English grammar drills part 13 docx

The general rule is that the antecedent of a refl exive pronoun is the nearest preceding noun that plays the role of subject or object of a verb.. The understood you is the antecedent to

The general rule is that the antecedent of a refl exive pronoun is the nearest preceding noun that plays the role of subject or object of a verb Here are some more examples of objects being the

antecedent:

Mary wanted Ralph to dress himself as a pirate for the costume party.

I wish you would behave yourself.

We will give them a chance to redeem themselves.

She told the kids to behave themselves.

Very often in conversation you will hear a refl ective pronoun that seems to have no anteced-ent For example:

Take care of yourself!

Behave yourselves, now!

Do yourselves a favor.

Don’t hurt yourself!

Just be yourself and you will be fi ne.

All of these sentences are commands with an understood you (which can be either singular or

plural) as subject The understood you is the antecedent to the refl exive pronouns yourself or

yourselves.

(You) take care of yourself!

(You) behave yourselves, now!

(You) do yourselves a favor.

(You) don’t hurt yourself!

(You) just be yourself and you will be fi ne.

Exercise 5.4

Fill in the blank with the appropriate refl exive pronoun Confi rm your answer by underlining the

pronoun’s antecedent If the antecedent is understood, insert you.

He tends to repeat

He tends to repeat himself.

1 Please! I can do it by

Pronouns 77

4 I told them that I would do it by

5 It was so noisy that we couldn’t hear think 6 The trip could almost pay for

7 The workers were putting out of a job 8 It was such an interesting book that the pages seemed to turn

9 The system is designed to shut off in the event of an emergency 10 Don’t be so hard on

11 All successful politicians believe in

12 We wanted the children to be able to look after

13 Jane encouraged Sam to do it

14 Try doing it by

15 I can’t stand traveling by

There is another, completely different use of refl exive pronouns as well We can add refl exive pronouns to a sentence just for emphasis For example, consider the following sentence:

I wouldn’t turn down the offer myself.

Here the refl exive pronoun myself has been added to an already complete sentence just for

emphasis Unlike a normal refl exive pronoun that plays the role of object of a verb or a pronoun,

this pronoun has no grammatical role at all We can delete it:

I wouldn’t turn down the offer myself.

or move it right after its antecedent:

I myself wouldn’t turn down the offer.

Here are some more examples of refl exive pronouns added for emphasis, each with a para-phrase showing that the emphatic refl exive pronoun can be deleted or moved to a position

imme-diately following the antecedent

He wouldn’t do that himself.

Deleted: He wouldn’t do that.

Moved: He himself wouldn’t do that.

They did not know the answers themselves.

Deleted: They did not know the answers.

Moved: They themselves did not know the answers.

We intended to go to Italy ourselves.

Deleted: We intended to go to Italy.

Moved: We ourselves intended to go to Italy.

She decorated the new house herself.

Deleted: She decorated the new house.

Moved: She herself decorated the new house.

Needless to say, we cannot delete or move a refl exive pronoun used in the normal way since it

is the object of the verb or of a preposition

I cut myself.

Deleted: X I cut myself.

We wanted to fi nish it by ourselves.

Deleted: X We wanted to fi nish it by ourselves.

Moved: X We ourselves wanted to fi nish it by.

Exercise 5.5

Underline the refl exive pronouns in the following sentences Write emphatic or functional above

each one as appropriate If the pronoun is emphatic, confi rm your answer by moving it to a

posi-tion next to its antecedent

emphatic

I gave him the assignment myself

I myself gave him the assignment.

1 The District Attorney took the case himself

Pronouns 79

4 I couldn’t help smiling myself

5 Their mortgage takes nearly half their income itself

6 Senator Blather declared himself the winner

7 She proposed the idea herself

8 You need to separate yourself from the rest of the candidates

9 I did all the necessary paperwork myself

10 The consultants were opposed to the new project themselves

Gerunds and Infi nitives

Gerunds and infi nitives are verb forms used as nouns (Infi nitives can also be used as other

parts of speech, but in this chapter we will deal only with infi nitives used as nouns.) Here are

some examples of gerunds and infi nitives used as subjects (in italics)

Gerunds

Breathing is diffi cult when you are at high altitudes.

Eating was the last thing on my mind.

Driving is a privilege, not a right.

Swimming is my only real form of exercise.

Infi nitives

To live is the goal of every creature.

To doubt is to hesitate.

To lose would be unthinkable.

To refuse would be dishonorable.

Gerunds and gerund phrases

Gerunds are the present participle forms of verbs Present participles are formed by adding

-ing to the base (or dictionary) forms of verbs Present participles are mostly regular The most

common variation is the result of normal spelling rules for fi nal silent e and doubled

conso-nant spellings For example, the fi nal e of hope is dropped when we add a suffi x beginning with

a vowel: hope-hoping; and the fi nal consonant of hop doubles when we add a suffi x beginning

Gerunds and Infi nitives 81

Exercise 6.1 The base or dictionary forms of some verbs are listed in the fi rst column In the second column, write the gerund (present participle) form of each verb All of the words follow normal spelling rules Base form Gerund (present participle) advertise advertising 1 amuse

2 become

3 choose

4 clap

5 date

6 fi t

7 focus

8 give

9 group

10 judge

11 loop

12 manage

13 mine

14 model

15 profi t

16 research

17 service

18 stay

19 travel

20 veto

A gerund phrase is a gerund together with all of its modifi ers and/or complements The difference between a gerund and a gerund phrase is exactly the same as the difference between

a noun and a noun phrase For example, compare the following pairs of gerunds and gerund

phrases The gerunds are in italics, and the entire gerund phrase is underlined

Working takes all my waking hours.

Working on this project takes all my waking hours.

Complaining won’t do you any good.

Complaining about the poor service won’t do you any good.

Running really helps me lose weight.

My running twenty miles a week really helps me lose weight.

Working out takes a lot of self-discipline.

Working out every day at the gym takes a lot of self-discipline.

Since gerund phrases are noun phrases, they can always be identifi ed by the third-person pronoun replacement test (see Chapter 4) Gerund phrases (as well as infi nitive phrases) are

always singular, and since they are inanimate, gerund (and infi nitive) phrases can always be

replaced by it For example:

It

Working on this project takes all my waking hours.

It

Complaining about the poor service won’t do you any good.

It

My running twenty miles a week really helps me lose weight.

It

Working out every day at the gym takes a lot of self-discipline.

It takes a lot of self-discipline.

To this point, we have only looked at gerund phrases that function as subjects Gerunds can play all noun roles: subject, object of a verb, object of a preposition, and predicate nominative (the

complement of a linking verb) Here are some examples of gerund phrases playing the other roles: