COMMON ERRORS
241. Here are a number of common errors which only constant practice and watchfulness can overcome. Study these over and watch your conversation closely. Force yourself to speak correctly for a time, and soon correct speech will become a habit.
1. Do not use both a noun and a pronoun as the subject of a sentence; as, John, he waited for me. Mary, she refused to go. Leave out the pronouns he and she in these sentences. They are unnecessary and incorrect.
2. Never use hern, ourn, hisn or yourn for hers, ours, his and yours; as, The book is hisn. Ourn stopped on the first. Did you get yourn? Say: This book is his. Ours stopped on the first. Did you get yours?
3. Never say hisself for himself. There is no such word as hisself. Do not say, He hurt hisself. Say, He hurt himself.
4. Do not say them for those; as, Did you bring them songs? Them things are not right. Say, Did you bring those songs? Those things are not right.
5. Do not use an apostrophe in writing the possessive forms of pronouns, as her's, our's, it's. Leave out the apostrophe and write hers, ours, its.
6. Do not use who to relate to animals or things; as, The dog who bit me was killed. Say, The dog that bit me was killed.
7. Do not use myself as the subject. It can be used only as an emphatic or reflexive pronoun. It is correct to say, I found the book myself, and I hurt myself. But do not say, They asked my friend and myself, or Myself and my wife will go. Say, They asked my friend and me. My wife and I will go.
8. Avoid the use of pronouns when the reference to the antecedent is not clear. Better repeat the nouns or re-write the sentence. For example:
- He said to his friend that if he did not feel better soon he thought he had better go home.
Now you can interpret this in at least four different ways. No one but the speaker can ever know to whom the pronouns he refer, whether to the speaker or to his friend. Or in the sentence,
- A tried to see B in the crowd, but could not because he was so short.
Who was short, A or B? John's father died before he was born. Did John's father die before John was born or did John's father die before John's father, himself, was born? Be careful in the use of pronouns in this way.
9. Remember that I, we, he, she, they and who are always used as subject forms and also as the complement of all forms of the verb be.
10. Remember that me, him, her, them, us and whom are always object forms. Never say, They charged he and I too much. Say, They charged him and me too much. In an attempt to speak correctly and follow the niceties of English, this mistake is so often made. Always use the object form as the object of a verb or preposition.
11. When a participle is used as a noun, and a pronoun is used with it, the pronoun should always be in the possessive form. We make this mistake so frequently. For example, we say: Us going there was a mistake. We should have used the possessive form, Our going there was a mistake. I have never known of him being absent from work. We should say: I have never known of his being absent from work. Did he tell you about me joining with them? This should be, Did he tell you about my joining with them? You talking to him set him to thinking. This should be, Your talking to him set him to thinking. Watch this and wherever you have used a participle as a noun, use the pronoun in the possessive form, as you would with any other noun.
12. Watch carefully that the number of the pronoun always agrees with the number of its antecedent. If you are speaking of one person or thing use a singular pronoun. If you are speaking of more than one person or thing in your antecedent, use the plural pronoun. For example: Each man must do his own work. The soldiers fully understood their danger.
13. When a singular noun, in the common gender (this means that it may name either a male or female being), is the antecedent of the pronoun, it is customary for us to use the masculine pronoun. For example:
- Every student should send in his examination paper promptly.
- Every member of the class may select his own subject.
Do not use the pronoun their when the antecedent is a singular noun.
SUMMARY
Pronoun—In Place of a Noun
| CLASSES | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal | { | Simple— | { | 1st Person, speaking. |
| Compound— | 2nd Person, spoken to. | |||
| 3rd Person, spoken of. | ||||
| Interrogative | { | To ask questions. | ||
| Who, which and what. | ||||
| Relative | { | To refer to another word and connect two statements. | ||
| Who, which, that and what. | ||||
Exercise 1
Complete the following sentences by using the correct form of I, me, or myself, in the blank spaces:
- My partner and......joined the union.
- They asked Henry and......to go.
- May my friend and......call?
- I will attend to that.......
- Let my comrade and......go with you.
- Are you sure it was......?
- I blame......for joining with them.
- They accused......of bothering them.
- I am nearly beside......with grief.
- The manager dismissed the men......among the rest.