Mostpeople hold the same opinion as you do
The mostI can do for you is to give you a letter of recommendation.
Mostof his money came from selling his landscapes.
Mostof the delegates voted against the proposal.
Mostof his relatives lived in the country.
§ 33, The pronouns little and few are used as noun pronouns
and as adjective pronouns.
Little means 'a small amount'. As a noun pronoun, it takes a
singular verb. As an adjective pronoun, it is used with uncount-
able nouns.
e.g. Littlewas known of his life when he was alive.
My story was a record of hard work and littleadventure.
Few means 'a small number'. As a noun pronoun, it takes a
plural verb. As an adjective pronoun, it is used with countable
nouns in the plural.
e.g. Yet fewhave been found to deny the man's greatness.
Very fewdecisions were ever taken in that department.
Both little and few have a negative implication — they mean
'not enough'.
e.g. The shipwrecked sailors had no food and littlewater.
Fewpeople would agree with you.
A little and a few, which are to be treated as set phrases, have
a positive meaning. They mean 'some though not much (many)'.
e.g. He earns a littlemoney and can live quite comfortably on it.
I suggested that he should get a few grapes and some bread.
Compare:
e.g. I know littleabout painting. (= almost nothing)
I know a littleabout painting. (= something)
There is littlechange in his appearance. (= almost no change)
There is a littlechange in his appearance. (== some change)
Fewbirds can be seen in that place. (= almost none)
A fewbirds can be seen in that place. (= some birds)
He has fewfriends and lives a lonely life. (= almost none)
He has a fewfriends who call to see him quite frequently.
(= some friends)
Little and few change for degrees of comparison. Their forms are:
little — less — least
few — fewer — fewest
e.g. Please make less noise.
George gives me the leasttrouble.
There were fewerpeople in the bus today.
Who has made the fewest mistakes?
Reciprocal Pronouns
§ 34. There are two reciprocal pronouns in English: each other
and one another. They show that something is done mutually.
Both pronouns are mainly used in the function of an object (di-
rect, indirect or prepositional) in the sentence,
e.g. I knew that my two aunts bitterly disliked each other.
They had come to understand one another, Руке and he,
without anything being said.
But he was a little puzzled by the behaviour of Blanche and
Strickland towards one another.
As is seen from the above examples, both each other and one
another can be used when speaking of two persons. However,
when more than two persons are meant, only one another is usu-
ally used.
e.g. When he entered the cafe he saw the people wink at one an-
other.
Each other and one another can be used in the genitive case,
e.g. They had not met so long that they had forgotten each oth-
er's names.
In their letters they made it a rule to inquire after one an-
other's relatives.
Interrogative Pronouns
§ 35. The interrogative pronouns are: who (whom), whose,
what, which, how much and how many. They are all used in form-
ing questions.
§ 36. The pronoun who asks about persons. It does not dis-
tinguish gender or number. It may be masculine or feminine, sin-
gular or plural in meaning. Who is the nominative case and it is
mainly used as the subject of the sentence.
e.g. Who is coming with me?
Who are the people over there?
The objective case of who is whom which is used as an object
in the sentence. It may be a direct (a) or prepositional object (b).
e.g. a) Whom did you see there?
Whom does he suspect?
b) To whom did you give the message?
Of whom are you thinking?
By whom was it done?
But whom is the literary form and is preferred in writing. In
conversation it is replaced by who. When who happens to be used
as a prepositional object, the preposition is placed at the end of
the sentence.
e.g. Who did you see there?
Who does he suspect?
Who did you give the message to?
Who are you thinking of?
Who was it done by?
Note the idiomatic uses of who in the following sentences:
e.g. It was so dark that I couldn't tell who's who. (= could not
tell one person from the other)
You'll find his name in Who's Who. (= a reference book on
contemporary outstanding people)
§ 37. The pronoun whose is a possessive interrogative pro-
noun. It is used as an adjective pronoun, mostly in the function
of an attribute, though occasionally it occurs as a predicative too.
e.g. Whose room is it going to be?
Whose is the room going to be?
In whose car do you prefer to go? (Whose car do you prefer
to go in?)
§ 38. The pronoun what may be used as a noun pronoun and
as an adjective pronoun.
When it serves as a noun, it asks after things. It may be sin-
gular or plural in meaning. It may be used as the subject, a pred-
icative or an object in the sentence. It has no case forms.
e.g. What's this?
What are those strange objects in the distance?
What is his telephone number?
What is your name?
What do you mean?
About what are you going to ask him?
It should be noted that in the case of a prepositional object it
is more usual to place the preposition at the end of the sentence
in present-day English.
e.g. What are you going to ask him about?
What are you laughing at?
Special attention should be paid to the use of what asking
about a person's profession,
e.g. "What is the man your father is talking to?" "He is a lawyer."
Compare it with a whо-question asking about the identity of a
person.
e.g. "Who is the man your father is talking to?" "He is Mr Clap-
perton, our new neighbour."
What can also be used in asking about actions,
e.g. "What are you doing?" "I'm cleaning the car."
Note the idiomatic uses of what in the following sentences:
e.g. "What is he like?" "He is tall, dark and handsome." ('Как он
ВЫГЛЯДИТ?')
"What is he like as a pianist?" "Oh, he is not very good.
('Что он собой представляет как...?')
Ben suddenly looked at his watch. "What about your den-
tist?" he asked, ('А как же твой врач?')
