E.g. His collection of stamps is a most valuable one.
Demonstrative Pronouns
§ 11. There are four demonstrative pronouns in English: this,
that, such and same. They all may be used as noun pronouns and
as adjective pronouns.
The pronouns this and that change for number. Their corresponding
plural forms are: these and those.
§ 12. The pronoun this (these) refers to what is near in space,
time or conception (a), that (those) to what is farther off (b).
e.g. a) Do you know thesepeople? Thisis Harry Field, my coach,
and thisis Jake Spring, the producer.
Take thispear. It looks very ripe.
"Look at this,"he said and showed me his tie.
When he stopped talking, she wondered, "Why is he telling
me all this?"
"Maybe you don't want to go to thisparty," he asked hoping
she would say "no".
b) Do you see thosehouses in the distance? That'swhere we
are going.
Is thatyour son?
They ate the pie and drank the coffee in silence. When
they had finished, Delany said, "Now I'll have thatcigar
you offered me."
He was deaf but she didn't think that many people noticed
That.
The pronouns this (these) and that (those) may also have other
applications.
1) In some cases this (these) may refer to what is to follow,
that (those) to what precedes.
e.g. After I've listened to you very attentively I'll tell you this —
I don't think you should trust the man.
But I'm glad to see you have an interest in sports. That
means we have two things in common.
2) This (these) and that (those) are often used with nouns indi
cating time. This (these) is used for time which is future or just
past. That (those) is used for time which is clearly past.
e.g. "Why don't you come and see me some time?" "How about
this Sunday, if it's convenient?" Father had to go to
Chicago this morning. I remember that he woke up early that
morning. She looked flushed and well, although she had a
heart attack
that summer.
3) Sometimes the use of this (these) and that (those) is emo
tionally coloured. The kind of feeling implied (affection, vexation,
disgust, contempt, etc.) depends on the situation.
e.g. Will this dog ever stop barking?
Do you really believe in those ideas? When
will you stop trumping that piano? He is one
of those so-called modern poets.
4) The pronoun that (those) may be used instead of a noun al
ready mentioned. It is called a prop-word in this case.
e.g. He found it easier to believe that her actions were those of a
spoilt girl.
He hung his daughter's portrait beside that of his wife's.
These poems are not so good as those written by you last
year.
I entered by the door opposite to that opening into the garden.
She was a good teacher. She knew how to teach bright children
and those who were slow.
I was interested to learn that the cafe was the same that we
had visited five years before.
As is seen from the above examples, that (those) in this case is
followed by a prepositional phrase, a participle, an ing-form or a
clause.
5) That is often used instead of it. In this case that appears to
be more emphatic than it.
e.g. I'm going to practise law. I have that all planned. "Let's send
him a wire." "That's an excellent idea." "His gun went off
and he nearly killed himself." "I didn't
know that."
"Tell her I'm sorry 1 missed her." "I'll do that."
"I'm going to stay here a while." "That's fine."
6) Those followed by a who-clause, a participle or an ing-form
refers to persons.
e.g. Serious newspapers are read by those (=people) who want to
know about important happenings everywhere.
Even those (=people) who do not like his pictures are not indifferent
to him.
Those (=people) injured in the accident were taken to hospital.
Note. Those present 'присутствующие' and those concerned 'заинтересован-
ные лица' are set phrases.
#
7) In spoken English that may be used as an adverbial modifi
er of degree.
e.g. I did not think he was that stupid. I will go
that far, but no further. He should know
that much about his trade.
§ 13. That, this are often found as part of set phrases. Here
are some of them:
e.g. "Mike will tell you that I seldom pass through this place
without dropping in." "That's right." ('Это-верно.') "I
have a car outside. I'll give you a ride home." "Oh, that's
all right. It isn't much of a walk." ('He надо'. 'Ничего'.)
My husband said you were properly brought up. He always
notices things like that. (=such things) Would you like a
bag like this? (=such a bag) I hate it when they dance like
this. (=in this way) I had never heard him speak like that
before. (=in that way) It was May, but for all that the rain
was falling as in the
heaviest autumn downpours, (=despite that) My mother
intended to have a glorious supper — not that she could
eat much nowadays, but for the sake of style and my
sake, ('не то чтобы...') She was young and beautiful. More
than that, she was happy.
