Morphological Characteristics
Structure
Pronouns fall under simple, e.g.: we and compound, e.g.: ourselves. Derivative pronouns do not occur in the English language. Many linguists recognize the existence of phrasal pronouns, e.g.: each other, one another.
Since it is only' words that are classified into parts of speech and the so-called phrasal pronouns represent combinations of words, it is better to call them not pronouns, but pronoun equivalents.
It is impossible to speak of a pronominal system of inflections because pronouns constitute a heterogeneous group.
The Category of Gender
Pronouns lack the grammatical category of gender. Personal, possessive, and reflexive pronouns express sex distinctions lexically, e.g.: he -- she, his - her (hers), himself- herself. Cf.:
He told me all about it (P.O. Waterhouse).
She felt sorry for the poor woman behind the door
(S. Sheldon).
She did not move her hand (W.S. Maugham).
He put out his hand to take hers... (W.S. Maugham).
Wilmer threw himself on his knees by the chair,..
(W. Deeping).
When she came back she was herself again (Th. Hardy).
The grammatical category of number is found in the demonstrative pronouns this, that and the indefinite pronoun other: this - these, that - those, other - others. Cf.:
... / look awful in this blue dress (English Course).
I should like to try on these dresses (Lingaphone English
Course).
I loved that movie (J.C. Richards, J. Hull, S, Proctor).
... those nights were long (W.S. Maugham).
Husbands and wives never listen when they talk to each other, only when the other is talking to somebody else (E. Fowler).
You are not fair to the others (L. Voynich).
Some linguists think that personal pronouns have the grammatical category of number, too. They look upon we as the suppletive plural of / and they as the suppletive plural of he, she, or it. Suppletive forms must be lexically identical. We, however, does not mean / + /, but rather / + you, or / + she, or / + he, or / 4 they, cto- The same is true of them. They does not always mean he + he, or she + she, or it + it. It may as well mean he + she. That's why personal pronouns are generally said to stand outside the
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grammatical category of number [B.S. Khaimovich, B.I. Rogovskaya; B.A. Ilyish].
Many linguists think that reflexive pronouns have the grammatical category of number, too. At first sight, they really do. Cf.:
And then I dressed myself and came away to find you (Th. Hardy).
This is where we wash ourselves, Eliza... (B. Shaw).
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It's yourself, boy(A.L Cronin).
Well, I hope, you'll both enjoy yourselves (J. Galsworthy).
What would he do with himself! (D.H. Lawrence).
When she washed herself, the cat washed itself... (C.E. Eckersley).
They blamed themselves for the unlucky marriage (Th. Hardy).
But if we go deeper into it, we shall see that the reflexive pronouns ending in -selves can hardly be looked upon as grammatical plural forms from the corresponding reflexive pronouns ending in -self for, just as in the case with personal pronouns, themselves, for example, does not mean himself+ himself or herself + herself, etc. It may mean himself'+ herself, etc. We can speak of grammatical plural only in regard to persons or things which, without being identical, belong to the same kind. Since the so-called singular and plural reflexive pronouns have different referents, they cannot be regarded as constituting the grammatical category of number.
The Category of Case
The indefinite pronouns everybody, everyone, somebody, someone, anybody, anyone, nobody, and one have the common and the genitive case just like nouns. Cf.:
... you knew almost everybody (K. Mansfield).
Nobody was spending any money (D.H. Lawrence).
Everybody's business is nobody's business (O. Jespersen).
Anybody can see it (J. Galsworthy).
It's anybody's right (J. London).
Only one with a constitution of iron could have held himself down, as Martin did(L London).
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/ know exactly what it feels like to be held down on one's back
(J. Galsworthy).
Personal pronouns, as well as the interrogative and relative who, draw a distinction between the nominative and the objective cases. R. Quirk and his co-authors call the nominative case the subjective case because pronouns used in the nominative case perform the function of the subject in the sentence. Cf.: /- me, he - him, she — her, we - us, they - them, who - whom. The personal pronouns it and you have the same form for both cases: i"r - it, you - you. So, they either stand outside the grammatical category of case or have homonymous case forms.
There is a tendency in Modem English to use the nominative case of personal pronouns only in the function of the subject that is followed immediately by the predicate-verb, e.g.:
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You don *t understand (P.G. Wodehouse).
The objective case is used everywhere else. Cf.:
Have you given him the book? (Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English).
We 're mad, you and me... (B. Forbes).
You are the only person who has ever seen Ram. - Me?
(A. Powell).
They 'd tell me themselves. - Not them (M. Duffy).
It wasn 't me (J.C. Gates).
Obviously no one can do it but him (A.E. Lindop).
Jack was three or four years older than me (W. Cooper).
You are as conventional as them all (A. Laski).
In the interrogative pronoun who, the objective case form whom tends to be replaced by the nominative case form who, especially if the question ends with a preposition, e.g.:
Who could she trustf (A. McCall).
Who can he take after"? (R. Sheridan).
Whom can be used in a more formal style, and it is necessary after a preposition. Cf.:
Whom did they arrest! (M, Swan).
With whom are you going? (M. Swan).
tn identifying relative clauses, whom is unusual, especially in conversational English. It is generally either left out or replaced by who or that. It is almost impossible in clauses that end with a preposition. Cf:
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/ think you should stay faithful to the person you are married to (M. Swan).
/ think you should stay faithful to the person who/that you are married to (M. Swan).
In non-identifying relative clauses, which are separated from their noun-heads by commas, whom has to be used as an object, e.g.:
The small man in the raincoat, whom nobody recognized, turned out to be Olivia's first husband (M. Swan).
But non-identifying relative clauses are common to written, not to conversational English.
