisters love each other. Little children love one another.