Chapter XL: Uses of Personal Pronouns

=146.= The personal pronoun, since it takes the place of a noun, has almost all the uses of a noun. It may be,—

(1) The subject of a verb; as, “_I_ only know _I_ cannot drift beyond His love and care.”

The subject of an imperative sentence is always the pronoun _you_, _thou_, or _ye_, but this pronoun is seldom expressed; as, “Telegraph for staterooms at once.”

(2) The base word of a term of address; as, “Ho, _ye_ who suffer, know ye suffer for yourselves.”

(3) The subjective complement of a verb; as, “This man, good Ilderim, is _he_ who told you of me.”

(4) The base word of an appositive phrase; as, “The fourth lackey, _he_ of the two gold watches, poured the chocolate out.”

(5) A possessive modifier; as, “All the harmless wood folk were _his_ friends.”

NOTE.—The possessive pronoun is often intensified by the
adjective _own_, which modifies the same noun that the
possessive pronoun modifies; as, “This is _my own_, my
native land.”

(6) The direct object of a verb; as, “The farm boy spreads the grass after the men have cut _it_.”

(7) The object of a preposition; as, “What a new world did that party open to _him_!”

(8) An indirect object; as, “Here will the cattle come to drink, and I will kill _me_ a yearling heifer.”

=Exercise.=—Select and parse all the personal pronouns in the following sentences. In parsing a personal pronoun we should tell its person, number, gender, antecedent, case, and use in the sentence.

1. I verily believe that my ill looks alone saved me a flogging.

2. Taste the tamarisk, and you get the very flavor of the brine.

3. Then I swung my lasso, and sent it whistling over his head.

4. They worked together, read together, walked together,
planned together, she and her daughter, and in all things were
friends and companions.

5. Mother Wolf would throw up her head, and sniff a deep snuff
of satisfaction as the wind brought her the smell of the tiger
skin on the Council Rock.

6. The old crow spread the shells out in the sun, turned them
over, lifted them one by one in his beak, dropped them, nestled
on them as though they were eggs, toyed with them, and gloated
over them like a miser.

7. The spirits have spoken to Kotuko. They will show him open
ice. He will bring us the seal again.

8. The rank swamp grass concealed the nest where Raggylug’s
mother had hidden him.

9.

Across the lowly beach we flit,
One little sandpiper and I.

10. Up jumped Scarface, for it was he, and ran.

11.

And a voice that was calmer than silence said,
“Lo! It is I. Be not afraid.”

12. Nearly every cottage in England has its little garden full
of blooming plants and shrubs.

13.

“Who gives himself with his alms feeds three,—
Himself, his hungering neighbor, and Me.”

14. This is he that was spoken of by the prophet.

15. Arise, and take the young child and his mother, and flee
into Egypt, and be thou there until I bring thee word.

16.

I called my servant, and he came;
How kind it was of him
To mind a slender man like me,
He of the mighty limb.

17. Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make his paths straight.

18. It is so slippery and shiny down here, and the stage is so
much too big for me, that I rattle round in it till I’m almost
black and blue.

19. These are they who have passed through much tribulation.

20. O thou that rollest above, round as the shield of my
fathers, whence comes thy everlasting light?

=147.= Many errors are made in the form of personal pronouns.

(1) When a pronoun is used as the subject of a verb, it must have the nominative form, hence the correct answer to the question, Who is there? is _I_ (not _me_).

(2) When several pronouns are used as the subject of the same verb, the pronoun of the second person should come first, and the pronoun of the first person should come last. We should say,—

_You and he and I_ have been chosen.

_You and I_ were on time.

_He and I_ read the book.

Can you justify Whittier’s lines?

Ah, brother, only _I and thou_
Are left of all that circle now.

(3) For the subject of a sentence we may use the expressions _we boys_, _we girls_, _we Americans_, etc.

_We girls_ bought the pictures.

_We boys_ set up the tents.

_We Baptists_ had a church supper.

(4) A pronoun used as the complement of an intransitive verb of being must have the nominative form. We should say,—

Yes, it was _I_.

No, it was not _she_.

Perhaps it is _he_.

It is surely _they_.

(5) A pronoun used as object of a verb must have the objective form. We should say,—

Mrs. Albee invited mother and _me_.

Did you see Julia and _me_ in the gallery?

Didn’t you expect _him and her_?

She will never suspect _you and me_.

That team can’t beat _us boys_.

(6) A pronoun used as object of a preposition must have the objective form. We should say,—

Leo wrote first to _her_ and _me_.

Father will call for _you_ and _me_.

Between _you_ and _me_ he was afraid.

There is a great difference between Carrie and _me_.

They can never catch up with _us girls_.

=Exercise.=—Fill each blank in the following sentences with a pronoun having the correct case form. Give your reasons.

1. Mother says that it was —— and not —— that paid off the
mortgage.

2. Who left the room first? ——, but Mary was close behind ——.

3. —— fellows are going to have a debating society.

4. The German teacher gave you and —— the same passage to
translate.

5. There must be no secrets between —— and ——.

6. When do you expect Grandmother and ——?

7. Perhaps —— girls are most to blame.

8. Nobody chose —— or ——, so —— and —— sat on the stairs and
talked.