A short introduction to English grammar

by Robert Lowth

PRONOUN.

A Pronoun is a word standing instead of a Noun, as its Substitute or Representative.

In the Pronoun are to be considered the Person, Number, Gender and Case.

There are Three Persons which may be the Subject of any discourse: first, the Person who speaks may speak of himself; secondly, he may speak of the Person to whom he addresses himself; thirdly, he may speak of some other Person.

These are called, respectively, the First, Second, and Third, Persons: and are expressed by the Pronouns I, Thou, He.

As the Speakers, the Persons spoken to, and the Persons spoken of, may be many, so each of these Persons hath the Plural Number; We, Ye, They.

The Persons speaking and spoken to are supposed to be present, from which and other circumstances their Sex is commonly known, and needs not to be marked by a distinction of Gender in their Pronouns: but the Person spoken of being absent and in many respects unknown, it is necessary that it should be marked by a distinction of Gender; at least when some particular Person is spoken of, who ought to be more distinctly marked: accordingly the Pronoun Singular of the Third Person hath the Three Genders, He, She, It.

Pronouns have Three Cases; the Nominative; the Genitive, or Possessive; like Nouns; and moreover a Case, which follows the Verb Active, or the Preposition, expressing the Object of an Action, or of a Relation. It answers to the Oblique Cases in Latin; and may be properly enough called the Objective Case.

PRONOUNS;
according to their Persons, Numbers, Cases, and Genders.

PERSONS.

1.	2.	3.	1.	2.	3.
Singular.			Plural.
I,	Thou,	He;	We,	Ye or You,	They.

CASES.

	Nom.	Poss.	Obj.		Nom.	Poss.	Obj.
First Person.
	I,	Mine,	Me;		We,	Ours,	Us.
Second Person.
	Thou,	Thine,	Thee;		Ye or You,	Yours,	You[10].
Third Person.
Masc.	He,	His,	Him;	}	They,	Theirs,	Them.
Fem.	She,	Hers,	Her;	}
Neut.	It,	Its[11],	It;	}

The Personal Pronouns have the nature of Substantives, and as such stand by themselves: the rest have the nature of Adjectives, and as such are joined to Substantives; and may be called Pronominal Adjectives.

Thy, My, Her, Our, Your, Their, are Pronominal Adjectives: but His, (that is, Hee’s) Her’s, Our’s, Your’s, Their’s, have evidently the Form of the Possessive Case: and by Analogy, Mine, Thine[12], may be esteemed of the same rank. All these are used, when the Noun they belong to is understood: the two latter sometimes also instead of my, thy, when the Noun following them begins with a vowel.

Beside the foregoing there are several other Pronominal Adjectives; which tho’ they may sometimes seem to stand by themselves, yet have always some Substantive belonging to them, either referred to, or understood: as, This, that, other, any, some, one, none; these are called Definitive, because they define and limit the extent of the thing, to which they either refer, or are joined. The three first of these are varied to express Number; as, These, those, others; the last of which admits of the Plural form only when its Substantive is not joined to it, but referred to, or understood: none of them are varied to express the Gender or Case. One is sometimes used in an Indefinite sense (answering to the French on) as in the following phrases; “one is apt to think;” “one sees;” “one supposes.” Who, which, that, are called Relatives, because they more directly refer to some Substantive going before; which therefore is called the Antecedent. They also connect the following part of the Sentence with the foregoing. These belong to all the three Persons; whereas the rest belong only to the Third. One of them only is varied to express the three Cases; Who, whose[13], (that is, who’s[14]) whom: none of them have different endings for the Numbers. Who, which, what, are called Interrogatives, when they are used in asking questions. The two latter of them have no variation of Number or Case.

Own, and self, in the Plural selves, are joined to the Possessives my, our, thy, your, his, her, their; as, my own hand; myself, yourselves; both of them expressing emphasis, or opposition; as, “I did it my own self,” that is, and no one else: the latter also forming the Reciprocal Pronoun; as, “he hurt himself.” Himself, themselves, seem to be used in the Nominative Case by corruption instead of his self, their selves: as, “he came himself;” “they did it themselves;” where himself, themselves, cannot be in the Objective Case. If this be so, self must be in these instances, not a Pronoun, but a Noun. Thus Dryden uses it:

“What I show,

Thy self may freely on thy self bestow.”

Ourself, the Plural Pronominal Adjective with the Singular Substantive, is peculiar to the Regal Style.

Own is an Adjective; or perhaps the Participle (owen) of the obsolete verb owe; to possess; to be the right owner of a thing.

All Nouns whatever in Grammatical Construction are of the Third Person: except when an address is made to a Person; then the Noun, answering to the Vocative Case in Latin, is of the Second Person.