Study session 1

14 - Pronouns and possessives

Pronouns:

-In very formal situations we use "whom" as the object form of who.

e.g: To whom were you talking?

-In more formal situations we can use "one" to tal about people in general.

e.g: Does one need a visa to go to Cyprus

-We use "it" to replace a "the + noun" and "a/an + one"

e.g: The work was hard but it was well-paid

You could buy a farm..., and we decide to buy one.

-We can use "one" or "ones" as a pronoun with a determiner or adjective

e.g: I've got two brothers, an older one and younger one.

I guess we were among the lucky ones.

-We use possessive determiners

-/ myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, oneself, ourselves,yourselves & themselves

e.g: It was hard to leave our friends.

-We use possessive pronouns

-/ mine, yours, his, hers, ours & theirs

e.g: Ours was small for America// farm

-Use the pronouns whatever and whoever to mean "it doesn't matter what/ who" or "I don't know what/who"

e.g: They would give them whatever help they needed.

Possessives:

-To make a possessive from a noun, we add "'s". we add and an apostrophe (') to regular plurals and we add "'s" to irregular plurals.

e.g: What's the baby's name?

What are the babies' names?

-To make a possessive from a long noun phrase, we add 's at the end./*we don't use apostrophe on possessive pronouns*/

e.g: We stayed in my cousin and his wife's house.

Linking words

-When we use yet as a conjunction, it means but.

e.g: I was tired, and yet I knew I had to keep walking.

-Most conjunction can come before or between the two parts they connect.// like because

-The conjunction and, but, yet, for, or, nor & so can only be in between. Sometimes they can start a new sentences.

-Sometimes for can be use as because.

-and, or, nor, but & yet to join words or phrases.

-Linking prepositions are often followed by “verb + -ing” or “the fact + clause”// last one with despite

Ellipsis and substitution.

-Ellipsis = we leave out a word -Substitution= we replace a word

-In informal conversation we often omit that at the start of that-clauses/relative clauses

e.g: The test was so stressful THAT I forgot everything

- We some times omit the subject “and be” after if, when while, although, once, as if or as though.

e.g:If in doubt.... If YOU'RE in doubt

-We often omit words after AND, OR or BUT

e.g: WE HAVE read your proposal and (WE HAVE) accept it

-We can use auxiliary or modal verbs when we omit the main verb. If these is not possible use do/did

e.g: I didn't watch the film, but perhaps I should have

-Don't use ellipsis when the repeated nouns refer to different things. Use one.

e.g: I've got a blue car and she's got a red one.

-Don't use ellipsis for the object of a verb/preposition. Use one or another pronoun.

e.g: I enjoyed the film, but she hated it

-We often omit repeated articles or determiners./*like the something and something nor like the something and the something*/

- We can leave out repeated articles with adjectives.

e.g: I'll be wearing a red hat and scarf(red scarf)

I'll be wearing a red hat and a scarf(any colour scarf)

-In conversation we often leave out repeated words.

-We often omit at when we talk about time

- We use echo statements to add more, similar, information to what someone has said these also use ellipsis. Echo statements have three parts:

So                       Modal verb(can/          subject pronoun

Neither/Nor              will,etc.)                  (I, you,etc.)

                              Auxiliary verb           possessive

                             (am/did,etc.)               pronoun (mine /

                                                                ours,etc.)

- Several common grammar structure use ellipsis and substitution

-question tags: isn't it? Aren't I?

-Short answers: Yes, you are.

-Echo questions. Are you?

-While texting we often omit words that are usually necessary such as subjects, auxiliary verbs or articles.

e.g: Must go(I must go)

gtg( got to go)... I got to go

-Nice to meet you, first time meeting the person

-Nice meeting you, after talking to some you met for the firs time