PRONOUNS

72. When we wish to speak of a name several times in succession, it is clumsy and tiresome to repeat the noun. For instance, instead of saying, "The pupil will succeed in the pupil's efforts if the pupil is ambitious," we improve the sentence by shortening it thus, "The pupil will succeed in his efforts if he is ambitious."

Again, if we wish to know about the ownership of a house, we evidently cannot state the owner's name, but by a question we say, "Whose house is that?" thus placing a word instead of the name till we learn the name.
This is not to be understood as implying that pronouns were invented because nouns were tiresome, since history shows that pronouns are as old as nouns and verbs. The use of pronouns must have sprung up naturally, from a necessity for short, definite, and representative words.
Definition.

A pronoun is a reference word, standing for a name, or for a person or thing, or for a group of persons or things.
Classes of pronouns.

73. Pronouns may be grouped in five classes:—

(1) Personal pronouns, which distinguish person by their form (Sec. 76).

(2) Interrogative pronouns, which are used to ask questions about persons or things.

(3) Relative pronouns, which relate or refer to a noun, pronoun, or other word or expression, and at the same time connect two statements They are also called conjunctive.

(4) Adjective pronouns, words, primarily adjectives, which are classed as adjectives when they modify nouns, but as pronouns when they stand for nouns.

(5) Indefinite pronouns, which cannot be used as adjectives, but stand for an indefinite number of persons or things.

Numerous examples of all these will be given under the separate classes hereafter treated.
PERSONAL PRONOUNS..
Person in grammar.

74. Since pronouns stand for persons as well as names, they must represent the person talking, the person or thing spoken to, and the person or thing talked about.

This gives rise to a new term, "the distinction of person."
Person of nouns.

75. This distinction was not needed in discussing nouns, as nouns have the same form, whether representing persons and things spoken to or spoken of. It is evident that a noun could not represent the person speaking, even if it had a special form.

From analogy to pronouns, which have forms for person, nouns are sometimes spoken of as first or second person by their use; that is, if they are in apposition with a pronoun of the first or second person, they are said to have person by agreement.

But usually nouns represent something spoken of.
Three persons of pronouns.

76. Pronouns naturally are of three persons:—

(1) First person, representing the person speaking.

(2) Second person, representing a person or thing spoken to.

(3) Third person, standing for a person or thing spoken of.
FORMS OF PERSONAL PRONOUNS.

77. Personal pronouns are inflected thus:—
FIRST PERSON.
Singular. Plural.
Nom. I we
Poss. mine, my our, ours
Obj. me us
SECOND PERSON.
Singular.
Old Form Common Form.
Nom. thou you
Poss. thine, thy your, yours
Obj. thee you
Plural.
Nom. ye you
Poss. your, yours your, yours
Obj. you you
THIRD PERSON.
Singular.
Masc. Fem. Neut..
Nom. he she it
Poss. his her, hers its
Obj. him her it
Plur. of all Three.
Nom. they
Poss. their, theirs
Obj. them
Remarks on These Forms.
First and second persons without gender.

78. It will be noticed that the pronouns of the first and second persons have no forms to distinguish gender. The speaker may be either male or female, or, by personification, neuter; so also with the person or thing spoken to.
Third person singular has gender.

But the third person has, in the singular, a separate form for each gender, and also for the neuter.
Old forms.

In Old English these three were formed from the same root; namely, masculine hē, feminine hēo, neuter hit.

The form hit (for it) is still heard in vulgar English, and hoo (for hēo) in some dialects of England.

The plurals were hī, heora, heom, in Old English; the forms they, their, them, perhaps being from the English demonstrative, though influenced by the cognate Norse forms.
Second person always plural in ordinary English.

79. Thou, thee, etc., are old forms which are now out of use in ordinary speech. The consequence is, that we have no singular pronoun of the second person in ordinary speech or prose, but make the plural you do duty for the singular. We use it with a plural verb always, even when referring to a single object.
Two uses of the old singulars.

80. There are, however, two modern uses of thou, thy, etc.:—

(1) In elevated style, especially in poetry; as,—
With thy clear keen joyance
Languor cannot be;
Shadow of annoyance
Never came near thee;
Thou lovest; but ne'er knew love's sad satiety.
—Shelley.

(2) In addressing the Deity, as in prayers, etc.; for example,—

Oh, thou Shepherd of Israel, that didst comfort thy people of old, to thy care we commit the helpless.—Beecher.
The form its.

81. It is worth while to consider the possessive its. This is of comparatively recent growth. The old form was his (from the nominative hit), and this continued in use till the sixteenth century. The transition from the old his to the modern its is shown in these sentences:—

1 He anointed the altar and all his vessels.—Bible

Here his refers to altar, which is a neuter noun. The quotation represents the usage of the early sixteenth century.

2 It's had it head bit off by it young—Shakespeare

Shakespeare uses his, it, and sometimes its, as possessive of it.

In Milton's poetry (seventeenth century) its occurs only three times.

3 See heaven its sparkling portals wide display—Pope
A relic of the olden time.

82. We have an interesting relic in such sentences as this from Thackeray: "One of the ways to know 'em is to watch the scared looks of the ogres' wives and children."

As shown above, the Old English objective was hem (or heom), which was often sounded with the h silent, just as we now say, "I saw 'im yesterday" when the word him is not emphatic. In spoken English, this form 'em has survived side by side with the literary them.
Use of the pronouns in personification.

83. The pronouns he and she are often used in poetry, and sometimes in ordinary speech, to personify objects (Sec. 34)