Collins Cobuild English Grammar (19 page)

You also use
it
in general statements, for example to refer to a situation, the time, the date, or the weather.

It
is very quiet here.
It
is half past three.
It
is January 19th.
It
is rainy and cold.

For more information on the use of
it
in general statements, see paragraphs
9.31
to
9.45
.

Note that
it
is also an
object pronoun
. For more information on this, see paragraphs
1.104
to
1.106
.

USAGE NOTE

1.101
  Although
it
is used as a pronoun to refer to something that is not male or female,
she
is sometimes used to refer to ships, cars, and countries. Some people do not like this usage.

When the repairs had been done
she
was a fine and beautiful ship.

we

1.102
  You use
we
to refer to a group of people that includes yourself. The group can be:

you and the person or people you are talking to

Where shall
we
meet, Sally?

you and the person or people you are talking to and one or more others not there at the time

We
aren’t exactly gossips, you and I and Watson.

you and one or more other people, but not including the person or people you are talking to

I do the washing; he does the cooking;
we
share the washing-up.

any group that you feel yourself to be part of, such as a school, your local community, or even mankind as a whole. For more information on this, see paragraph
1.122
.

they

1.103
  You use
they
to refer to a group of things, or to a group of people not including yourself or the person or people you are talking to.

All the girls think he’s great, don’t
they
?
Newspapers reach me on the day after
they
are published.
Winters here vary as
they
do elsewhere.

They
is also often used to refer to people in general. For more information on this, see paragraph
1.123
.

object pronouns

1.104
  Object pronouns refer to the same sets of people or things as the corresponding subject pronouns.

Here is a table of object pronouns:

position in clause

1.105
  Object pronouns are used as the object of a clause.

The nurse washed
me
with cold water.
He likes
you
; he said so.
The man went up to the cat and started stroking
it
.

They can be the indirect object of a clause.

Send
us
a card so we’ll know where you are.
A man gave
him
a car.
You have to offer
them
some kind of incentive.

They can also be the object of a preposition.

She must have felt intimidated by
me
.
Madeleine, I want to talk to
you
immediately.
We were all sitting in a café with
him
.

1.106
  Object pronouns can also be used after
linking verbs
. For example, you can say
It was me
,
It’s her
. However, in formal or written English, people sometimes use a subject pronoun after a linking verb. For example,
It was I
,
It is she
.

For more information on linking verbs, see paragraphs
3.126
to
3.181
.

Talking about possession: possessive pronouns

1.107
  When you are talking about people or things, you often want to say how they are connected with each other. There are several different ways in which you can do this, but you usually do it by using a
possessive pronoun
to show that something belongs to someone or is associated with them.

Here is a table showing possessive pronouns:

Note that
its
cannot be used as a possessive pronoun.

typical use

1.108
  You use possessive pronouns when you are talking about the same type of thing that has just been mentioned but want to show that it belongs to someone else.

For example, in the sentence
Jane showed them her passport, then Richard showed them his
,
his
refers to a passport and shows that it belongs to Richard.

Possessive pronouns are often used to contrast two things of the same type that belong to or are associated with different people. For example,
Sarah’s house is much bigger than ours
.

Her parents were in Malaya, and so were
mine
.
He smiled at her and laid his hand on
hers
.
Is that coffee
yours
or
mine
?
My marks were higher than
his
.
Fred put his profits in the bank, while Julia spent
hers
on a car.
That’s the difference between his ideas and
ours
.
It was his fault, not
theirs
.

used with
of

1.109
  Possessive pronouns are used with
of
to add information to a noun phrase. This structure suggests that you are talking about one of a group of things.

For example, if you say
a friend of mine
you are talking about one of a number of friends whereas if you say
my friend
you are talking about one friend in particular.

He was an old friend
of mine
.
A student
of yours
has just been to see me.
David Lodge? I’ve just read a novel
of his
.
It was hinted to him by some friends
of hers
.
The room was not a favourite
of theirs
.

1.110
  For other ways of showing that something belongs to someone or is connected with them, see paragraphs
1.211
to
1.221
.

Referring back to the subject: reflexive pronouns

1.111
  When you want to show that the object or the indirect object of a verb is the same person or thing as the subject of the verb, you use a
reflexive pronoun
.