('более того...')
You ought to know better than that, ('быть умнее') "Do you
want to speak to me about your work?" "Oh, hardly
that." ('да нет, не совсем'; 'совсем не о том') Не talked
about his responsibilities and all that, ('и тому подобное')
I'm thinking of your future, you know. That's whyI'm giving
you a piece of advice, ('поэтому')
After thatI did not see him for several days, ('после этого')
Marion's concern was directly for me. "Yes, it was a pity you
ran across her," she said. "Mind you, I expect you puzzled
her as much as she did you — that is,if I know anything
about you." ('то есть')
"You know what people think when a man like him dies."
"Thatis?" "People imagine it's a revenge." ('то есть?'
'а именно?')
Let's leave it at that,('оставим все так'; 'остановимся на
этом')
So that's that,('вот так-то'; 'такие-то дела')
I told you before, I won't do it, and that's that,('и все')
That settles it.('На том и порешим.')
What were you doing down there, or what was I doing there
for that matter?('впрочем, даже')
Note. Note that English people speaking of their country say this country
whereas in Russian it would be наша страна.
§ 14. The demonstrative pronoun such may mean of this or
that kind (a) or indicate degree (b). Such is followed by the indefinite
article before singular countable nouns.
e.g. a) If I were you I would not have said sucha thing about him.
He was a silent, ambitious man. Suchmen usually succeed.
Suchis the present state of things.
The position of Dan Crusher was suchthat he was welcome
in any club, b) He is sucha bore.
He wrote such desperate letters to me that year.
The meaning of such is often completed by a clause of consequence
introduced by that or a phrase introduced by as.
e.g. I had sucha busy morning thatI had no time to call you up.
He cut suchan absurd figure that I felt inclined to laugh. I
never saw sucha handsome man as Jim's father. Mr Clark
was afraid that his promotion would never come because
there was sucha thing, he said, as junior clerks trying to
draw attention to themselves.
Such may be followed by an infinitive with as.
e.g. His carelessness is such asto make it unlikely that he will
pass his examination.
Note that such may be combined with some indefinite pronouns.
e.g. I'll do no suchthing.
He didn't say any suchthing. • Any suchrequest is
sure to be turned down. On every suchoccasion dozens
of people get injured. Some suchstory was told to me
years ago.
§ 15. Such is sometimes found as part of set phrases. Here are
some of them:
e.g. They export a lot of fruit, such asoranges, lemons, etc.
(= for example 'такие, как') His education, such as it
was,was finished by the time he
was fifteen, ('каково бы оно ни было') My services, such
as they are,are at your disposal, ('каковы
бы они ни были') John is the captain of the team, and, as
such,he is to decide
what is to be done, ('как таковой')
§ 16. The demonstrative pronoun same means 'identical'. It is
always preceded by the definite article.
e.g. We don't have to go all in the same car.
I was astonished and at the sametime very much excited. In
autumn the school re-opened. The samestudents came to
George's classes. His stories set one's imagination to
work. The sameis true
of his articles.
The meaning of same is often completed by a clause introduced
by that or as.
e.g. He wore the samesuit thatI had seen him in five years before.
He ate his sandwiches at midday in the sameplaces as I did.
"You haven't changed," I said smiling. He had the sameabsurd
appearance thatI remembered.
Same may also be followed by a phrase introduced by as.
e.g. Saying good-bye, my aunt gave me the same warning as on
the day of my father's departure.
His head was disproportionally large, built on the same lines
as his sister's but with finer features.
§ 17. Same is sometimes found as part of set phrases. Here
are some of them:
e.g. It's all the same to me. (=It makes no difference to me.)
I asked him what he wanted to start with. It was all the
same to him. (=it made no difference to him.) I don't think
he'll wish to see me. But I'll come all the same.
