Syntax

Noun Phrases
Submitted to: Sir Dr. M. Hafiz Qasim
Submitted by: M. Umair Saeed
Roll no. 230581
Semester: 1st
Department: MPhil Applied Linguistics-Morning
Reflexive pronouns
 Reflexive pronouns are words that refer back
to the subject of the sentence.
 They are used to emphasize that the action is

being done to or for oneself. Reflexive

pronouns are formed by adding the suffix -
self or -selves to the personal pronoun.
Cont.
 The reflexive allows us to distinguish among
possible referents with the same number and
gender. Clearly the direct object in Henry
hates him refers to a different male than the
direct object in Henry hates himself. In most
dialects of English, the reflexive never occurs
in subject position
Examples:
 Henry hates himself.
 The kids scared themselves.
 Barb talks to herself.
 I cut myself.
 We fooled ourselves
Cont.
 Sometimes a non-volitional causer occurs as
the subject in such a sentence.
 (A non-volitional causer is a participant in an event that brings about the
event but does not do so intentionally or purposefully. Non-volitional causers
are often contrasted with volitional causers, which are participants that bring
about events intentionally or purposefully.
 For example, in the sentence "The wind blew the leaves off the tree," the wind
is a non-volitional causer of the event of the leaves being blown off the tree.)
 Penelope accidentally hurt herself.
 The baby burned herself
Personal pronoun Reflexive pronoun

I myself

You yourself

He, she, it himself, herself, itself

We ourselves

You yourselves

They themselves
Redundancy
 Sometimes reflexives are used redundantly to
emphasize the preceding noun or pronoun.
 Example:
 I myself have never smoked.
 I handed her the gold itself
Possessive reflexive pronouns
 Possessive reflexive pronouns are a type of reflexive pronoun that
is used to indicate ownership or possession.
 Example:

 Mary destroyed her own toys.

 Benjamin wants his own bed.
 Laurie threw out her own tax records.

 Her refers to Mary or to another female. But the modifier own can
be used be used in conjunction with a genitive determiner to
produce a genitive reflexive
Reciprocal pronouns
 Reciprocal pronouns are used to describe actions that are done
mutually between two or more people.
 The subject, NP must be plural or there must be two or more
coordinated NPs

 For instance:

 My children fight with each other.

 Jack and Jill hate one another.
 We babysit for each other's children.
 They gave one another gifts.
Demonstrative pronouns
 Demonstrative pronouns are words that point out or identify nouns.
They are used to indicate the distance between the speaker and the
noun.
 There are four demonstrative pronouns in English: this, that, these,
and those.

 this: points to something that is near the speaker

 that: points to something that is far from the speaker
 these: points to a group of things that are near the speaker
 those: points to a group of things that are far from the speaker
Cont.
 Demonstrative pronouns are often
accompanied by gestures, e.g., a child might
point while saying "This is my room."
 A demonstrative pronoun can also be

anaphoric, in which case it often refers back

to an entire proposition— I always like to
come at Dr. Saucy. This restaurant has
amazing food.
Quantifying pronouns
 Quantifying pronouns are words that indicate the quantity of
something. They are typically used with nouns that are countable,
meaning that they can be counted one by one.
 Here are some examples of quantifying pronouns:
 All Few
 Both Many
 Each Much
 Either Neither
 Enough No
 Every None
 Several Some
Examples
 All were crying; both were stubborn; Four
remained
 I will give you some….
 Everyone likes her; He ate everything; Nobody

attended the meeting

Indefinite pronouns
 Indefinite pronouns are words that refer to non-specific people,
things, or places. They are used to make general statements
about something that is not specific.

 The term indefinite is misleading. It means that the referent is

not specified, but it does not mean that the referent is
nonspecific. Indefinite someone and something can have either
specific or nonspecific reference, depending on the context.
 Upon being asked out, a young woman might respond with "I'm
dating someone/' Here the speaker obviously knows the identity
of the person she is dating but doesn't wish to divulge it
Examples
 Here are some examples of indefinite pronouns:
 Someone is calling.
 Everybody enjoyed the party.
 Nothing is more important than family.
 Anywhere in the world would be fine with me.
 Whatever you want is fine with me.
 Nobody and nothing are negative indefinites; no
referents exist for these pronouns.
 Nobody came.
 Nothing bothers her
Indefinite Pronouns and Gender

 Indefinite Pronouns and Gender

 Indefinite pronouns are neutral in terms of gender
and this creates problems when an indefinite
pronoun is the antecedent of a personal pronoun.
 Consider the sentence
 If anyone calls tell him?/her? that I'm out.
 Since the speaker can't possibly know the identity
of anyone, it is impossible to assign gender
Cont.
 Most English speakers use they/them/their as
gender neutral pronouns, even in contexts in
which the antecedent appears to be singular.
 If anyone calls, tell them I'm out.
 Everyone must pack their own lunch.
 I saw someone in the shadows and they were

watching me.
 Anyone who thinks they can fix this is a fool
Cont.
 Traditional grammars argue that anyone,
someone, and everyone are singular
pronouns because they end in "one." It is true
that these pronouns take singular verbs
Interrogative pronouns
 Interrogative pronouns are words that are used to ask questions. They are
used to seek information about something that is unknown or unclear.

 There are five interrogative pronouns in English: who, whom, whose,

which, and what.

 Who left the door open? [Who is a subject]

 What is Matilda eating? [What is a direct object]
 Who did you loan your car to? [Who is an indirect object]
 To whom did you loan your car? [To whom is an indirect object]
 What did Maggie call Cedric? [What is an object complement]
 What is his name? [What is a subject complement]
Noun Phrases in Discourse
 Discourse refers to the larger units of language that go beyond individual
sentences, such as paragraphs, conversations, and even entire texts.

 noun phrases allow us to "deploy“(locate) people and things in

conversation.

 If we assume that the referent is not accessible to our hearer, we may use
an NP containing the article a to introduce the referent into discourse or
we might use a proper name with an accompanying explanation.
 1 bought a bicycle last week.
 Last night 1 met Derek Walcott, a famous poet.
Cont.
 If the referent is identifiable to the hearer because it
has already been introduced into the conversation or
if it is one of those things that is uniquely identifiable
even though it may be new to the conversation, the
article the or a proper noun can be used.

 The bike is a lemon.

 Mr. Walcott invited me to his next reading.
 1 can see the moon
Cont.
 If the referent is not only identifiable to the
hearer but has been talked about enough to
become familiar, we might choose a
demonstrative determiner.

 I really hate that bike.

 That man is a fabulous writer
Cont.
 If the referent of the NP is the current center
of attention, we most often choose a personal
pronoun.

 It won't go over two miles an hour.

 He has published both poems and plays.
THANKS