Pronoun

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (Lat: pronomen) is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun (or noun phrase), such as, in English, the words it (substituting for the name of a certain object) and he (substituting for the name of a person). The replaced noun is called the antecedent of the pronoun. For example, consider the sentence "Lisa gave the coat to Phil." All three nouns in the sentence can be replaced by pronouns: "She gave it to him." If the coat, Lisa, and Phil have been previously mentioned, the listener can deduce what the pronouns she, it andhim refer to and therefore understand the meaning of the sentence; however, if the sentence "She gave it to him." is the first presentation of the idea, none of the pronouns have antecedents, and each pronoun is therefore ambiguous. Pronouns without antecedents are also called unprecursed pronouns. English grammar allows pronouns to potentially have multiple candidate antecedents. The process of determining which antecedent was intended is known as anaphore resolution.

Types of pronouns
Common types of pronouns found in the world's languages are as follows:

Personal pronouns stand in place of the names of people or things:

Subjective pronouns are used when the person or thing is the subject of the sentence or clause. English example: I like to eat chips, but she does not.

Second person formal and informal pronouns (T-V distinction). For example, vous andtu in French. There is no distinction in modern English though Elizabethan English marked the distinction with "thou" (singular informal) and "you" (plural or singular formal). Inclusive and exclusive "we" pronouns indicate whether the audience is included. There is no distinction in English. Intensive pronouns, also known as emphatic pronouns, reemphasize a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as for the reflexive pronouns; for example: I did it myself (contrast reflexive use, I did it to myself).

Objective pronouns are used when the person or thing is the object of the sentence or clause. English example: John likes me but not her.

Direct and indirect object pronouns. English uses the same forms for both; for example: Mary loves him (direct object); Mary sent him a letter (indirect object).

Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing acts on itself. English example: John cut himself. Reciprocal pronouns refer to a reciprocal relationship. English example: They do not like each other.

Prepositional pronouns come after a preposition. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Anna and Maria looked at him.

Disjunctive pronouns are used in isolation or in certain other special grammatical contexts. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Who does this belong to? Me.

Dummy pronouns are used when grammatical rules require a noun (or pronoun), but none is semantically required. English example:It is raining.

Weak pronouns.

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership. In a strict sense, the possessive pronouns are only those that act syntactically as nouns. English example: Those clothes aremine.

Often, though, the term "possessive pronoun" is also applied to the socalled possessive adjectives (or possessive determiners). For example, in English: I lost my wallet. They are not strictly speaking pronouns[citation needed] because they do not substitute for a noun or noun phrase, and as such, some grammarians classify these terms in a separate lexical category called determiners (they have a syntactic role close to that of adjectives, always qualifying a noun).

Demonstrative pronouns distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates. English example: I'll take these.

Indefinite pronouns refer to general categories of people or things. English example: Anyone can do that.

Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group separately rather than collectively. English example: To each his own.

Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things. English example: Nobody thinks that.

Relative pronouns refer back to people or things previously mentioned. English example: People who smoke should quit now.

Indefinite relative pronouns have some of the properties of both relative pronouns and indefinite pronouns. They have a sense of "referring back", but the person or thing to which they refer has not previously been explicitly named. English example: I know what I like.

Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. English example: Who did that?

In many languages (e.g., Czech, English, French, Interlingua, and Russian), the sets of relative and interrogative pronouns are nearly identical. Compare English: Who is that? (interrogative) to I know who that is. (relative).

Pronouns and determiners Pronouns and determiners are closely related, and some linguists think pronouns are actually determiners without a noun or a noun phrase.[1] The following chart shows their relationships in English. Pronoun Determiner Personal (1st/2nd) Possessive Demonstrative Indefinite Interrogative

we

we Scotsmen

ours this some who

our freedom this gentleman some frogs which option

Noun phrase
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia It has been suggested that Nominal group (language) be merged into this article or section. (Discuss) Proposed since January 2010. It has been suggested that English noun phrase be merged into this article or section. (Discuss)Proposed since March 2011. Those five beautiful shiny Jonathan apples sitting on the chair. This is a noun phrase of which apples is the head. "They" could be substituted for the whole noun phrase, as in "they are delicious". In grammar, a noun phrase, nominal phrase, or nominal group[1] (abbreviated NP) is aphrase based on a noun, pronoun, or other nounlike word (nominal) optionally accompanied by modifiers such as adjectives.[2] Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, but some languages like Tuscarora andCayuga have been argued[by whom?] to lack this construct.

Form Noun phrases normally consist of a head noun, which is optionally modified ("premodified" if the modifier appears before the noun; "postmodified" if the modifier follows the noun). Possible modifiers include: determiners: articles (the, a), demonstratives (this, that), numerals (two, fi ve, etc.), possessives (my, their, etc.), and quantifiers (some,many, etc.). In English, determiners are usually placed before the noun;

adjectives (the red ball); or

complements, in the form of a prepositional phrase (such as: the student of physics), or a That-clause (the claim that the earth is round); modifiers; pre-modifiers if before the noun and usually either as nouns (the university student) or adjectives (the beautiful lady), or post-modifiers if

after the noun. A postmodifier may be either a prepositional phrase (the man with long hair) or a relative clause (the housewhere I live). The difference between modifiers and complements is that complements complete the meaning of the noun; complements are necessary, whereas modifiers are optional because they add information about the noun. Noun phrases can make use of an apposition structure. This means that the elements in the noun phrase are not in a head-modifier relationship, but in a relation of equality. An example of this is I, Caesar, declare ..., where "Caesar" and "I" do not modify each other.[citation needed] The head of a noun phrase can be implied, as in "The Bold and the Beautiful" or Robin Hood's "rob from the rich and give to the poor"; an implied noun phrase is most commonly used as a generic plural referring to human beings. [3] Another example of noun phrase with implied head is I choose the cheaper of the two.[citation needed] That noun phrases can be headed by elements other than nounsfor instance, pronouns (They came) or determiners (I'll take these)has given rise to the postulation of a determiner phrase instead of a noun phrase. The English language is stricter than some other languages with regard to possible noun phrase heads. German, for instance, allows adjectives as heads of noun phrases[citation needed], as in Gib mir die Alten for Give me the olds (i.e. old ones).
[citation needed]

In addition to pronouns and demonstratives, numerals and adjectives may function as the head of the noun phrase, and take modifiers as a noun would. For example, The Secret Seven, something wild, the first few, we three, all this, only you, just mine.[4]