The Pronoun as a part of speech.

THE PRONOUN is a part of speech which points out objects and their qualities without naming them 

Form. As far as form goes pronouns fall into different types. Some of them have the category of number (singular and plural), e. g. this, while others have no such category, e. g. somebody. Again, some pronouns have the category of case (he— him, somebody — somebody's), while others have none (something).

• Semantic classification:

1) personal pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they);

2) possessive pronouns (my, your, his, her, its, our, their);

3) demonstrative pronouns (this, that, such, (the) same);

4) reflexive (also called emphatic ) pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, her­self, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves);

5) interrogative pronouns (who, whose, what, which);

6) relative pronouns (who, whose, which, that);

7) indefinite pronouns (some, any, somebody, anybody, someone, anyone, one);

8) negative pronouns (no, nobody, no one, nothing);

9) defining pronouns (all, each, every, everybody, everyone, everything);

10) reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another).

 

For instance, per­sonal, possessive and reflexive pronouns are marked with the category of person. Indefinite, negative and generalizing pronouns, in their turn, convey the meaning of quantity. To eliminate these unfortunate drawbacks, some grammarians suggest dividing pronouns into four groups: 1) personal, 2)demonstrative, 3) interrogative, and 4) quantitative.

 

Functions of the pronouns

a) The deictic and anaphoric function of the pronoun

• Deictic (anaphoric) ‘deixis’ – pointing without naming: this, now, there, him, you, etc.
• Anaphoric (the function of connecting with the preceding sentence / clause): relative, conjunctive pronouns
• Syntactic function: Subject, Predicate, Object

 

 

b) Syntactic peculiarities of the pronouns (a closed class system)

Syntactic function: Subject, Predicate, Object

The five syntactic functions that relative pronouns can perform in English grammar are:

1. Subject

2. Direct object

3. Prepositional complement

4. Possessive determiner

5. Adverbial

The following sections discuss five functions of relative pronouns and include examples to illustrate use.

 

c) Grammatical categories of the pronouns

Gender masculine, feminine, neuter (personal, possessive)

Case: nominative, objective (personal, interrogative and relative WHO ), common, genitive (indefinite, reciprocal, negative)

 Number sg., pl. (demonstrative and the defining OTHER)

Grammatical Categories

Number sg., pl. (demonstrative and the defining OTHER)

 (4) person

- Manifested in personal / reflexive / possessive PRO

- 1st person = the speaker

- 2nd person = the addressee

- 3rd person = "the rest"

The Numeral as a part of speech.

The treatment of numerals presents some difficulties, too. The so-called cardinal numerals (one, two) are somewhat different from the so-called ordinal numerals (first, second).

Meaning. Numerals denote either number or place in a series.

Form. Numerals are invariable.

Function. (a) As far as phrases go, both cardinal and ordinal numerals combine with a following noun (three rooms, third room); occasionally a numeral follows a noun (soldiers three, George the Third).

(b) In a sentence, a numeral most usually is an attribute (three rooms, the third room), but it can also be subject, predicative, and object: Three of them came in time; "We Are Seven" (the title of a poem by Wordsworth); I found only four.

The cardinal numerals from 13 to 19 are derivatives with the suffix -teen; the cardinals indicating tens are formed by means of the suffix -ty; the cardinal numerals from 21 to 29, from 31 to 39 are compound, whereas ordinals are formed by means of the suffix -th, with the exception of the first three suppletive forms -first, second, third.

 

Theory of three ranks.

O. Jespersens theory of three ranks provides logical foundations• for identifying the hierarchy of syntactic relations between elements• joined together in a grammatical unit. With all this, O. Jespersens analysis contains some disputable• points and inconsistency.• The very definition of the notion of rank is not accurate which in• some cases leads to inadequacy of analysis

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