Pronoun

Pronouns are a relatively small, closed class of words that function in the place of nouns or noun phrases. They include personal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and some others, mainly indefinite pronouns.

Personal

The personal pronouns of modern standard English, and the corresponding possessive forms, are as follows:

The second-person forms such as you are used with both singular and plural reference. You can also be used as an indefinite pronoun, referring to a person in general compared to the more formal alternative, one) (reflexive oneself, possessive one's).

The third-person singular forms are differentiated according to the sex of the referent. For example, she is used to refer to a female person, sometimes a female animal, and sometimes an object to which female characteristics are attributed, such as a ship or a country. A male person, and sometimes a male animal, is referred to using he. In other cases it can be used. The word it can also be used as a dummy subject, in sentences like It is going to be sunny this afternoon.

The third-person plural forms such as they are sometimes used with singular reference, as a gender-neutral pronoun, as in each employee should ensure they tidy their desk. Despite its long history, this usage is sometimes considered ungrammatical.

The possessive determiners such as my are used as determiners together with nouns, as in my old man, some of his friends. The second possessive forms like mine are used when they do not qualify a noun: as pronouns, as in mine is bigger than yours, and as predicates, as in this one is mine. Note also the construction a friend of mine (meaning "someone who is my friend").

Demonstrative and Interrogative

The demonstrative pronouns of English are this (plural these), and that (plural those), as in these are good, I like that. Note that all four words can also be used as determiners (followed by a noun), as in those cars. They can also form the alternative pronominal expressions this/that one, these/those ones.

The interrogative pronouns are who, what, and which (all of them can take the suffix -ever for emphasis). The pronoun who refers to a person or people; it has an oblique form whom (though in informal contexts this is usually replaced by who), and a possessive form (pronoun or determiner) whose. The pronoun what refers to things or abstracts. The word which is used to ask about alternatives from what is seen as a closed set: which (of the books) do you like best? (It can also be an interrogative determiner: which book?; this can form the alternative pronominal expressions which one and which ones.) Which, who, and what can be either singular or plural, although who and what often take a singular verb regardless of any supposed number.

All the interrogative pronouns can also be used as relative pronouns; see below for more details.

Relative

The main relative pronouns in English are who (with its derived forms whom and whose), which, and that.

The relative pronoun which refers to things rather than persons, as in the shirt, which used to be red, is faded. For persons, who is used (the man who saw me was tall). The oblique case form of who is whom, as in the man whom I saw was tall, although in informal registers who is commonly used in place of whom.

The possessive form of who is whose (the man whose car is missing ...); however the use of whose is not restricted to persons (one can say an idea whose time has come).

The word that as a relative pronoun is normally found only in restrictive relative clauses (unlike which and who, which can be used in both restrictive and unrestrictive clauses). It can refer to either persons or things, and cannot follow a preposition. For example, one can say the song that [or which] I listened to yesterday, but the song to which [not to that] I listened yesterday. The relative pronoun that is usually pronounced with a reduced vowel, and hence differently from the demonstrative that. If that is not the subject of the relative clause, it can be omitted (the song I listened to yesterday).

The word what can be used to form a free relative clause – one that has no antecedent and that serves as a complete noun phrase in itself, as in I like what he likes. The words whatever and whichever can be used similarly, in the role of either pronouns (whatever he likes) or determiners (whatever book he likes). When referring to persons, who(ever) (and whom(ever)) can be used in a similar way (but not as determiners).

"There"

The word there is used as a pronoun in some sentences, playing the role of a dummy subject, normally of an intransitive verb. The "logical subject" of the verb then appears as a complement after the verb.

This use of there occurs most commonly with forms of the verb be in existential clauses, to refer to the presence or existence of something. For example: There is a heaven; There are two cups on the table; There have been a lot of problems lately. It can also be used with other verbs: There exist two major variants; There occurred a very strange incident.

The dummy subject takes the number (singular or plural) of the logical subject (complement), hence it takes a plural verb if the complement is plural. In informal English, however, the contraction there's is often used for both singular and plural.

The dummy subject can undergo inversion, Is there a test today? and Never has there been a man such as this. It can also appear without a corresponding logical subject, in short sentences and question tags: ''There wasn't a discussion, was there? There was.''

