Collins Cobuild English Grammar (18 page)

demonstrative pronouns
. See paragraphs
1.124
to
1.127
.

indefinite pronouns
. See paragraphs
1.128
to
1.141
.

reciprocal pronouns
. See paragraphs
1.142
to
1.145
.

relative pronouns
. See paragraphs
1.146
to
1.150
.

interrogative pronouns
. See paragraphs
1.151
to
1.153
.

There are a few other words that can be used as pronouns. For more information about these, see paragraphs
1.154
to
1.161
.

Talking about people and things: personal pronouns

1.95
    You use
personal pronouns
to refer to yourself, the people you are talking to, or the people or things you are talking about.

There are two sets of personal pronouns: subject pronouns and object pronouns.

subject pronouns

1.96
    Subject pronouns refer to the subject of a clause.

Here is a table of subject pronouns:

I

1.97
    You refer to yourself by using the pronoun
I
.
I
is always written with a capital letter.

I
don’t know what to do.
I
think
I
made the wrong decision.
May
I
ask why Stephen’s here?

you

1.98
    You refer to the person or people you are talking to as
you
. Note that the same word is used for the singular and the plural.

You
may have to wait a bit.
Would
you
come and have a drink?
How did
you
get on?

You
is also used to refer to people in general, rather than to the person you are talking or writing to. For more information on this, see paragraph
1.120
.

If you want to make it clear that you are addressing more than one person, you can create a plural form by using
you
followed by a determiner, a number or a noun. Forms like this can also be used in object position.

My granddad wants 
you both
 to come round next Saturday.
As
you all
know, this is a challenge.

Here is a list of the most common plural forms of
you
.

you all

you guys

you lot

you two

you three

you both

You guys
and
you lot
are more frequent in informal English.
You lot
is not commonly used in American English.

I love working with
you guys
.
You guys
are great!
So
you lot
will have to look after yourselves.

Note that people often use
you lot
when they are being very direct with a group of people, as in the last example above.

     Some varieties and dialects of English have developed particular forms of plural
you
. In American English, particularly Southern American English,
y’all
is sometimes used, especially in speech.

What did 
y’all
 eat for breakfast?
I want to thank
y’all
.

In some dialects of British and American English,
yous
and
youse
are used as plural forms:
I know what some of
yous
might be thinking
.

Another plural form is
you people
. However, this can sound rude, and should only be used if you want to show that you are angry or annoyed with the people you are talking to.

‘Why can’t
you people
leave me alone?’ he says.
‘I can’t work with
you people
,’ Zoe said.

Some plural forms of
you
–
you guys
,
you lot
,
you two
,
you three
and
y’all
– can also be used as
vocatives
. For more information on vocatives, see paragraphs
9.95
to
9.99
.
You all
and
you both
cannot be used as vocatives.

‘Listen,
you guys
,’ she said. ‘I’ll tell you everything you want.’
Come on,
you two
. Let’s go home.
Bye,
y’all
!

For more information on
you
as an
object pronoun
, see paragraphs
1.104
to
1.106
.

he
and
she

1.99
    You refer to a man or a boy as
he
, and to a woman or a girl as
she
.

My father is 78, and
he
’s very healthy and independent.
Billy Knight was a boxer, wasn’t
he
?
Mary came in.
She
was a good-looking woman.
‘Is Sue there?’ – ‘I’m sorry,
she
doesn’t work here now.’

it

1.100
  You use
it
to refer to anything that is not male or female; for example, an object, a place, an organization, or something abstract.

Have you seen Toy Story?
It’s
a good film for kids.
‘Have you been to London?’ – ‘Yes,
it
was very crowded.’
How much would the company be worth if
it
were sold?
It
is not an idea that has much public support.

It
is often used to refer to an animal when its gender is not known or not considered to be important. Some people also refer to babies in this way.

They punched the crocodile until
it
let go of her.
If the shark is still around
it
will not escape.
How Winifred loved the baby! And how Stephanie hated
it
!