Questions tagged [pronouns]
A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun or noun phrase.
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Use "him" or "her" in this sentence about a hypothetical gender switch?
What should I use in this sentence?
If he were a girl, I would have kissed him/her.
Should I refer to the real gender of the person or the one I'm assuming the person to be and why?
Edit : Recent ...
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Explain why "Who is she playing the piano?" is incorrect
A teacher asked me this question and I am having a hard time finding a simple way to explain it for her to share with her students. I`m looking for the easiest way to explain it to her because she ...
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Grammatical gender of the word "child"
I've been taught that a child is gender-neutral noun. But in the textbook on linguistics I've been reading, the noun is used as feminine. For example, a sentence in the book goes like this:
The child ...
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A "user" is "it" or "he/she"?
I'm not sure what is right and what not. I've searched on Google and could not find an answer to this. How should I write this:
I'm speaking about a user. It is the main problem.
The question is. ...
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Is "Whom" a deprecated word?
I'm learning English through online courses.
I'm enrolled at the Write101x, managed by University of Queensland, Australia.
In this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8a7UQe82tnY about 2:47 ...
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How to deal with unknown genders in English?
When I start a sentence with words like "someone" or "somebody", I don't know how to choose the right pronoun at the end of the sentence.
Examples:
If anybody asks you about the money, tell (Him - ...
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Why is it "your" and not "yours" in "to see your on Amazon account activity"
I have read on the Amazon Pay page:
You can find all your off Amazon account activity here.
Click Amazon Orders below to see your on Amazon account activity.
Why does it say "your"? As far ...
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it vs. this vs. that
I've never understood what is the difference between the subject pronoun "it" and the demonstratives "this" and "that".
To be precise, I understand well the difference ...
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Should always use uppercase "I"?
Should "I" (first person pronoun) always be used in uppercase, or does it depend on situation (uppercase in the first word of a sentence)?
And why are other pronouns not capitalized?
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Talking about inanimate objects in plural: they or it
Should I say:
Wash some apples and put them into a vase.
or
Wash some apples and put it into a vase.
Is it correct to use they with inanimate objects?
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Can "he" and "man" refer to all genders?
All men must die, but death can vary in its significance. The ancient Chinese writer Sima Qian said, "Though death befalls all men alike, it may be weightier than Mount Tai or lighter than a ...
user108144
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"the wife" instead of "my wife", are there any other contexts where a possessive pronoun gets replaced by a definite article?
In English, one occasionally sees a replacement of my wife by the wife, such as in this sentence:
there was a sudden thud and I joked to the wife that someone had run into us
Does this ...
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Each other's / each others'
This always nags me... I would prefer a logical as well as a grammatical explanation of it.
We enjoyed each other's company.
We enjoyed each others' company.
Which one is correct? Why is the ...
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is "them" only used for people?
Chop the tomatoes and onions and saute them/it?
Should it be "them" or "it"? because I have heard that them is used only for people.
user25493
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Does the word God get the pronoun "it" or "he"?
Does the word God get the pronoun "it" or "he"?
For example: I want to say thanks to God for what it / he gave
me.
I am talking about the God of Monotheism (force majeure) - like what the Jews ...
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Can adjectives modify a pronoun like "rich they", "poor you" and "beautiful I"?
I want to modify a pronoun with adjectives like "rich he", "poor they" and "beautiful I". Can I do that?
For example, can I say "I saw rich him driving a supercar", "Poor you can't buy foods enough", ...
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anyone vs someone. Which one?
Has someone seen my bag?
Has anyone seen my bag?
Which one is grammatically correct and Why?
Which one should I use at this place?
Can you give some more examples?
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When the Gentle Giant song "Black Cat" refers to a cat as "she", does that mean the cat is female?
In Gentle Giant's song Black Cat it starts as follows:
There's a cat prowling through the streets at night
And she's black and her eyes are burning yellow
My question is: although said cat is ...
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“...than I am” vs. “...than me”
I read an English grammar article in which the author talked about the correct use of pronouns.
He writes:
If the extended sentence is “She’s more likely to ask him than I am,” in which the ...
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Can I use "they" to refer to my own skills?
Me and my friend had a conversation.
[My friend] damn, your listening skills are good
[Me] they've improved a lot since I started watching English dubbed anime
My friend told me that I can't use &...
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Can 'it' be used to refer to a person?
I read a dialogue. It went like this:
A: Is this your family？
B: Yes, it is.
A: What a big family! Is this your sister?
B: Yes, it is. Her name is Linda. (I think this should be "Yes, she is")
A: ...
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in order for I to do something -- "for I"? why not "for me"?
Example:
In order to make use of the database, we need a way to perform what are called CRUD tasks. That is to say we need a way to create new data items, read and find existing data items, update ...
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Using the pronoun 'we' when I'm not a part of it!
This has actually happened with me. I was confused and could not answer to my friend. The context was the traffic sense in India, which is worst! :)
In that context, I was describing to my friend ...
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What exactly is the word "there" in an existential construction? And related questions
Consider the example below:
"There was a cat under the table."
There have been numerous questions asked that have involved the topic of existential constructions and the word "there" that is used ...
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'We Americans like baseball' or 'Us Americans...'?
Which one is correct?
'We Americans like baseball,' or
'Us Americans like baseball'?
Why would you prefer one over the other? I'm thinking of a situation where people from different countries are ...