(=in spite of that)
"How is he today?" "Much the same." (=not apparently different)
Indefinite Pronouns
§ 18. The indefinite pronouns express various degrees and various
kinds of indefiniteness. We find the following subgroups
among them:
1) indefinite pronouns proper:
a) some, any, no;
b) somebody, anybody, nobody;
someone, anyone, no one;
something, anything, nothing;
c) one, none
2) distributive pronouns:
a) all, every, each, other, either, neither, both;
b) everybody, everyone, everything
3) quantitative pronouns:
much, many, little, few, a little, a few, a lot of, lots of,
a great deal, a great many, etc.
§ 19. The pronoun some may be used as an adjective pronoun
and as a noun pronoun. It has several meanings. Some usually expresses
an indefinite number or amount or indefinite quality.
e.g. On such days my mother would give me some pennies to buy
sweets or a magazine.
They did give us some nice things to eat, didn't they? I was
terrified that some disaster was waiting for me. I had been
playing cricket with some of the neighbouring
children. The visitor asked me to describe some of the
work we do in
our laboratory.
«Some, used with a singular countable noun, may mean 'a particular
but unidentified person or thing'.
e.g. Some boy had written a Latin word on the blackboard.
We must first think of some plan.
Some is very often used for contrast. Then it is strongly stressed.
e.g. I enjoy some music, but not much of it.
Some of us agree with the statement, some disagree.
Some may also mean 'approximately',
e.g. It happened some twenty years ago.
When used as a noun pronoun, some may be singular or plural.
It depends on whether some refers to countable or uncountable
nouns.
e.g. Some of his opinions were hard to accept.
Some of the food was packed in waterproof bags.
As a rule, some is used in affirmative sentences (see the examples
above). In interrogative and negative sentences it is changed
into any or no (see §§ 20-21 below). However, there are instances
when some remains unchanged in interrogative and negative sentences.
It happens when the question or negation does not concern
the part of the sentence containing some, i.e. when the part of the
sentence containing some remains affirmative in meaning.
e.g. May I give you some more tea?
I could not answer some of his questions. Did you see some
of his poems published in the magazine? I'm going away for
a week. So I shan't be able to see some interesting games.
Not all your answers are correct. Some are, some aren't. You
know some women can't see the telephone without taking the
receiver off.
§ 20. The pronoun any is also used as an adjective pronoun
and as a noun pronoun. In affirmative sentences any means 'it
does not matter who, what or which'.
e.g. Come anyday you like.
I was interested in any new prospect of change. Any who
have questions to ask are requested to do so in writing.
"Which newspaper do you want me to buy?" "Any will do."
Her voice carried well in any hall.
Note. Any number of is a set phrase, meaning 'a great many',
e.g. I have any number ofplants in my garden.
In interrogative and negative sentences any is used instead of some.
e.g. Is there any chance of seeing any of his pictures? I did not
see any change in his life. They asked him for some money.
He said he didn't have any.
It should be noted that a negative meaning may be conveyed
in the sentence not only by not, but also by never, without, seldom,
hardly, etc. It may also be expressed in another clause.
e.g. He neverhad anyluck.
He went away withoutsaying good-bye to any of us.
Now that he lived in the country he seldomhad anyvisitors.
The Dutchman spoke French with hardly anyaccent.
No one is under any obligation to you.
I don'tthink any of us ought to wish the result to be different.
Any is used when some doubt or condition is implied. This often
occurs in object clauses introduced by if or whether or in conditional
clauses.
e.g. Let me know if you hear any news.
I wonder if you have met any of these people before.
If you have any news, call me up right away.
If you still have any of my father's letters, send them to me,
please.
Any may be used as an adverbial modifier of degree in the sentence.
e.g. He isn't any better.
In spite of your advice she isn't any the wiser.
§ 21. The pronoun no is negative in meaning and used only as
an adjective pronoun. It may mean 'not any' or 'not a'.
e.g. He had no tie on.
They have no friends in London. He had no
desire to take decisions. There are no letters
for you today. I have no money left. There
were no people in the hall. No boy at the
school had ever seen the sea. „ He is no hero.
The girl was no beauty. The
old man was no fool.