Syntactic Characteristics
Pronouns can be used both as notional and as auxiliary elements. When used as notional words, they perform the function of this or that part of the sentence. When employed as auxiliary elements, they help express various grammatical meanings. Personal pronouns, for instance, render the grammatical meanings of person and number.
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B.A. Ilyish thinks that unstressed personal pronouns, preceding a finite verb, are well advanced on the way towards becoming a kind of verbal prefix of person and number.
Etymologically, the word pronoun means 'a word used instead of a noun'. This meaning reflects to some extent, the role of pronouns in the language. Pronouns can replace hundreds of nouns. That's why pronouns are used very frequently and form a considerable part of any text, though as a class of words they are not numerous.
But this definition is not suitable to all pronouns. For instance, in the sentence It snows (B. Zaffran, D. Krulik), the pronoun it does not take the place of any noun. If you try to substitute a noun for //, you will find none that will quite do. The best possible substitute is The snow (snows), but this, in the opinion of J.B. Opdycke, is a ridiculous repetition. So, the pronoun it in the sentence It snows stands independent of all noun reference or relationship.
What is more important, pronouns substitute not only nouns but also adjectives. Taking into consideration that the syntactic functions of pronouns are similar to those of nouns and adjectives,
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H. Sweet denies the existence of pronouns as a separate part of speech. Pronouns, in his opinion, form a special subclass of nouns and adjectives. Accordingly, he distinguishes noun-pronouns and adjective-pronouns.
Noun-pronouns perform the functions of subject and object typical of nouns, e.g.:
She laughed (J.C. Gates) - subject.
The children will hear you (S. Sheldon) - object.
Adjective-pronouns, being pointing, not naming words, function not as attributes, but as determiners that specify the reference of nouns, e.g.:
Your husband has come (D.H. Lawrence).
Personal pronouns are always used as noun-pronouns. Possessive pronouns are functionally heterogeneous. Possessive pronouns in the conjoint form (my, his, her, its, our, your, their) are always used as adjective-pronouns; possessive pronouns in the absolute form (mine, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs) are always used as noun-pronouns. Cf.:
Did it ever cross your mind that I might have married Anna because I fell in love with her? - No. Did it ever cross yours! (S. Sheldon).
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The majority of pronouns have both noun and adjective functions. Cf.:
Oh, look at this bracelet, Carlos (J.C. Richards, J. Hull, S. Proctor). - Here the pronoun this is an adjective-pronoun modifying the noun bracelet.
How much is this*? (J.C. Richards, J. Hull, S. Proctor). - Here the pronoun this is a noun-pronoun used absolutely, without a noun.
The similarity of functions, however, is no excuse for uniting pronouns with nouns and adjectives. They differ not only semantically and to some extent morphologically, as is evident from the above given material, but also syntactically, which becomes evident if we analyze their combinability.
Noun-pronouns, just like nouns, combine with postpositive and prepositive verbs. Cf.:
Claud produced a pocket-knife (R. Dahl).
He saw me the next night... (W. Saroyan).
But as opposed to nouns, noun-pronouns generally do not combine with articles and are not modified by prepositive
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adjectives. Compare the regular occurrence of combinations of the type Poor child] (D. Robins), on the one hand, and the rare use of combinations of the type Silfy me (Santa Barbara Corpus of Spoken American English), on the other.
Adjective pronouns, just like adjectives, combine with nouns in postposition. Cf.:
The tall youth beside him was his son Bert (R. Dahl).
Her face lit up suddenly (W. Deeping).
But as opposed to adjectives, adjective-pronouns cannot form combinations with preceding adverbs.
Summing it all up, we can say that there is no uniformity of morphological and syntactic characteristics in the groups of pronouns. Pronouns form a class chiefly on the basis of their semantic peculiarities. In this respect, pronouns constitute a specific part of speech, for in all other parts of speech formal characteristics are of paramount importance because they are systemic.
New Approach to Pronouns
According to N. Shvedova and A. Belousova, pronouns form a basis for the main notional categories in the language. The authors describe in detail seven notional categories:
1) animate being - who,
2) property - what kind,
3) possession - whose,
4) number - how many,
5) place — where; direction - where to, where from,
6) choice — which,
7) time — when.
All the notional categories draw a distinction between three degrees of definiteness: definiteness, indefmiteness, and non-existence.
Lexicon, morphology, syntax, text structures, and phraseology take part in the formation of the notional categories. But each notional category has a pronoun as headword. Cf.:
Who - animate being
Definiteness - /, you, he, she; Indefmiteness - somebody, someone; Non-existence — nobody.
Whose -possession
Definiteness - my, your, his, her; Indefmiteness - somebody's, someone *s; Non-existence - nobody's.
In other words, pronouns are indispensable in building up the notional categories of all languages.
THE NUMERAL
Semantic Characteristics
The numeral, like the pronoun, is a part of speech that is singled out on the basis of its specific meaning. Numerals possess a generalized lexico-grammatical meaning of number. The lexico-grammatical meaning of number should not be confused with the grammatical meaning of number.
1. The lexico-grammatical meaning of number is the
generalization of the lexical meanings of individual numerals :five,
ten, fifty-seven, etc. The grammatical meaning of number is the
generalization of only two grammatical meanings: singular and
plural.
2. The lexico-grammatical number indicates definite plurality,
e.g.: twenty, forty, etc. The grammatical plural number shows
indefinite plurality, e.g.: boys.
Numerals indicate either a definite number or the position in a series. Accordingly, we distinguish cardinal and ordinal numerals. Cf.:
That was three years ago (J. Cheever).
In the third year of their marriage, Anna became pregnant (S. Sheldon).
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