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THERE are many types of pronouns. The following list gives a summary. This section will deal only with the pronouns that cause the most serious problems in writing or speaking.
Personal pronoun: I, you, he, it, we, they, me, her, him, us, them, my, mine, your, yours, hers, his, its, our, ours, their, theirs.
Reflexive and intensive – myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves. Demonstrative pronoun – this, that, these, those. Interrogative pronoun – who, whose, whom, which, what. Relative pronouns – who, whose, whom, which, what and that.
Indefinite pronouns: all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, more, most, much, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, other, several, some, somebody, someone, something and such.
Using modifiers: Modifiers are words that change or limit the meaning of other words. Two kinds of modifiers are adjectives and adverbs. An adjective is a word that modifies a noun or a pronoun. An adjective tells which one? What kind? How many? How much? Examples: that book, pink sweater, two dogs, more rain. Classes of adjectives: The following list shows the various types of adjectives.
Articles: A, an, and the are adjectives referred to as articles. The article the is the definite article because it points out a specific person, place, thing, or group. A and an are indefinite articles because they do not refer to specific items. Use an before a vowel sound. Use a before a consonant sound. Remember it is the sound, not the spelling that determines the correct choice: an elephant, an honour, an igloo, a lamp.
Proper adjectives: These adjectives are formed from proper nouns and are always capitalised. English class, Zimbabwean furniture. Predicate Adjectives: These adjectives follow linking verbs and describe the subject of the sentence. The birds were silent. The soup smelled wonderful. Nouns as adjectives: Nouns can also become modifiers when they describe other nouns. Essay examination, grass skirt.
Adverbs: An adverb modifies a verb, an adjective, or another adverb. Adverbs tell where, when, how, or to what extent. Examples: sat here, closed today, spoke softly, very quickly, exceptionally fast, almost done, not finished. Many adverbs are formed by adding –ly to an adjective: careful – -ly = carefully, happy + -ly = happily.
Here are some commonly used adverbs that do not end in –ly: afterwards, almost, already, also, back, eve, far, fast, forth, hard, here, instead, late, long, low, more, near, never, next, not, now, often, seldom, slow, soon, still, straight, then, there, today, tomorrow, too, well, yesterday, yet.
If you are uncertain about whether to use an adverb or an adjective after a verb like feel, sound, smell, or look, ask yourself the following questions: Does the modifier tell how, when, where, or to what extent about an action verb? If it does, use an adverb. Can you substitute is or was for the verb? If you can, use an adjective. The garage seemed empty. The garage is empty.
Prepositional phrases as modifiers- Prepositions are words that show how one word is related to another word. Read these sentences. Notice how each expresses a different relationship: The box is on the table. The box is near the table. The box is beside the table. Ben pulled a muscle before the final race. Ben pulled a muscle after the final race. Ben pulled a muscle during the final race.
In the first group of sentences in the above paragraph you can see that the words on, near, and beside show the relationship of table to the box. In the next group of sentences, before, after, and during show the relationship of race to pulled a muscle. You can see that prepositions do not show relationships by themselves. They begin a phrase.
A phrase is a group of words that belong together but do not have a subject and verb. On the table and before the final race are examples of prepositional phrases. A preposition is a word used with a noun or pronoun, called its object, to show how the noun or pronoun is related to some other word in the sentence. A prepositional phrase consists of a preposition, its object, and any modifiers of the object.
Here is a list of words often used as prepositions: Most of these prepositions show relationships of place or time. Some show other relationships among people and things. Study these prepositions and notice the relationship that each shows: about, at, down, near, to, above, before, during, of, toward, after, below, for, on, underneath, against, beneath, from, onto, until, along, beside, in, out, up, among, between, inside, over, upon, around, but(except) into, since, with, as, by, like, through, and without.
Some modifiers cannot be compared. For example, something that is unique is one of a kind. It cannot be more or less unique than something else. Other modifiers that do not take comparisons are equal, fatal, final, and absolute.
We leave it here for now. Next time we shall look at modifiers in comparisons, the comparative, superlative and so forth.
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