Note the set phrase to be no good. e.g. He is no
goodas a pianist, ('никуда не годится')
§ 22. There are the following compound pronounsformed with
some-, any- and no-:
someone — anyone — no one
somebody — anybody — nobody
something — anything — nothing
They are all used as noun pronouns and the rules for the use
of some, any and no in different kinds of sentences hold good for
them (see §§ 19-21 above).
The compounds in -one and in -body are singular in meaning
and can be used only of persons.
e.g. There is someonein his office. Do you hear them talking?
He'd told my landlady he was looking out for someoneto
paint him.
My mother wanted me to give more money to the fund than
anyone in the form.
Is there anyone at home?
No one was in a hurry. No one seemed to think that tomorrow
existed.
I found my mother in the kitchen. There was no one else at
home.
Somebody must have been using my books. They've got all
misplaced on the shelf.
Anybody can see that the whole thing has been a failure.
Did you meet anybody on your way home?
Nobody can help him under the circumstances.
The compounds in -one and in -body can have the form of the
genitive case.
e.g. He isn't going to be in anybody's way at this hour of the night.
Did you take anybody's photograph at the party?
Note. When the compounds in -one and in -body are followed by else, the genitive
case suffix -'s is added after else.
e.g. That's not my hat. It's somebody else's.
The difference between the compounds in -body and those in -
one is that the latter are, as a rule, more individualizing, i.e. the
compounds in -body refer to persons collectively, whereas those in -
one refer to individuals.
Cf. Somebody is sure to get interested in the job. (=some people,
one or more persons) This is a letter from someone
interested in the job. (=some
person, one person)
Nobody knew about her arrival. (= no people)
No one had come to meet her. (= not a person)
As a result, the compounds in -body are never followed by an o/-
phrase, while the compounds in -one sometimes are.
e.g. Does anyone of you correspond with her family?
The compounds in -thing can be used only of things. They are
also singular in meaning but they cannot have the form of the
genitive case.
e.g. There is something wrong with him.
We were almost outside our house before I took in that something
was not right.
"Why don't you say something?" he demanded.
I'll do anything for you.
"Is there anything in the paper?" he said, as we approached
the end of our silent meal.
Nothing could remove his disappointment.
The doctor could suggest nothing to me. (= The doctor could
* not suggest anything to me.)
He looked at me and didn't say anything.
Dirk never concealed anything.
Let me see your pictures. If there's anything I like, I'll buy it.
Note the idiomatic use of something in the following sentences:
e.g. He is something of a hermit. ('В нем есть что-то от отшель-
ника'.)
I hope to see something of you during the holidays. ('Я наде-
юсь видеть вас хоть иногда...')
Не is something in the Foreign Office. ('Он какое-то ответст-
венное лицо в Министерстве иностранных дел.')
Something or other prevented him from coming. ('По той
или иной причине он не смог прийти. Что-то помешало
ему прийти.')
It's something like two miles to the lake. (=approximately)
I'll whistle the tune for you. It goes something like this.
('приблизительно вот так')
All the compound indefinite pronouns may be modified by adjectives
which are generally placed in post-position to their headwords.
e.g. You should do something sensible about it at last.
Somebody important has arrived, I'm sure. I want
someone reliable to do this work. I thought he was
going to tell me something painful. I thought I'd
come and see if they had anything new.
§ 23. The pronoun one in all of its uses refers exclusively to
persons or things that are countable.
The pronoun one is used as a noun pronounand as an adjective
Pronoun.
As a noun pronoun, it can have the plural form ones and the
form of the genitive case one's. Besides, as has been said above
(see § 8 above), the reflexive pronoun oneself is formed from it.
As an adjective pronoun one is invariable.
One has many various uses in English.
1) It is used to stand for 'people' or 'I or any person in my po
sition'. In other words, it refers to nobody in particular.
e.g. One can't be too careful in matters like this.
He was very young, not more than twenty-three or four, as
indeed one could see at a glance. The sea was so smooth,
so luminous that when one stared at
it for long one could no longer distinguish, for a moment
or two, the shape of things. His sincerity excited one's
sympathy. It's not what I should have chosen for my last
years, but one
no longer makes one's life when one is old. Life is made
for one.