The word there in such sentences has sometimes been analyzed as an adverb, or as a dummy predicate, rather than as a pronoun. However, its identification as a pronoun is most consistent with its behavior in inverted sentences and question tags as described above.

Because the word there can also be a deictic adverb (meaning "at/to that place"), a sentence like There is a river could have either of two meanings: "a river exists" (with there as a pronoun), and "a river is in that place" (with there as an adverb).

Other

Other pronouns in English are often identical in form to determiners (especially quantifiers), such as many, a little, etc. Sometimes, the pronoun form is different, as with none (corresponding to the determiner no), nothing, everyone, somebody, etc. Many examples are listed as indefinite pronouns. Another indefinite (or impersonal) pronoun is one) (with its reflexive form oneself and possessive one's), which is a more formal alternative to generic you.

Simple Past

The simple past, past simple or past indefinite, sometimes called the preterite, is the basic form of the past tense in Modern English. It is used principally to describe events in the past, although it also has some other uses. Regular English verbs form the simple past in -ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms.

The term "simple" is used to distinguish the syntactical construction whose basic form uses the plain past tense alone, from other past tense constructions which use auxiliaries in combination with participles, such as the past perfect and past progressive.

Formation

Regular verbs form the simple past end-ed; however there are a few hundred irregular verbs with different forms. For details see.

Most verbs have a single form of the simple past, independent of the person or number of the subject (there is no addition of -s for the third person singular as in the simple present).

However, the copula verb be has two past tense forms: was for the first and third persons singular, and were in other instances.

The form were can also be used in place of was in conditional clauses and the like; for information on this, see subjunctive.

This is the only case in modern English where a distinction in form is made between the indicative and subjunctive moods in the past tense.

Questions, other clauses requiring inversion, negations with not, and emphatic forms of the simple past use the auxiliary did.

A full list of forms is given below, using the (regular) verb help as an example:

• Basic simple past:
  • I/you/he/she/it/we/they helped
• Expanded (emphatic) simple past:
  • I/you/he/she/it/we/they did help
• Question form:
  • Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?
• Negative:
  • I/you/he/she/it/we/they did not (didn't) help
• Negative question:
  • Did I/you/he/she/it/we/they not help? / Didn't I/you/he/she/it/we/they help?

Usage

The simple past is used for a single event (or sequence of such events) in the past, and also for past habitual action:

• He took the money and ran.
• I visited them every day for a year.

It can also refer to a past state:

• I knew how to fight even as a child.

For action that was ongoing at the time referred to, the past progressive is generally used instead (e.g. I was cooking). The same can apply to states, if temporary (e.g. the ball was lying on the sidewalk), but some stative verbs do not generally use the progressive aspect at all, and in these cases the simple past is used even for a temporary state:

• The dog was in its kennel.

However, with verbs of sensing, it is common in such circumstances to use could see in place of saw, could hear in place of heard, etc.

• I felt cold.

If one action interrupts another, then it is usual for the interrupted (ongoing) action to be expressed with the past progressive, and the action that interrupted it to be in the simple past:

• Your mother called while you were cooking.

The simple past is often close in meaning to the present perfect.

The simple past is used when the event happened at a particular time in the past, or during a period which ended in the past (i.e. a period that does not last up until the present time).

This time frame may be explicitly stated, or implicit in the context (for example the past tense is often used when describing a sequence of past events).

• I was born in 1980.
• We turned the oven off two minutes ago.
• I came home at 6 o'clock.
• When did they get married?
• We wrote two letters this morning.
• She placed the letter on the table, sighed, and left the house.Contrast these examples with those given at.

Note also that for past actions that occurred before the relevant past time frame, the past perfect is used.

Various compound constructions exist for denoting past habitual action.

The sentence When I was young, I played football every Saturday might alternatively be phrased using used to (... I used to play ...) or using would (... I would play...).

The simple past also has some uses in which it does not refer to a past time.

• If he walked faster, he would get home earlier.
• I wish I knew what his name was.

These are generally in condition clauses and some other dependent clauses referring to hypothetical circumstances, as well as certain expressions of wish:

• He said he wanted to go on the slide.

Past Progressive

The past progressive or past continuous construction combines progressive aspect with past tense, and is formed using the past tense of be (was or were) with the present participle of the main verb.

