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Special Uses-Indefinite/Reflexive - - Pronouns - Parts Of Speech-ESL/Learn English Grammar

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SPECIAL USES OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS


[Sidenote: _Indefinite use of_ you _and_ your.]


91. The word _you_, and its possessive case _yours_ are sometimes

used without reference to a particular person spoken to. They approach

the indefinite pronoun in use.


_Your_ mere puny stripling, that winced at the least flourish of

the rod, was passed by with indulgence.--IRVING


To empty here, _you_ must condense there.--EMERSON.


The peasants take off their hats as _you_ pass; _you_ sneeze, and

they cry, "God bless you!" The thrifty housewife shows _you_ into

her best chamber. _You_ have oaten cakes baked some months

before.--LONGFELLOW



[Sidenote: _Uses of_ it.]


92. The pronoun _it_ has a number of uses:--


(1) _To refer to some single word preceding_; as,--


Ferdinand ordered the _army_ to recommence _its_ march.--BULWER.


_Society_, in this century, has not made _its_ progress, like

Chinese skill, by a greater acuteness of ingenuity in

trifles.--D. WEBSTER.


(2) _To refer to a preceding word group_; thus,--


If any man should do wrong merely out of ill nature, why, yet

_it_ is but like the thorn or brier, which prick and scratch

because they can do no other.--BACON.


Here _it_ refers back to the whole sentence before it, or to the idea,

"any man's doing wrong merely out of ill nature."


(3) _As a grammatical subject, to stand for the real, logical

subject, which follows the verb_; as in the sentences,--


_It_ is easy in the world _to live after the world's opinion_.

--EMERSON.


_It_ is this _haziness_ of intellectual vision which is the

malady of all classes of men by nature.--NEWMAN.


_It_ is a pity _that he has so much learning, or that he has not

a great deal more_.--ADDISON.


(4) _As an impersonal subject in certain expressions which need no

other subject_; as,--


_It_ is finger-cold, and prudent farmers get in their barreled

apples.--THOREAU.


And when I awoke, _it_ rained.--COLERIDGE.


For when _it_ dawned, they dropped their arms.--_Id._


_It_ was late and after midnight.--DE QUINCEY.


(5) _As an impersonal or indefinite object of a verb or a

preposition_; as in the following sentences:--


(_a_) Michael Paw, who _lorded it_ over the fair regions of

ancient Pavonia.--IRVING.


I made up my mind _to foot it_.--HAWTHORNE.


A sturdy lad ... who in turn tries all the professions, who

_teams it, farms it, peddles it_, keeps a school.--EMERSON.


(_b_) "Thy mistress leads thee a dog's life _of it_."--IRVING.


There was nothing _for it_ but to return.--SCOTT.


An editor has only to say "respectfully declined," and there is

an end _of it_.--HOLMES.


Poor Christian was hard put _to it_.--BUNYAN.



[Sidenote: _Reflexive use of the personal pronouns._]


93. The personal pronouns in the objective case are often used

_reflexively_; that is, referring to the same person as the subject of

the accompanying verb. For example, we use such expressions as, "I

found _me_ a good book," "He bought _him_ a horse," etc. This

reflexive use of the _dative_-objective is very common in spoken and

in literary English.


The personal pronouns are not often used reflexively, however, when

they are _direct_ objects. This occurs in poetry, but seldom in prose;

as,--


Now I lay _me_ down to sleep.--ANON.


I set _me_ down and sigh.--BURNS.


And millions in those solitudes, since first

The flight of years began, have laid _them_ down

In their last sleep.--BRYANT.





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