Note. Care should be taken not to use one too often in the sentence because it
would make the sentence stylistically clumsy (see the last example above).
For example, the sentence When one is given one's choice of courses of action,
any of which would be to one's disadvantage, one often has difficulty in deciding
what one ought to do should be better expressed in either of the following ways:
a) When someone is given his choice of courses of action, any of which would be
to his disadvantage, he often has difficulty in deciding what he ought to do.
b) When you are given your choice of courses of action, any of which would be to
your disadvantage, you often have difficulty in deciding what you ought to do.
Note that you in the last sentence above applies to no particular person and is
used with indefinite meaning in which it is more common than the pronoun one.
(See also "Pronouns", § 3.)
2) One may have the meaning of 'a person'.
e.g. He is not one to be easily frightened. He is not one to fall for
her charms. One who paints ought to know a lot about
perspective. There was a look in his eyes of one used to
risking his life. Do you want to be the one to spoil all that?
3) One is often used for contrast with other, in which case it
preserves some of its numerical meaning.
e.g. The brothers are so alike that I sometimes cannot tell one
from the other. By the way, here are the two duplicate
keys to the gate —
I'll take one, the other key you'd better keep yourself.
She smiled as one intellectual to another. According to
Jim, life was one damn thing after another.
4) One, in combination with nouns denoting time, is used to
express some vague time.
e.g. One day he'll understand his mistake. I'll speak to him one of
these days. One Friday night my mother and father talked
for a long
time alone. One Summer evening I went for a stroll
in the park.
5) One is used with the meaning of 'only' or 'single'.
e.g. Your father is the one man who can help you now.
This is the one thing we can feel certain about., This
is the one way to do it. No one man can do it.
6) Last but not least, one is used as a prop-word,i.e. as a sub
stitute for a previously mentioned noun. It helps to avoid the rep
etition of the same noun.
e.g. Trams were passing us, but my father was not inclined to
take one. Will you show me your pictures? I might feel like
buying one.
If the prop-word one is preceded by an adjective, an article
must be used with it.
e.g. No, that's not their car. Theirs is a blue one.
The new vicar was less cultivated than the old one.
The prop-word one can be used in the plural.
e.g. I prefer red roses to white ones.
"Which biscuits would you like?" "The oneswith chocolate
on them."
The prop-word one (ones) may also be used in combination with
other pronouns, such as this (these), that (those), which, each, every
and other as well as ordinal numerals (e.g. first, second, etc.).
e.g. If you will take this chair, I'll take that one.
I've never seen such big tulips as these ones.
Here are some books for you to read. Which onewould you
choose?
There were several houses in the street, each onemore expensive
than the other.
If you don't like this magazine, take another one.
My house is the first one on the left.
There are certain restrictions on the use of the prop-word one:
a) one is not used after own,
e.g. I won't go by your car. I'll use my own.
b) one is normally not used after a superlative or comparative
adjective preceded by the definite article,
e.g. The English climate is often said to be the most unpredictable
in the world.
Of all the runners my brother was the swiftest.
Of the two armchairs I chose the harder.
Note. Note that the prop-word one is possible when most is used in the meaning
of 'very', 'extremely'.
e.g. His collection of stamps is a most valuable one.
c) one is not used after cardinal numerals,
e.g. I have only one friend but you have two.
d) one is to be avoided in formal or scientific English.
Note the idiomatic uses of one in the following sentences:
e.g. He was a man that was liked by one andall. (= by everybody)
The sky was gently turning dark and the men began to depart
one after the other.(= in succession, not together)
Would you like me to bring them one by one,sir? (= singly,
one at a time, not together)
No, I won't go with you. For one thing,I am very busy at
the moment. (= for one reason)
The little onesalways know a good man from a bad one.
(= children)
It isn't the pretty onesthat make good wives and mothers.
(= pretty girls)
§ 24. The pronoun none is a noun pronoun.,It is negative in
meaning indicating not one or not any and can be used of persons
(cf. no one) as well as of things, countable and uncountable (cf.
nothing). The verb following it may be singular or plural, according
to the sense required.