Pronouns 69 Object Him: I signaled to the waiter who had taken our order. I signaled to him. Her: I signaled to the waitress who had taken our order. I signaled to her. It: Did you see the new car parked outside the restaurant? Did you see it? Them: The new telescope can detect planets that are circling distant suns. The new telescope can detect them. Exercise 5.1 Write the appropriate third-person pronoun above the underlined noun phrase. Use he/she or him/her for persons whose gender is not specifi ed. He/She The taxi cab driver had a GPS system in the cab. 1. The Mississippi river system drains the central United States. 2. She really enjoyed photographing wild animals in their natural habitat. 3. All the senior executives of the company were called to a special meeting. 4. My brother intends to continue to run the farm that we inherited from our parents. 5. The screenwriter for that movie has been nominated for an Academy Award. 6. The whole family plans to celebrate our parents’ fiftieth wedding anniversary in July. 7. Both of my roommates at school come from Alabama. 8. The class interviewed the reporter who wrote the series on judicial misconduct. 9. The population of North Dakota is one of the few in the United States that is actually falling. 10. It is hospital policy to get blood samples from all patients with unexplained fevers. 11. The Southern Cross is the best-known constellation in the Southern Hemisphere. 12. I will vote for the candidate that has expressed the greatest concern for health costs. 13. My husband and his friends have taken the kids camping this weekend. 14. A good portfolio requires a mixture of both stocks and bonds. 15. The weather reporter on the 10 o’clock news is predicting more snow this weekend. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 69 3/16/09 12:34:02 PM 70 Noun Phrases Third-person pronouns are unique among pronouns. The ability of third-person pronouns to substitute for noun phrases is not shared with fi rst- and second-person pronouns, which do not replace anything. The fi rst-person pronouns (I, me, we, us) refer only to the speaker or writer of a sentence, and the second-person pronoun (you) refers only to the real or imagined audience of the sentence. For example, consider the following sentence: I see you. Here the fi rst-person pronoun I and the second-person pronoun you do not substitute for other noun phrases. They are just themselves—speaker and audience respectively. Personal pronouns have different forms depending on their person (fi rst, second, or third), number (singular or plural), and form or case (subject, object, or possessive). The following chart represents all the personal pronouns, with form and person along the left axis of the chart and number across the top: PERSONAL PRONOUNS Form (Case) Singular Plural First-Person Pronouns Subject I we Object me us Possessive pronominal mine ours Possessive adjectival my our Second-Person Pronouns Subject you you Object you you Possessive pronominal yours yours Possessive adjectival your your Third-Person Pronouns Subject he, she, it they Object him, her, it them Possessive pronominal his, hers, its theirs Possessive adjectival his, her, its their Notice that the possessive pronouns have two different sets of forms. The pronominal forms (mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs) act as true pronouns in the sense that they can play the standard noun roles of subject, object, and complement of linking verbs. For example: (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 70 3/16/09 12:34:02 PM Pronouns 71 Subject: Mine was the only correct answer. Ours didn’t stand a chance. Object: Bob couldn’t fi nd his program, so I gave him yours. The children lost theirs again. Complement: The decision is yours. The missing purse was hers. Adjectival forms (my, our, your, his, her, its, their) act as adjectives modifying nouns. Here are some examples of this use: My answer was the only correct one. I gave him your program. It was your decision to make. Of particular importance are the possessive pronoun forms that are different from each other: First-person Third-person Third-person singular & plural singular plural Adjectival your her their Pronominal yours hers theirs The adjectival and pronominal forms of his and its are the same. Here are some sentences that illustrate the difference between pronominal and adjectival forms: Your/yours Adjectival: I didn’t understand your answer. Pronominal: I didn’t understand yours. Her/hers Adjectival: It is her decision to make. Pronominal: It is hers to make. Their/theirs Adjectival: Their task is a dangerous job. Pronominal: Theirs is a dangerous job. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 71 3/16/09 12:34:02 PM 72 Noun Phrases Exercise 5.2 Select the proper form of the two italicized possessive pronouns by underlining the correct form. Mary needs to see her/hers accountant about a tax matter. 1. I couldn’t make out what they were saying about their/theirs. 2. We were naturally very sad to hear about your/yours loss. 3. Nobody had anything to say about his or her/hers decision. 4. My team’s performance was even worse than your/yours. 5. My candidate has not been able to gather much support. How about your/yours? 6. In light of all the diffi culties, you really have to admire their/theirs attitude. 7. I got mine. Did you get your/yours? 