Pronouns

The unusual case of "one."

A very old pronoun that is not often used today: "one." "One should excuse poor behavior in this case." "One may be surprised at the political environment." You will not encounter it often. It is restricted to very formal occasions. It refers to "any one person." The pronoun is used more commonly in Britain and it is, again, very formal.

Developmental notes

Children begin to use pronouns between 12-24 months old Acquire pronouns in order of "closest proximity to self" to "farthest" ("I, me" before "they") Subjective pronouns first, objective pronouns later Complete mastery of pronouns (recalling and understanding referents for pronouns) not complete until adolescence

Cohesion

Definition: "cohesion occurs where the interpretation of some element in the discourse is dependent on that of another" (Halliday & Hasan 1976) Cohesion is complete if the pronoun and referent are clear Children with language impairment have more difficulty with reference cohesion than children with typical development How much of a story or book are they going to miss? How much will require extra processing time? Consider older children's writing skills.

Deixis: Demonstrative pronouns

Deixis is a word that refers to pointing to something. That thing is near or far and could be plural or singular. In English, we have a two way distinction in "nearness" for demonstrative pronouns. Ex. this, these, those, that

Referent problems...

Elizabeth told Ashley that she had a problem. Who had the problem? ambiguity

Form of pronouns: Gender

Gender inflections in the third person singular form of pronouns but not in the plural forms He or she vs. They or We Gender seen in both nominative third person singular and objective third person singular cases Nominative: ~He~ is my friend. Objective: I know ~him~.

Referring to a noun con

Indefinite pronouns: general, unstated referents, not something specific See list on page 22 I hope ~everybody~ comes to my party. (indefinite) Is ~he~ coming to my party? (not indefinite)

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns: used to ask wh- questions Interrogative pronouns, if preceding a noun, can also be adjectival instead of interrogative pronouns.

Pronouns: Cases con

Objective: Something had action done on it/them. The researchers studied ~them~. Children are always messing around with ~this~! I gave a present to ~her~. Possessive: Something that is owned. That computer is ~mine~! ~Ours~ is blue, not green. That phone isn't ~yours~, it's ~hers~.

Pronouns: Cases

Personal pronouns See chart on pg. 20 Can be nominative, objective, possessive Inflected for nominative, objective, and possessive case Nominative: Something is doing the action. ~I~ love coffee. ~They~ were weaving a tapestry.

Form of pronouns: Number

Plural pronouns and singular pronouns can be found in your book on page 20. Pronouns follow the number of the noun they refer to. ~The children~ were five years old. ~They~ were five years old. Sometimes dialects do not show agreement between the pronoun and certain verb forms. They was five years old. It were about five years ago.

Disorders and pronouns

Pronoun reversals Reversing "you" and "I" Objective for subjective form Me want cookie Pronoun difficulties generally resolve by 2-3 years of age. If difficulties persist, it can be indicative of specific language impairment or other language difficulties Note: Pronouns require perspective taking.

Pronoun or determiner?

Pronouns and determiners can share a form, but not a function. "Her" can be both a pronoun and a determiner, for example. Pronouns stand alone, but determiners modify a noun (which comes right after it). It belongs to ~her~. Pronoun! I'm going to ~her~ house. Determiner!

Form of pronouns: Person

Pronouns are inflected for person, which is a grammatical case corresponding to the speaker (first person) or other people (an immediate other—in this case, "you" or second person, distant others—in this case, "they" or third person).

Grammatical functions

Pronouns have the following grammatical functions: Replacing a noun (nominative pronouns, object pronouns) Referring to a noun (reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns) Deixis (demonstrative pronouns) Adjectival (interrogative pronouns, indefinite pronouns

Semantic function of pronouns

Pronouns replace or refer to a noun It, she, he, they adventure, Mom, Thomas, students Pronouns appear to Add variety to communicative message Allow for efficiency in communication Referents Pronouns require referents My mother is a teacher. She lives nearby. (Referent for "she" is ___________).

