Substitutes (representers and replacers)

2.46 Representers

Many predeterminers, determiners and a number of postdeterminers can substitute for the noun phrase they themselves introduce. Thus the demonstrative this/that may serve as a substitute for the construction this/that + N, the indefinite pronoun all may substitute for the construction all+N (or) all+of+N. Such substitutes are called representers. This/that, all, both, half, other, some, any, each, either, neither, whose, the next, the last, ordinal and cardinal numerals are often used as representers:

There is my umbrella, but whose is this? (whose = whose umbrella; this = this umbrella);

This car is old but that is new. (that = that car);

We lost most of the games, but not quite all. (all = all of them/the games);

I ordered only one of the books, but now I think I’ll take both. (both = both books);

These books are heavy. You carry one half, and I'll carry the other. (half = half of them/half of the books; the other = the other half of them);

“Have you got any new magazines? ” “Some” (some = some magazines);

“Which of these pens may I borrow? ” “Oh, any.” (any = any pen);

Three boys applied for a scholarship. Each was able to present excellent references. (each = each boy);

 

Take both maps - either will show you all the local roads (either = either of the maps);

“Which newspaper do you want? ” – “Neither” (neither = neither of the newspapers);

George is the first boy on the left. Dick is the fourth, (the fourth = the fourth boy on the left);

“Will you have another cup of tea? ” – “No, thank you. I’ve had two”, (two = two cups of tea).

There are a number of determiners which cannot function as representers, e.g. every, no.

The majority of representers are used anaphorically, i.e. they stand for words or constructions suggested by similar words or constructions, termed antecedents, in preceding clauses or sentences. All the above examples illustrate the anaphoric type of representation (the antecedents are underlined).

Yet some representers may also be used non-anaphorically, i.e. they have no antecedents in the linguistic context: e.g. What’s this?

 

Note:

‘That’ (‘those’) regularly stands for a nominal construction when followed by an ‘of’-phrase or an attributive clause: e.g. His temperament is that of a poet; The features were certainly those of a Forsyte.

There are certain restrictions imposed on using demonstratives as substitutes. ‘This’ and ‘that’ used in the singular have personal reference (i.e. refer to people) only in the subject position: e.g. This is John. That is Mary. In other syntactic positions their reference is non-personal: e.g. I bought this picture. I bought this; He is going to marry this/that girl. But not: *He is going to marry this/that.

As a substitute only ‘those’ may have personal reference. This kind of reference becomes possible when ‘those’ is modified by an attributive clause: He admired those who danced well. But not: *He admired these who danced well.

 

2.47 Replacers

 

Alongside of representers there are also substitutes of a different type which do not stand for the constructions which they themselves introduce. Such substitutes are called replacers. Here belong personal pronouns, self -pronouns, indefinite pronouns in - one, -body, -thing, absolute forms of possessive pronouns, the so-called prop-word one, and the indefinite pronoun one *. Some of them are used anaphorically /personal, possessive pronouns of the third person singular and plural, the prop-word one; yet the majority are non-anaphoric (personal, possessive and self -pronouns of the 1^st and 2^nd person singular and plural, indefinite pronouns in - one, -body, -thing, the indefinite pronou6/2/2008n one ).

 

2.48 Personal pronouns

 

Personal pronouns have person, case, number and gender distinctions. The gender category is confined to the third person singular.

 

		Singular	Plural
		Nom.	Obj.	Nom.	Obj.
1st pers.		I	me	we	us
2nd pers.		you (thou)	you(thee)	you	you
3rd pers.	(m)	he	him	they	them
(f)	she	her	they	them
(n)	it	it	they	them

 

As seen from the table above the case system of personal pronouns differs from that of nouns, the former includes the nominative and the objective case forms. It will be noted that in the 2^nd person there is no distinction of case and number in present-day English. The bracketed forms thou and thee are felt now as archaic and are used mainly in poetry and historical prose.

