2. PRONOUNS (I)
You = generally speaking, not referring to the listener:
You don’t know what you’ve got until it’s gone
One (+ 3rd person singular) = formal version of ‘you’:
One knows being a father is difficult.
We = more personal, as it includes the listener in the
conversation: We are made to suffer. / We don’t know
what we have until we lose it.
They = informal
(generally speaking, not referring to the listener): You don’t
know what you’ve got until it’s gone
3. PRONOUNS (II)
They = informal. Usages:
Rumours / avoid mentioning the source [Dicen que...]: They
say there will be no water in 50 years.
Instead of saying ‘the government’: They have approved by
law to prohibit minors from working.
Instead of saying he/she, his/her, when we don’t know the
gender of sb: I don’t know whose this phone is. When their
owner calls, they will be happy to know it’s in good hands..
4. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Myself
Yourself
Himself/herself/itself
Ourselves
Yourselves
Themselves
Usages:
when subject & object are the same person
To emphasize the subject (I did the housework myself).
By + ReflexivePronouns = on your own, without help (I painted the house
by myself)
Not common with ‘wash, feel, relax, shave, concentrate’
After most prepositions, if the complement is the same as the subject
(I’ve passed! I’m so happy with myself!), but NEVER after prep. of place
(Can I lay next to yourself?)
5. RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
Each other & One another:
They mean (more or less) the same, so we can
use them in the same places.
They are used to explain that A does something to
B, and B does something to B.
Rob and Jane gave a present each other / Rob
and Jane helped one another = Rob to Jane, Jane
to Rob.
6. IT/THERE
It + ‘to be’:
Temperatures, time and distance (It was nine o’clock
when...)
Before adjectives, if we want to make the sentence
sound more natural (It would be nice if you called me).
There + ‘to be’:
Existence (people, things) [similar to ‘hi ha’ in Catalan]
(There is a cat on that tree / There is a coffee shop next
to my house).
