Introducing English Linguistics

Table 5.2. Personal pronouns in English
Person
Subjective
Objective
Reflexive
Possessive
Indefinite
1st
I (sg.)
me
myself 
my/mine
we (pl.)
us
ourselves
our/ours
2nd
you (sg. 
you
yourselves
your/yours
and pl.)
3rd
he, she, 
him, her, 
himself, 
his, her(s), 
somebody,
it (sg.)  
it 
herself, itself 
its 
someone, 
they (pl.)
them
themselves
their(s)
everyone, all,
none
Like nouns, most personal pronouns (with the exception of you) are
marked for number (e.g. singular she, plural them). The pronoun you is
quite anomalous in this regard. It appears to be marked only for plural
number because it always takes a plural verb:
And you are Mrs McDougall? 
(BNC CKF 214)
However, in the example above, you is clearly being directed toward a sin-
gle individual. In earlier periods, English did have both a singular and plu-
ral form, but over time the distinction was lost. To explicitly pluralize you
in Modern English, it is only possible to use a circumlocution such as all
of you:

---

First of all I’d like to thank all of you for agreeing to be on the commit-
tee, reading the draft, and coming to the defense.
(MICASE DEF500SF016)
Plural forms of you  do exist, but in restricted contexts: y’all in Southern
varieties of American English, and youse in some non-standard varieties of
English.
Pronouns make many more distinctions than nouns:
•
Pronouns have three persons. First person pronouns are directed
towards the speaker or writer, second person pronouns toward the
addressee, and third person pronouns to someone or something being
discussed.
•
First and third person pronouns have subjective and objective forms –
the second person pronoun you does not. The subjective forms are
used when the pronouns are functioning as subject of a clause (e.g.