8. The poor quality of produce in the marketplace really made me want to get her/hers. 9. When the lights went out, nobody could fi nd their/theirs way back. 10. Miss Jones was concerned about where she had left her/hers in the classroom. We need to be careful when we use the masculine and feminine singular pronouns he and she. There is no problem using he to refer to males and she to females. The problem arises when we use them in a sexist or stereotyped way. One problem is using he to refer to people in general. Here is an example: Whenever a person makes an investment, he should minimize sales commissions. Many people would fi nd this sentence to be objectionable because it sends a message that males are the only kind of people who make investments. There are two ways of rewriting this type of sentence to eliminate the generic he. One way is to replace he with the compound he or she: Whenever a person makes an investment, he or she should minimize sales commissions. The other way is to replace he with the plural pronoun they. This solution will require the subject of the sentence to be rewritten as a plural (people rather than a person) so that they will have an appropriate plural antecedent: When people fi rst use computers, they tend to be completely overwhelmed. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 72 3/16/09 12:34:02 PM Pronouns 73 Of the two solutions, the second alternative is usually better even though it requires more sen- tence revision. The option with he or she often seems clumsy. A second problem is using he and she in a way that stereotypes occupations or tasks. For example: Let’s fi nd a pilot and see what he says. Let’s fi nd a nurse and see what she says. The use of he in the fi rst example and she in the second implies that all pilots are males and all nurses are females. Some people have become very sensitive to this kind of gender stereotyping. You should be careful to avoid it. Again, we can solve the problem by using the compound he or she: Let’s fi nd a pilot and see what he or she says. Let’s fi nd a nurse and see what he or she says. However, since the he or she compound is so awkward, a better solution would be to rewrite the sentences to avoid the pronoun altogether. For example: Let’s see what a pilot would say. Let’s see what a nurse would say. Exercise 5.3 Rewrite the following sentences to avoid the inappropriate use of he and she. Do not use the com- pound he or she in your answers. Every employee must wash his hands before returning to work. All employees must wash their hands before returning to work. 1. A good writer chooses his words carefully. 2. A geologist spends most of his research time in the fi eld. 3. A teacher should allow her students time to fi nish their work. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 73 3/16/09 12:34:02 PM 74 Noun Phrases 4. When a parent arrives, ask her to take a seat. 5. We need someone who will try his best. 6. Each farmer in the neighborhood has already harvested his crops by now. 7. Every painter has to learn how to keep his brushes in good condition. 8. Find an offi cer and tell him what happened. 9. Any secretary we hire must have Excel in her resume. 10. Any child who is invited here must mind his manners. 11. Call a doctor and tell him we have an emergency here. 12. No CEO would pass up an opportunity to improve his company. 13. We cannot hire any foreign citizen unless we see his green card. 14. If a visitor stops by, ask him to wait in the library. 15. No member of the Republican Party would lend his name to a cause like that. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 74 3/16/09 12:34:03 PM Pronouns 75 Refl exive pronouns Refl exive pronouns are a unique group of pronouns that always end in either -self or -selves. Here is the complete list: Person Singular Plural First person myself ourselves Second person yourself yourselves Third person himself themselves herself themselves itself themselves Refl exive pronouns have no independent meaning; they must refer back to some noun (or pronoun) mentioned earlier in the same sentence. This previously mentioned noun is called the antecedent of the refl exive pronoun. The word refl exive comes from a Latin word meaning “to bend back.” Refl exive pronouns must “bend back” to their antecedent, the nearest appropri- ate noun—usually but not always the subject of the sentence. Here are some examples with the refl exive pronouns in italics and their antecedents in bold: The queen smiled at herself in the mirror. The movie refuses to take itself seriously. The couple had accidentally locked themselves out of their car. The computer shut itself off. I want to do it by myself. Notice that in all of these examples, the antecedent of the refl exive pronoun is the subject of the sentence. While this is generally the case, the antecedent can also be the object of the preceding verb. For example, look at the following sentence: Mary told John to help himself to some dessert. Here the antecedent of the refl exive pronoun himself is not the subject of the sentence, Mary, but the object, John. If we tried to make the subject the antecedent, the result would be ungrammatical: X Mary told John to help herself to some dessert. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 75 3/16/09 12:34:03 PM . in the library. 15. No member of the Republican Party would lend his name to a cause like that. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 74 3/16/09 12: 34:03 PM Pronouns 75 Refl exive pronouns Refl exive. 10 o’clock news is predicting more snow this weekend. (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 69 3/16/09 12: 34:02 PM 70 Noun Phrases Third-person pronouns are unique among pronouns. The ability of third-person. object, and complement of linking verbs. For example: (i-viiiB,001-328B) whl bk.indd 70 3/16/09 12: 34:02 PM Pronouns 71 Subject: Mine was the only correct answer. Ours didn’t stand a chance. Object: