Pronotum

“ Indeed, an eminent linguist has been so impressed with this feature that he has proposed to classify them distinctively as “pronominal languages.” They have many classes of pronouns, sometimes as many as eighteen, which is more than twice as many as the Greek. There is often no distinction between a noun and a verb other than the pronoun which governs it. That is, if a word is employed with one form of the pronoun it becomes a noun, if with another pronoun, it becomes a verb.
We have something of the same kind in English. In the phrase, “I love,” love is a verb; but in “my love,” it is a noun. ”

“ Thus, if we are speaking of books, and say [,] 'Mine are here,' mine means my books, [Fist] and it must be deemed a personal pronoun possessive in the third person plural, and nominative to the verb are."--Smart's Accidence, p. xxii. If to say, these "possessive cases must be called a class of pronouns, used substantively, and deemed nominatives or objectives," is not absurd, then nothing can be. Nor is any thing in grammar more certain, than that the pronoun "mine" can only be used by the speaker or writer, to denote himself or herself as the owner of something. ”

“ Besides being used as demonstrative pronouns and adjectives the Latin demonstratives are regularly used for the personal pronoun he, she, it. As a personal pronoun, then, is would have the following meanings:
116. Comparison between suus and is. We learned above (§ 98. c) that suus is a reflexive possessive. When his, her (poss.) , its, their, do not refer to the subject of the sentence, we express his, her, its by eius, the genitive singular of is, ea, id ; and their by the genitive plural, using eōrum to refer to a masculine or neuter antecedent noun and eārum to refer to a feminine one. ”

“ Himself is a compound personal pronoun, representing man, in the third person, singular number, and masculine gender; according to Rule 10th, which says, "A pronoun must agree with its antecedent, or the noun or pronoun which it represents, in person, number, and gender;" and is in the objective case, being governed by will find; according to Rule 5th, which says, "A noun or a pronoun made the object of an active-transitive verb or participle, is governed by it in the objective case." ”

“ Him is the objective after the imperative let, and is correct. Whom should be who, as pronoun attribute of the verb may be. “Who he may be, I cannot tell,” is correct. “Who he may be, let him be,” is also correct. By transposing, and by omitting be, we have “Let him be who he may.”
“Let the sea roar, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.” When, as in this case, the verb is widely separated from its object, we need to give particular care to the case of the pronoun which constitutes the object. They should be them. ”

“ The three special Cautions given above for the agreement of the verb will also aid in determining the agreement of the pronoun with its antecedent.
+Remarks+.—The pronoun and the verb of an adjective clause relating to the indefinite subject it take, by attraction, the person and number of the complement when this complement immediately precedes the adjective clause; as, It is I that am in the wrong; It is thou that liftest me up; It is the dews and showers that make the grass grow.
The pronoun you, even when singular, requires a plural verb. ”

“ In the pronoun we find often a much more rigid adherence to the series of three persons than the one that we apply, in so far as the distinction is carried through in the pronominal plural and in the demonstrative. ”

“ And the pronoun, the adjective, the adverb and the preposition, however they may be disjunctively employed in certain cases, are chiefly useful as furnishing materials to the speaker, to be worked up into the complicated texture of the verb and the substantive. Nothing, in fact, can be more unlike, than the language, viewed in its original, elementary state,—in a vocabulary, for instance, of its primitive words, so far as such a vocabulary can now be formed, and the same language as heard under its oral, amalgamated form. ”

“ A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun, to avoid repeating the same word; as, Pahpenatum eneneh, the man is happy; Pahpenatum, he is happy.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS.
There are three personal pronouns, viz. Neen, I; keen, thou; ween, he; with their plurals, Nenahwind, we; kenahwah, ye or you; wenahwah, they.
Personal pronouns have person, number, gender and case.
The persons of pronouns are three in each number, viz.
Number.—Pronouns have two numbers, the singular and the plural. ”

“ In such expressions as a few books, a good many trees, the article a may seem at first thought to modify a plural noun; but this is not the case. The article modifies the pronominal adjectives few and many, having the meaning of collective nouns, that is, meaning individuals taken as a group instead of singly. This pronominal is then modified by the prepositional phrase of books, of trees, with the preposition of understood. Usage alone settles for us when the preposition is to be expressed. We say a few of them; but if we use a noun in place of the pronoun them we omit the preposition ”

“ We beg to inform thee, that the third person plural has no distinction of gender.
SECTION II.
OF THE RELATIVE PRONOUNS.
The Pronouns called Relative are such as relate, for the most part, to some word or phrase, called the antecedent, on account of its going before: they are, who, which, and that: as, “The man who does not drink enough when he can get it, is a fool; but he that drinks too much is a beast.” ”

“ The Enclitics, which are always appended to a word. These are -quĕ, -vĕ, -nĕ and the Prep, cum when it governs Personal, and usually when it governs Relative Pronouns, as sēcum, quĭbuscum. The Indefinite Pronoun quĭs anyone, and the Adverbs quŏ anywhither, quā anywhere, derived from it. The Adverbs or Conjunctions vērō, autem but, ĭgĭtŭr therefore, ĕnim for, usually stand second in a sentence. Quŏquĕ too, quĭdem indeed, follow the word they emphasise. Tămen usually stands first in a sentence; but if it emphasises a particular word, it follows that word. ”

“ Constant remembrance of this simple fact, that a pronoun is only a substitute for a noun, is really about all that is needed to secure correct usage after the pronouns themselves have once become familiar. A construction which appears doubtful can often be decided by substituting nouns for pronouns and vice versa. ”

“ When we examine common words, we find that, broadly speaking, proper names stand for particulars, while other substantives, adjectives, prepositions, and verbs stand for universals. Pronouns stand for particulars, but are ambiguous: it is only by the context or the circumstances that we know what particulars they stand for. ”

“ It is certainly better so. Mr. Noun’s words are not used so often, and all parties are23 pleased. Then he, his, and them, are pronouns, as they stand instead of nouns. Now tell us what other words you have, Mr. Pronoun.”
“First of all, my lord, I have words which are used instead of the names of people when they are talking of themselves, such as I or me, we or us. When a person is speaking of himself he does not name his own name, but says instead, I or me. ”

“ In the English language, the imperative mood of a verb is never conjugated with a pronoun in the nominative case, therefore, "Let you and I try to move it," "Let him and I go up and speak to them," are manifest improprieties. A very simple test may be formed by taking away the first noun or pronoun from the sentence altogether, and bringing the verb or preposition right against that pronoun which you use to designate yourself: thus, "They were coming to see I," "The claret will be packed in two hampers for I," "Let I try to move it," &c. ”

“ In such a phrase there is always a substantive, and if this is changed to a personal pronoun we find that it is in the objective case; for example, “A writer is so like a [Pg 155] lover.”—Holmes. Substituting a pronoun for lover we find that usage calls for the objective form him. Does this prove that like is a preposition and him its object? ”

“ When the pronoun signifies possession, it takes an inseparable form, is incorporated with the substantive that agrees with it, and is s- for the first, w- for the second, and i- for the third person singular. Then for the plural it is h- for the first person, s`- for the second, r- for the third: ab=father;
2. When the pronoun is governed by a verb, it is inseparable also; and similarly incorporated.
3. Hence, the only inseparable form of the personal pronoun is, when it governs the verb. In this case the forms are:
[Pg 121]
In sa-ra, wa-ra, ha-ra, s`a-ra, the -ra is non-radical. ”

“ The language of the Latin grammar has, probably, been too closely imitated.
The first and second persons are formed by appending [Pg 172] the pronouns either in the nominative or the instructive form. That an oblique form of the pronoun should appear in the personal inflexion of verbs is no more than what the researches of the late Mr. Garnett, with which we are all so familiar, have taught us to expect. ”

“ The noun clause, the root infinitive, the gerund, and the participle used as subjective complements, have been discussed in preceding chapters.
To this use must also be referred the personal pronoun in the possessive case used as in the sentence,—“All [Pg 177] the beauty of these summer days is mine.” Is this pronoun a predicate nominative meaning my beauty, or is it a predicate adjective meaning possessed by me, or shall we make no attempt to classify it at all?
The word so often does duty as a subjective complement. It is used to avoid a repetition of some noun or adjective ”

“ When the relative is the object of the verb, or is preceded in English by a preposition, a redundant personal pronoun is added after the verb, with or without a combined preposition, but a preposition is never placed before the relative particle a itself. ”

“ When a noun of multitude or collective noun is the antecedent, the pronoun, like the verb, must be plural or singular according to the sense intended to be conveyed.
Ambiguity
Never leave the antecedent of your pronoun in doubt.
“John tried to see his father in the crowd, but could not, because he was so short.” If the father was short, repeat the noun and omit the pronoun, as “John tried to see his father in the crowd but could not because his father was so short.” If John was short, recast the sentence: “John, being short of stature, tried in vain to see his father in the crowd.” ”

“ Pronouns are used for Nouns and for Adjectives. They point out something, or describe it less definitely than an Adjective: ĭs he, quīdam lĭbĕr a-certain book.
Verbs show what people do, or what is done to them, or in what state they are: vulnĕrō I-wound, vulnĕrŏr I-am-wounded, stō I-stand.
Adverbs are used to qualify Verbs and Adjectives: cĕlĕrĭtĕr vĕnĭt quickly he-comes, valdē bŏnŭs very good.
Prepositions and Conjunctions have no meaning by themselves.
A Preposition is used with a Noun or Pronoun to show its connexion with the rest of the sentence. ”

“ The personal pronouns, whether nominative or accusative, always come after the yerb; as, molann sé ṫú, he praises you.
533. The disjunctive forms of the personal pronouns are used immediately after the verb IS in any of its forms expressed or understood; as, is é an fear láidir é. He is a strong man. An é a fuair é? Was it he who found it? Naċ í d’ inġean í? Is she not your daughter?
534. A personal pronoun which stands for a sentence, or part of a sentence, is third person singular, masculine gender. An rud aduḃairt mé, is é adeirim arís. ”

“ The independent personal pronouns are the forms used when the pronoun is not immediate­ly dependent on a noun, a verb or an inflected prepo­sition. They occur (a) at the beginning of a sentence, see § 162 vii (2) ;— (b) after a conjunc­tion or un­inflected prepo­sition, including fel, megis;— (c) after ys ‘it is’, mae (mai) ‘that it is’, panyw id., pei ‘if it were’, etc., and after the un­inflected heb y ‘said’ (heb y mi § 198 i) . Inde­pendent personal pronouns are either simple, redupli­cated or conjunc­tive; thus:
i. Simple: sg. 1. mi, 2. ti, 3. m. ef, f. hi; pl. 1. ni, 2. chw̯i, 3. Ml. ”

“ In a language which provides for the distinctions of person by particles prefixed or suffixed to the verb, it will scarcely be expected, that separate and independent relative pronouns should exist, or if such are to be found, their use, as separate parts of speech, must, it will have been anticipated, be quite limited—limited to simple interrogatory forms of expression, and not applicable to the indicative, or declaratory. ”

“ A pronoun, whether personal, demonstrative, or relative, is a wonderful linguistic invention, enabling the speaker to carry on long trains of unbroken thought. Its invention was no more connected with the sense of self, than was the invention of any labor-saving device. ”

“ There is much danger that in some way the antecedent of a pronoun will be left uncertain. If the antecedent is shifted, if the pronoun stands without any antecedent, or with only a vague antecedent, or if the word to which it refers grammatically is not the word to which it refers in sense, ambiguity surely results. ”

“ The POSSESSIVE PRONOUN, when applied to anything which has no relation to our body, is the genitive of the personal pronoun, placed after the noun: purpur rak—my hat; naun rom—thy house; ton rok—his hatchet; mad romad—our clothes ”

“ Singular or Plural Pronouns. [62] —The rule that a pronoun should be in the same number as its antecedent is violated most commonly in connection with such expressions as "any one," "each," "either," "every," "man after man," "neither," "nobody." Grammatically such expressions are singular.
"He" ("his," "him") may stand for mankind in general and include women as well as men. ”