The 1^st person singular refers to the speaker whereas its plural counterpart refers to a group of people that includes the speaker. By tradition we is used instead of I in newspapers, scientific writing, etc. This usage is known as the editorial we.

We are convinced that the Government has made a grave mistake in imposing this tax.

The 2^nd person singular form refers to the listener (reader). The plural form refers to a group of people that includes the listener (the reader).

The 3^rd person does not refer either to the speaker or the listener. The 3^rd person singular of the masculine gender refers to males, its feminine gender form to females and the neuter gender form to inanimate objects or living beings, especially animals and babies, whose sex is immaterial in the context.

If my son were made to do the laundry, he’d sure be surprised; My sister says she is going for a walk; She loved the picture because it was beautiful; Where is the cat? – It’sin the garden; She is expecting another baby and hopes it will be a boy.

When inanimate objects (ships, cars, aircraft, countries and the like) are referred to as she personification is at work:

What a lovely ship! What is she called?; ‘Our aim is to keep Italy out of the war until she is strong enough to come in on our side’, said the colonel.

The choice of the nominative and objective case forms is made on the basis of syntactic function. The nominative case form is used in the subject position when the pronoun is the only subject to the predicate:

I’d like to travel. - You never have? In formal official English this case form is also found in the predicative position: Who’s that? – It’s I.

In informal speech there is a growing tendency to use the objective case form as predicative (chiefly the 1st person):

Who’s that calling? – It’s me.

But the nominative case form must be used if a predicative is followed by a clause in an emphatic construction:

It is I who am wrong.

The objective case form usually functions as an object or adverbial modifier:

Give us your address, Bicket; She told me what had happened, ... and she could honestly find in him little to blame.

The objective case form is also used

as second subject: e.g. Oh, you and me, we’re cat and dog.

in apposition preceding the subject: e.g. Me, I’m just one of many.

in elliptical sentences: e.g. Who did that? - Me.

 

Notes:

[a] As substitutes personal pronouns have definite reference, i.e. they stand for an already identified noun phrase, beginning with a definite determiner like ‘the’ or ‘that’: e.g. There is a clock on the table. It is an alarm clock. The pronoun ‘it’ stands for the phrase ‘the clock on the table’.

[b] However ‘you’ and ‘they’ can be used with indefinite reference: e.g. You can’t smoke in the cinema; What a lot of questions they ask in this census form.

 

2.49 Self-pronouns

 

Self -pronouns have gender, number and personal distinctions. Their forms are as follows:

		Singular	Plural
1st pers.	myself	ourselves
2nd pers.	yourself	yourselves
3rd pers.	(m)	himself	themselves themselves themselves
(f)	herself
(n)	itself
		oneself (ind)

 

Self -pronouns are used either as reflexive pronouns or as emphatic pronouns.

Reflexive pronouns are self -pronouns functioning as predicatives, objects and adverbial modifiers whose reference is identical with that of the subject of the sentence:

I'm not quite myself today; But he no longer occupied himself with the landscape; For a time his pen seemed to travel by itself; She excused herself and left the room; One shouldn’t live for oneself alone.

Reflexive pronouns can also function as attributes (chiefly in an “of”-phrase).

He looked at the photograph of himself and some fellow soldiers.

Sometimes there is a freedom of choice between reflexive and personal pronouns. This is usually the case in comparative constructions. Compare:

My brother is as tall as myself.

My brother is as tall as I (me).

As substitutes reflexive pronouns serve to avoid repeating the words or constructions, functioning as subject, in other syntactic positions, since such repetition would often result in an ungrammatical construction or a complete distortion of meaning: e.g. The women busy themselves. But not: *The women busy the women.

Emphatic pronouns are self -pronouns used, as the term itself implies, for the sake of emphasis. They usually function as appositions to nouns or pronouns. They can either immediately follow their headword or occur at the end of the sentence:

He himself says so; He says so himself.