It indicates an action that was ongoing at the past time being considered:

• At three o'clock yesterday, I was working in the garden. For stative verbs that do not use the progressive aspect, the simple past is used instead (At three o'clock yesterday we were in the garden).

The past progressive is often used to denote an action that was interrupted by an event, or for two actions taking place in parallel:

• While I was washing the dishes, I heard a loud noise.
• While you were washing the dishes, Sue was walking the dog.(Interrupted actions in the past can also sometimes be denoted using the past perfect progressive.)

The past progressive can also be used to refer to past action that occurred over a range of time and is viewed as an ongoing situation:

• I was working in the garden all day yesterday. That could also be expressed using the simple past, as I worked..., which implies that the action is viewed as a unitary event (although the effective meaning is not very different).

Past Perfect

The past perfect, sometimes called the pluperfect, combines past tense with perfect aspect; it is formed by combining had (the past tense of the auxiliary have) with the past participle of the main verb.

It is used when referring to an event that took place prior to the time frame being considered.

This time frame may be stated explicitly, as a stated time or the time of another past action:

• We had finished the job by 2 o'clock.
• He had already left when we arrived.

The time frame may also be understood implicitly from the previous or later context:

• I was eating ... I had invited Jim to the meal but he was unable to attend. (i.e. I invited him before I started eating)
• I had lost my way. (i.e. this happened prior to the time of the past events I am describing or am about to describe)

Compare He had left when we arrived (where his leaving preceded our arrival), with the form with the simple past, He left when we arrived (where his leaving was concurrent with or shortly after our arrival).

Note that unlike the present perfect, the past perfect can readily be used with an adverb specifying a past time frame for the occurrence.

For example, while it is incorrect to say I have done it last Friday (the use of last Friday, specifying the past time, would require the simple past rather than the present perfect), there is no such objection to a sentence like "I had done it the previous Friday".

The past perfect can also be used for states or repeated occurrences pertaining over a period up to a time in the past, particularly in stating "for how long" or since when". However, if the state is temporary and the verb can be used in the progressive aspect, the past perfect progressive would normally be used instead. Some examples with the plain past perfect:

• I had lived in that house for 10 years.
• The children had been in their room since lunchtime.

Past Perfect Progressive

The past perfect progressive or past perfect continuous (also known as the pluperfect progressive or pluperfect continuous) combines perfect progressive aspect with past tense.

It is formed by combining had (the past tense of auxiliary have), been (the past participle of be), and the present participle of the main verb.

Uses of the past perfect progressive are analogous to those of the present perfect progressive, except that the point of reference is in the past.

For example:

• I was tired because I had been running.
• By yesterday morning they had already been working for twelve hours.
• Among the witnesses was John Smith, who had been staying at the hotel since July 10.

This form is sometimes used for actions in the past that were interrupted by some event (compare the use of the past progressive as given above).

For example:

• I had been working on my novel when she entered the room to talk to me.

This implies that I stopped working when she came in (or had already stopped a short time before); the plain past progressive (I was working...) would not necessarily carry this implication.

If the verb in question does not use the progressive aspect, then the plain past perfect is used instead.

The past perfect progressive may also have additional specific uses similar to those of the plain past perfect.

Grammatical Number

The plural form of a noun is usually created by adding the suffix -(e)s. The pronouns have irregular plurals, as in "I" versus "we", because they are ancient and frequently used words going back to when English had a well developed system of declension. English verbs distinguish singular from plural number in the third person present tense ("He goes" versus "They go"). English treats zero with the plural number.

A1 / Elementary / Beginners

A CEFR A1 level English language user is considered a beginner. At this level, an individual is expected to have a basic understanding of the English language, including basic vocabulary and grammar. They should be able to understand and use simple phrases and sentences in order to meet basic needs and engage in simple, everyday conversations. They should also be able to understand simple instructions and signs in English.

At A1 level, they are able to understand and use familiar everyday expressions and very basic phrases aimed at the satisfaction of needs of a concrete type. They can introduce him/herself and others and can ask and answer questions about personal details such as where he/she lives, people he/she knows and things he/she has. They can interact in a simple way provided the other person talks slowly and clearly and is prepared to help.

A1 | Elementary | Beginners.

Difficulty: Easy

Easy difficulty. Difficulty levels represent author's opinion about how hard a question or challenge is.