Forms: Nominative vs. Objective case

Pronouns take different forms in nominative (subject) case and objective (object/predicate) case I vs. me Eliza loves dogs! ~She~ loves dogs! Dogs love Eliza! Dogs love ~her~! (*Dogs love she.) Nominative: doers of the action Objective: receivers of the action

Academic writing

Recent research suggests that teens spend more time engaging in social communication modalities (texting, posting on Facebook) than developing secure study habits that translate to success in higher education. This is alarming. What does "this" refer to?? Developing secure study habits that translate to success in higher education? Spending more time engaging in social communication? The suggestion from recent research?

Referring to a noun

Reflexive pronouns Take a -self or -selves suffix in English (depending on whether it is singular or plural) Used to indicate a situation when someone performs an action on himself/herself (we are already using this pronoun!) Ben got a snack for ~himself~. We gave ~ourselves~ plenty of time.

Referring to a noun (con)

Relative pronouns Consist of words such as 'that,' and 'who' Head a phrase that modifies the noun they refer to (conjoined to main phrase in subordinating relationship) Located directly next to the noun they refer to "That song [~that~ I love] is on the radio!" "The woman [~who~ lives next door to me] is crazy."

Pronoun fact sheet

Semantic definition of pronouns A part of speech that refers to or replaces a noun It, she, he, they adventure, Mom, Thomas, students Form of pronouns Inflected for gender in the singular He/She vs. They(group of boys)/They(group of girls) No affixes (*shes), no determiners (*the he) Inflected for person (first, second, third) I, you, he Inflected for number I/She/he/It vs. We/They Inflected for nominative vs. object They vs. Them Grammatical function of pronouns Replacing a noun (nominative pronouns, object pronouns, indefinite pronouns) Referring to a noun (reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns) Deixis (demonstrative pronouns) Questions (Interrogative pronouns)

Demonstrative pronouns

Singular vs. plural: this/these, that/those Near vs. far: this/that and these/those. Remember: demonstrative pronouns are BY themselves, without a noun attached. With a noun attached, it is a adjective. "I love ~those~." demonstrative pronoun "I love ~those~ things." adjective

Ex.

The first snows of the winter had already fallen, and most of Robin Hood's band had gone into ~their~ winter quarters. While frost and snow lay over the land, there was little travelling done in those days... Remember, just because 'while' has a wh, it is not an interrogative pronoun. This isn't a question, and 'while' is not an interrogative pronoun anyway. "those" could be a demonstrative pronoun, but its attached to 'days.' For a time ~they~ would dress as peasants, help in the little work ~that~ was done, and with ~this~ and what animals they trapped or caught, pay for their warmth and shelter until spring came again. They=personal pronoun That=relative pronoun This=demonstrative pronoun Their (in this case)=NOT a pronoun, it is a determiner! What=NOT a pronoun, it is an adjective in this case

Pronoun or determiner practice

Who is going to make my coffee today? -Determiner. Give her a break. -Pronoun My schedule is really full. -Determiner I don't care if it's yours. -Pronoun They would go if they could. -Pronoun Their dog is kind of mean. -Determiner

Adjectives or interrogative pronouns...

Who likes oranges? -Interrogative pronoun What kind of flowers are these? -Adjective Which girl knows Spanish? -Adjective Where are you from? -Interrogative pronoun Which city are you from? -Adjective

Writing vs. speaking

Writing and speaking are two different modalities and, as such, have their own (often unnoticed) rules Writing requires more careful attention to antecedents for pronouns than speaking does When talking, we use other cues to understand referents for pronouns -->Gestures, inflection, common ground (previous experience with the speaker) -->We don't have those cues available when reading written texts

Note on Pronouns

must have a clear antecedent

Person

~I~ want to introduce ~you~ to ~them~. ~I~ want to talk to ~you guys/y'all/you~. Note: we do not have a plural form for second person pronouns in Standard Academic English, but various dialects do have one.