PRONOUNS

Anaphora Personal

Reflexive Reciprocal

Grammar Presentation By: Renae Betten and Ziduan LiuEESL 542D: Second Language Acquisition ResearchCSUSB Winter 2012

PRONOUN

Definition and function:

Grammatical forms that substitute or replace a Noun or Noun Phrase or an entire clause.

Used to avoid repetitive use of the same noun in a sentence or paragraph.

PRONOUNS1st person

Refers to the point of view of the speaker or writer.

2nd personRefers to the person or object the 1st person is speaking with or writing to.

3rd personRefers to the person, people or object the 1st person and 2nd person are talking about. Anyone outside of a dialogue.

Pronoun Rhyme

PRONOUNS

SingularRefers to one person/object:

I, me, my, you, he, she, it

PluralRefers to more than one person:

they, them, you, we, us

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

SUBJECT PRONOUNS OBJECT PRONOUNS

Singular Plural Singular Plural

1st person

I We Me Us

2nd person

You You You You

3rd person

He/She/It They Him/Her/It them

PRONOUNS2nd person

YouInformal/personal = ‘You’“You can say there is something beneficial about taking

vitamins.”

Formal/less personal = ‘One’ or ‘a person’“One can say there is something beneficial about taking

vitamins.”

Purpose for the replacement:Using ‘one’ or ‘a person’ to replace ‘you’ makes a statement

less directly connected to a particular individual.

PERSONAL PRONOUN RULES

Subject pronouns:Used when the pronoun is the subject of the

sentence.

Example: Dan needed to buy milk. He went to the store after work.

Object pronouns:Occur as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects

of a preposition in a sentence.

Example: Dan needed to buy milk. He went to the store to buy it.

PERSONAL AND OBJECTIVE PRONOUN

Class exercise.Choose which pronoun substitutes the noun.

ANAPHORA PRONOUNS

The use of a word as a regular grammatical substitute for a preceding noun.

Example:The boy enjoys eating ice cream, but he

doesn’t share it with anyone.

ANAPHORA PRONOUNS

Forward anaphora:Noun is mentioned at the beginning of a sentence followed

by a pronoun.

Example:Martha read a book from the library. She enjoyed the story

and quiet time.

Backward anaphora:A pronoun is mentioned at the beginning of a sentence

followed by the noun.

Because they discovered that they really didn’t like them, the boys decided not to order pancakes for breakfast anymore.

VARIABILITY OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Predicate NominalSubject personal pronouns should always be used when the pronoun is a predicate nominal following be.

Example:Who’s there?

1. It is I. (subject pronoun is formal)2. It’s me. (object pronoun is informal)

Which one is the movie star?2. That is she over there. (subject pronoun is formal)3. That’s her over there. (object pronoun is informal)

VARIABILITY OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

ComparisonsInequality comparisons: one thing is greater

than or less than another.Regular

“He is a lot faster than I am.”Shortened

“He is a lot faster than I.”Shortened with object pronoun

“He is a lot faster than me.”

VARIABILITY OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

ComparisonsObject pronouns are particularly common in

shortened comparisons involvingmore, less, better or worse

He is less sophisticated than she is.He is less sophisticated than her.

They were better prepared than she was.They were better prepared than her.

VARIABILITY OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Conjoined Personal Pronouns

“and”

Choosing which pronouns often causes confusion.

Which sentence is correct?

You and I will go to the store.

You and me will go to the store.

Tip: Write the same sentence using only the first person singular.

I will go to the store.

*Me will go to the store.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Singular Plural1st person Myself Ourselves2nd person Yourself Yourselves3rd person Himself/herself/itself/

oneselfThemselves

Pronoun + -self (singular) or -selves (plural)

The function of reflexive pronouns is to “reflect” the same noun or pronoun that occurs in another sentence position.

My dog hurt itself. I saw myself in the mirror.We blame ourselves.

Reflexive pronouns always function as objects (direct, indirect, or object of preposition), never as subjects.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

Used in place of a personal pronoun for emphasis.

There was barely enough room in the cabin for her and (me, myself)

As a replacement for personal pronouns after the words; as, like, but, besides and other than.

This must really be a big thrill for someone like (you, yourself)

Assume that someone other than (you, yourself) will be directing the project.

REFLEXIVE PRONOUN

Class exercise.Choose which pronoun to use in the sentence.

RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS

Used to indicate that an action is being performed by two or more individuals.

Use “Each other” or “One another”

For example:Fred and Bill criticized each other.

