English pronouns, adjectives and adverbs Classification of pronouns Personal pronouns: Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they) Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them) Possessive pronouns (my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, your/yours, their/theirs) NOTE! We say a friend of mine, hers… We say on my own/by myself = alone I like living on my own/by myself. Demonstrative pronouns (this, these, that, those) Interrogative pronouns (who, whom, which, what) Relative pronouns (who, whom, that, which, whoever, whichever, whomever) Indefinite pronouns (all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, and someone) In general we use some (somebody ,something..) in positive sentences and any (anybody, anything..) in negative sentences + questions: She didn´t take any money with her. Hardly anybody passed the exam (almost nobody). Have you got any luggage? We use some (somebody, something..) when we expect a positive reaction: Are you waiting for somebody? We use any with the meaning “it doesn´t matter which”: You can take any bus. Come and see me any time. NOTE! Somebody/someone/anybody/anyone are singular words: Someone is here. But we often use they/them/their after them: Someone called, didn´t they? If anybody wants to leave early, they can. No and none: no is used with a noun, none without a noun: There were no shops open. How much money have you got? None. None of + plural (none of the students) can be followed by a singular or plural verb. Plural is more usual: None of the shops were (was) open. Each and every: we use each when we think of things separately, or two things: Each team has seven players. We use every when we think of things as a group: Every sentence has a verb (= all sentences) Reflexive / intensive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves) I´ll pay for myself. She really enjoys herself. (reflexive meaning) I can do it myself! (intensive meaning) NOTE! We do not use myself.. after feel, relax, concentrate, meet: I can´t relax. You must concentrate. We normally use wash, shave dress without myself…: He washed, shaved and dressed/got dressed. Reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another) Sue and Ann don´t like each other /don´t like one another. NOTE! Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns have different meanings: John and Fred talk to each other regularly. = John talks to Fred and Fred talks to John. John and Fred regularly talk to themselves. = John talks to himself and Fred talks to himself. Adjectives, adverbs. Adjectives are words that give more information about a noun or pronoun. Adjectives ending on -ing (active meaning) and -ed (passive meaning) Compare: My job is boring I´m bored with my job. interesting I´m not interested in my job. tiring I get very tired doing my job. satisfying I´m not satisfied with my job. depressing My job makes me depressed. disappointing I´m disappointed with my job. We use adjectives after be, get, become, seem, and after sensual perception verbs like look, feel, sound, taste, smell: Be careful! (compare: drive carefully!) I´ m getting hungry. The film became boring. He seems very nice. You look tired. I feel tired. She sounds tired. The dinner smells good. This tastes strange. Comparison of adjectives For the comparative form we use -er for short words (one syllable), and for two-syllable words ending in -y: Cheap – cheaper Thin – thinner Pretty – prettier Lucky – luckier We use more for longer words (two syllables and more): More serious More comfortable We can use either -er or more with some two syllable adjectives, especially: Clever, narrow, quiet, shallow, simple: A quieter place /a more quiet place NOTE! Old – older/ elder -only when talking about people in the family: my elder sister, brother, daughter, son. You can use much, a lot, far, a bit, a little, slightly before comparatives: It´s much cheaper/ a lot cheaper, a lot more expensive/much more expensive, a bit cheaper, a little cheaper, slightly heavier…. Irregular comparison: Good – better Bad -worse Far – further/farther: It´s a long walk, further/farther than I thought. NOTE! We use further (not farther) in the meaning “additional”: Further news, further information. The superlative form is -est or most (see comparative): Long – the longest Hot – the hottest Expensive – the most expensive Irregular comparison: Good – the best Bad – the worst Far – the farthest/furthest Old – oldest/eldest (see comparatives) Adjectives and adverbs Many adverbs are formed from adjectives + -ly: Quiet – quietly Careful – carefully NOTE! Some words ending in -ly are adjectives: Friendly, lively, elderly, lonely, silly, lovely Some words are both adjectives + adverbs: Fast, hard, late Fast runner – run fast Hard worker – work hard NOTE! Lately = recently : Have you seen Tom lately? Hardly = almost not: She hardly spoke to me. I hardly ever get out. Hardly any = almost none: It´s hardly any difference. I can hardly do something = it´s almost impossible: I can hardly read it. Good – well: Your English is good(adjective). You speak English well (adverb). So – such: so + adjective, adverb; such + noun. The story is so stupid !(adjective) He drove so quickly !(adverb). It was such a stupid story (noun). You can use quite, pretty, rather, fairly with adjectives+ adverbs. The meaning is: less than very, more than a little. NOTE the position of “a”: Sally has quite a good job. Sally has a pretty good job. Pretty is used in spoken English. Quite also means “completely”, usually with the following adjectives: Sure, right, true, clear, different, incredible, amazing, certain, wrong, safe, obvious, unnecessary, extraordinary, impossible: I am quite sure (completely sure). Everything they said was quite true. Rather is often used with negative ideas: It´s rather cloudy. When used with positive ideas, the meaning is “unusually, surprisingly”: These oranges are rather good. Fairly is weaker than the rest: We see each other fairly often = not very often, it could be more.