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Why can't I grammatically repeat the object with the pronoun "it"?
Someone told me that this sentence is wrong grammatically:
Where is the calculator that I lent it to you yesterday?
I've read the feedbacks from many people that I shouldn't include "it", ...
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Why is the answer "it" --> 'Mr. Akagi was unable to buy tickets for the concert because it/they was sold out'
How can the answer in the following test question be "it"?
Mr. Akagi was unable to buy tickets for the concert because it/they was sold out.
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To take oneself's life is not an act of courage
How do we make a reflexive using the "oneself" when referring to actions or inactions in a sentence.
For examples:
To take oneself's life is not an act of courage
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Is it OK to omit the pronoun when we're talking about an action that's been done by someone else?
I was wondering if it's correct to omit who in the following sentence:
I haven't found anyone else who had mentioned this before.
and say it like this:
I haven't found anyone else had mentioned ...
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How common is the usage of "yous" as a plural of "you"?
Yesterday I was exposed to the fact the "yous" is a plural form of the pronoun you. while historically I know that "you" is actually the second person plural pronoun while the singular form is "thou".
...
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Why is this not a pronoun error? "To those of us who had heard the principal [..] the news of the staff cuts was not surprising."
From the SAT:
To those of us who had heard the principal of the high school talk about the budget, the news of the staff cuts was not surprising.
Why is it had and not have? Because isn't those ...
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Using plural or singular verb after "neither" and "none"
With reference to "Neither", "none", "no one" + [of them] + verb-s
None of the above sentences is strictly correct.
Neither of the above sentence/sentences is/...
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Grammatical number agreement in a complex phrase using singular "they"
Answering another question, I used the following phrase:
Your reader is [...], but they are a busy person.
I have two difficulties here:
In the first phrase, a reader, being singular noun, ...
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"Despicable Me": can "me" be used in such a way?
We know a movie named Despicable Me. I guess it means "I am despicable". But can me be used in such a way?
For example, can I further say unavoidable me to mean "I am unavoidable"? Are there other ...
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"Outside there is a money receiver which only accepts coins" - or "that only accepts coins"? Which relative pronoun is better?
I'm preparing for academic IELTS by writing some essays and then correcting those using a grammar correction app.
In the following sentence,
Outside there is a money receiver which only accepts coins
...
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Is referring to people as "it" considered rude?
In Japanese, referring to people as "it" considered rude. Instead of "it", We say "that person" or information of the person (ex. a person who wares a blue shirt).
In English, Is referring to people ...
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Repeating "them" in "support them rather than abandon them"
Support them rather than abandon them
Is the above correct? Is the repeating of 'them' correct? Can we drop 'them' when we use it second time?
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Why do some sentences have "thy" instead of "the"?
I saw many times thy used instead of the, so why is that? When should I use it? What is the pronunciation of thy?
From the Bible (Christianity.SE)
Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy ...
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Should I write "X and I", "X and me", "I and X", or "me and X" in a conjoined object?
A question was asked in one of my friend's interview. The question was to determine the right form from the below sentences.
Q. Correct form of English:
Samuel was with Susan and I
...
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Is it always necessary to repeat the pronoun before each verb?
Is it always necessary to repeat the pronoun before each verb?
For example, do I need always to say:
She called me and she said X
or can I use a shorter one
She called me and said X
?
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Refering to plural using it/they
This is from Animal Farm
... and surveyed with speechless admiration the ploughland, the hayfield, the orchard, the pool, the spinney. It was as though they had never seen these things before, and ...
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Its or Their to refer to a company?
The company will issue (their, its) annual report next month.
In this case, should I use "its" or "their"?
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Does the verb 'to busy' require a reflexive pronoun?
It busied me for hours.
When 'busy' is used as a verb, does it always need reflexive pronouns? In the above sentence, I haven't used the reflexive pronoun.
I am asking because in Merriam-Webster I ...
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Using 'anyone' in affirmative contexts - Is "he just wanted to kill anyone" grammatical?
I've just stumbled across this article in the Japan Times:
SAITAMA – Police, who are interrogating a 20-year-old college student from Saitama Prefecture on suspicion of stabbing to death a 21-year-...
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When to use an object pronoun or a possessive adjective before a gerund
The rule says that we can use a possessive adjective or an object pronoun before a gerund. Is there a rule that says when to use each or are they interchangeable? Some say that it's wrong to use an ...
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'maybe not us' or 'maybe not we'
(from Seinfeld)
-- We could build a cabin like that.
-- Well, maybe not us, but two men could.
I would use we instead of us. Is us here grammatically correct?
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it is you who has vs. it is you who have
There is already a similar question here, but it is about forming questions:
Which is the correct question ("Who has" vs "Who have")?
When combining who with you in a statement, ...
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Can "it" refer to something we haven't mentioned yet?
We usually use pronouns to refer back to people or things that we already mentioned.
Can we use pronouns before we mention the noun?
A: Are you going to the game?
B: No, it's sold out. There ...
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"Lily, not he/him, had planned the party" — Which pronoun is more appropriate?
In this sentence should I use "he" in place of 'him"?
He explained that Lily, not him, had planned the party.
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Is using "you" to refer to anyone, not the person you're talking to, a known, specific grammar form?
I was discussing a certain road driving conditions with a friend. I said: You shouldn't be driving faster than 50 mph on that road!
I didn't mean him or anybody in particular. I meant anybody driving ...
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