Sometimes emphatic pronouns are used independently:

My friend and myself would be so much obliged if you would tell us how you caught that trout up there.

 

2.50 Reciprocal pronouns

 

The reciprocal pronouns each other and one anotherare used to express mutual actions or relations:

We see each other on the beach every day; They don’t like one another.

When two persons are meant each other is commonly used, but when more than two are involved, one another is preferable. There is, however, a tendency in present-day English to use each other with reference to both two and more than two. Reciprocal pronouns have case distinctions. The common case forms are each other, one another, the genitives - each other’s, one another’s.

They looked into each other’s eyes laughing.

 

2.51 Compound pronouns in -one, -body, -thing

 

The pronouns somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, no one, nothing are indefinite pronouns. They are used as non-anaphoric replacers of nominal constructions in which some, any, every and no function as determiners.

There is somebody at the door. Cf: There is some person at the door.

Did you see anything interesting there? Cf: Did you see any interesting things there?

He saw nothing of interest there. Cf: He saw no interesting things there.

The pronouns under consideration have no category of number; some of them (the compounds in - one and - body ) have case distinctions: they can be used in the common case and in the genitive case.

That’s anybody’s guest (= It is quite uncertain). Compounds in - one and - body have personal reference, those in - thing refer to inanimate objects.

As far as compounds beginning with some - and any - are concerned their choice is determined by the same factors as the choice of some and any.

 

2.52 The pronoun none

 

None may be regarded as an absolute form of no. It may have both personal and non-personal reference:

He met a number of people but none whom he knew; Is there any coal left? - No, none at all.

None differs from nobody (no one) and nothing in being used in answer to a how-many -question or a how-much -question:

I want some more coffee but none was left. (How much coffee was left? ); Of all the girls he phoned none were at home. (How many girls were at home? )

 

2.53 Absolute forms of possessives

 

Alongside of conjoint forms functioning as determiners possessive pronouns have also absolute forms. They are as follows:

	Singular	Plural
1st pers.	mine	ours
2nd pers.	yours (thine)	yours
3rd pers.	(m)	his	theirs
(f)	hers	theirs
(n)

 

As seen from the table there is no absolute form parallel to the conjoint form its. On the other hand, his is used both as an absolute and as a conjoint form.

Absolute forms stand for noun phrases which include possessives in the determiner function:

Is that book yours? (Cf: Is that your book? )

That’s her hat, not yours. (Cf: That’s her hat, not your hat.)

Absolute forms are often used in ‘of’-phrases with partitive meaning: e.g. ‘It is a book of mine’ means ‘It is one of my books’.

Sometimes, however, the partitive meaning is lost and the ‘of + Poss_abc construction acquires emotional force:

He hated that pride of hers and secretly dreaded it; ‘This foolish wife of mine thinks I’m a great artist’, said he.

 

2.54 One as substitute

 

Apart from the numeral one there are two other words homonymous with the numeral. They are the indefinite pronoun one and the so-called prop-word one or replacive one.

The indefinite pronoun one is a non-anaphoric replacer which has two case forms: the nominative case - one and the genitive case one’s.

One doesn’t like to have one’s word doubted.

Used as an indefinite pronoun one stands for any person including the speaker or writer and is synonymous with the less formal you.

One cannot always find time for reading. Cf: You cannot always find time for reading.

The other substitute is the anaphoric replacer one which stands for nouns used in the singular or in the plural. It has number distinctions: one:: ones.

Your plan is a good one on paper; The older boys agreed but here and there among the little ones was the dubiety.

The anaphoric replacer one can be immediately preceded by the definite article and demonstratives in the singular, but when it co-occurs with other determiners there is usually an adjective between the replacer and the determiner:

I drew my chair nearer to the one on which Mary was sitting; He realized that like so many of his other grand designs, this one, too had failed; There is a right answer and a wrong one; These apples aren’t ripe. Give me some ripe ones.

As a rule one does not co-occur with possessives and demonstratives when the latter are in the plural.

 

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