We must all learn to get along with one another.

PRONOUNS CONTINUED…

Possessive pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

You take the big car, and I’ll drive Alice’s car.

Possessive Pronouns

You take the big car, and I’ll drive Alice’s car.

You take the big car, and I’ll drive hers.

Possessive Pronouns

You take the big car, and I’ll drive Alice’s car.

You take the big car, and I’ll drive hers.

Possessive Pronouns

You take the big car, and I’ll drive Alice’s car.

You take the big car, and I’ll drive hers.

The pronoun replace noun phrase that indicate possession

Possessive Pronouns

Singular Plural

1st person mine ours

2nd person yours yours

3rd person his, hers, its theirs

Possessive Pronouns

Singular Plural

1st person mine ours

2nd person yours yours

3rd person his, hers, its theirs

determiner + noun + of + possessive pronoun

Possessive Pronouns

Singular Plural

1st person mine ours

2nd person yours yours

3rd person his, hers, its theirs

determiner + noun + of + possessive pronounex: A teacher of yours mentioned that you

weren’t in school today.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

someone anyone everyone no onesomebody anybody everybody nobodysomething anything everything nothing

Indefinite Pronouns

someone anyone everyone no onesomebody anybody everybody nobodysomething anything everything nothing

Native speakers refer back to indefinite pronouns with both singular and plural pronouns and possessive determiners.

Indefinite Pronouns

someone anyone everyone no onesomebody anybody everybody nobodysomething anything everything nothing

Native speakers refer back to indefinite pronouns with both singular and plural pronouns and possessive determiners.

Everyone has his own gifts.Everyone has their own gifts.

Indefinite Pronouns

someone anyone everyone no onesomebody anybody everybody nobodysomething anything everything nothing

Native speakers refer back to indefinite pronouns with both singular and plural pronouns and possessive determiners.

Everyone has his own gifts.Everyone has their own gifts.

someone, somebody, and somethingDid someone call while I was out?

(expectation)Did anyone call while I was out? (not

necessarily)

Pronouns and Agreement

1) Nouns refer to single items but are plural in number-glasses, scissors, pantsRequire pronoun in the plural form-My pants are dirty, can you drop them off at the dry

cleaner?

2) Collective NounFocus on group as a whole individual members

-He stared out at the audience. It was bigger than he expected.

-He stared out at the audience. They were all staring back silently.

Pronouns and Agreement

1) Nouns refer to single items but are plural in number-glasses, scissors, pantsRequire pronoun in the plural form-My pants are dirty, can you drop them off at the dry

cleaner?

2) Collective NounFocus on group as a whole individual members

-He stared out at the audience. It was bigger than he expected.

-He stared out at the audience. They were all staring back silently.

3) Gender – free writing refers to both genders

-Everyone has his or her own way of dealing with problems.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

“Pointing Pronouns”Indicate whether the antecedent is near the speaker in

place (here) & time (now) or not near to the speaker in place (there) & time (then)

Demonstrative Pronouns

“Pointing Pronouns”Indicate whether the antecedent is near the speaker in

place (here) & time (now) or not near to the speaker in place (there) & time (then)

Location Here/Now There/Then

NumberSingular

this that

Plural these those

-Here are application forms. You need to fill these out.

Problems that ESL/EFL students have with pronoun

(p. 283 – p. 287)

Problems that ESL/EFL students have with pronoun(p. 283 – p. 287)

Chinese speakers - topic NP deletion

-wo zai huayuan li zhong-le yixie hua zhexie hua tamen zhang de hen hao.

- I at garden in plant some flower these flower they grow very well

I have planted some flowers in the garden. They grow very well.

Problems that ESL/EFL students have with pronoun(p. 283 – p. 287)

Chinese speakers - topic NP deletion

-wo zai huayuan li zhong-le yixie hua zhexie hua tamen zhang de hen hao.

- I at garden in plant some flower these flower they grow very well

I have planted some flowers in the garden. They grow very well.

Ø

Problems that ESL/EFL students have with pronoun(p. 283 – p. 287)

Chinese speakers - topic NP deletion

-wo zai huayuan li zhong-le yixie hua zhexie hua tamen zhang de hen hao.

- I at garden in plant some flower these flower they grow very well

I have planted some flowers in the garden. They grow very well.

Chinese speakers often omit both subject and object pronouns in English.

Ø

THANK YOU

Pronouns reviewed:

Anaphora

PersonalSubjective & Objective

Reflexive

Reciprocal

Progressive

Indefinite

Demonstrative