What about a cigarette? ('Хочешь сигарету?')
What about something to eat? ('Может поедим чего-ни-
будь?')
What of it? ('Ну и что из этого?')
So what? ('Ну и что?')
He's a clever fellow, he knows what's what, ('что хорошо,
что плохо'; 'что к чему')
When what is used as an adjective pronoun it is also in-
variable and serves as an attribute to nouns denoting both persons
and things.
e.g. What languages do you know?
What play did you see last?
What man would have done more?
What feelings do such stories excite?
What artists are going to be exhibited this autumn?
To ask after the kind or sort to which a person or thing be-
longs, synonymous set phrases what kind of and what sort of are
used instead of what.
e.g. What kind of man is he? ('Что он за человек?' 'Какой он
человек?')
What sort of chocolate do you like best? ('какой, какого
сорта')
What kind of house have they bought? ('какой')
What sort of proposition do you want to discuss with me?
('какое предложение'; 'что за предложение')
What preceding a noun may also be used at the head of an ex-
clamatory sentence. (This what is sometimes called the exclama-
tory what.)
e.g. What a stupid thing he has said!
What splendid pictures they have in their collection!
What marvellous news he brought!
What fun we had yesterday!
§ 39. The pronoun which is used as a noun pronoun and as an
adjective pronoun. It is used of persons and things and is invari-
able in form. It can have the function of the subject, an object
and an attribute in the sentence.
The use of which is more restricted than that of what because
which is selective — it selects one or more out of a definite num-
ber of persons or things.
e.g. Which will you have, tea or coffee?
Which way shall we go?
Which pen does the cap belong to?
Which author are you more interested in?
Which students have answered all the questions correctly?
As a result of its selective meaning, which is often followed bу
an of-phrase.
e.g. Which of your friends will you invite to the party?
Which of them said that?
Which of his books are you reading now?
Compare the use of what and which in the following sentences:
e.g. What TV programmes do you usually watch? Which of them
is your favorite one?
What examinations are you going to take this term? Which
of them do you find most difficult?
What car have you? Which car is yours?
§ 40. The pronouns how much and how many are used as noun
pronouns and as adjective pronouns.
How much asks about the amount of something and is used of
or with only uncountable nouns.
e.g. How much did you find out?
How much money do you need?
How many asks about the number of persons and things and is
used of or with only countable nouns,
e.g. "There are several people sitting at the fireplace." "How many
can you count?"
How many people took part in the experiment?
How many invitations have been sent out?
§ 41. The interrogative pronouns who, what and which may be
made emphatic by adding ever. Ever here means something like
'on earth', 'in the world'. Depending on the situation, questions
introduced by the emphatic forms in -ever express different emo-
tions, such as surprise, anger, despair, indignation, etc. The use
of the form in -ever is distinctly colloquial,
e.g. Whoever (who ever) can be calling at this time of the night?
Whoever (who ever) heard of such a silly idea?
Whatever (what ever) were you thinking of to suggest such a
plan?
He gets up at five o'clock every morning. What ever for?
Conjunctive Pronouns
§42. The pronouns who {whom), whose, what, which, how
much, how many and that are used to connect subordinate clauses
with the principal clause. Owing to their auxiliary function they
are called conjunctive pronouns. At the same time they all have
an independent syntactic function in the subordinate clause.
e.g. Do you know who has bought the house? (subject)
He always said exactly what he thought, (object)
I'm surprised to see how much he had done in so short a
time, (object)
I walked past a row of houses whose front doors opened onto
the pavement, (attribute)
You'll never guess what present I want him to give me. (at
tribute)
I had to find out what he was. (predicative)
When conjunctive pronouns are used in the function of a
prepositional object, the preposition is generally placed at the end
of the clause.
e.g. The man who(m) I spoke to is my neighbour.
You are the very person that I have been looking for.
Who it was done by is for us to find out.
Conjunctive pronouns may be used to introduce different
kinds of clauses, except adverbial clauses and appositive clauses,
which are introduced only by conjunctions.
e.g. What was done cannot be undone, (subject clause)
The question is which of them is going to be appointed presi-
dent of the firm, (predicative clause)
Life in the country isn't what it used to be, you know, (pred-
icative clause)
I don't know whose handwriting it is. (object clause)
I'll surprise you by what I'll do. (prepositional object clause)
He is one of the men whom I can trust, (attributive clause)
§ 43. It is noteworthy that not all the conjunctive pronouns can
be used with all kinds of clauses mentioned above. Thus, subject,
predicative and object clauses can be introduced by the conjunctive
pronouns who (whom), whose, which and how much, how many.
The use of these conjunctive pronouns does not differ from that
of the corresponding interrogative pronouns (see §§ 36-40 above).
That is no longer a conjunctive pronoun when it introduces one of
these clauses, but a mere conjunction because it has no syntactic
function in the subordinate clause.
e.g. That he is going to resign is no secret.
My guess is that he is in love.
I know that he is no fool.
§ 44. Attributive clauses can be introduced by who (whom),
whose, which and that. The conjunctive pronouns in this case al-
ways refer to some noun (or noun equivalent) in the principal
clause. That is why they are also called relative pronouns. The
noun they refer to is called their antecedent
The relative pronoun who (whom) is used only of persons.
e.g. They were worried about their nephews who were taking part
in the war.
He interviewed several men and engaged one who had been
discharged from the army.
He was a man who meant what he said.
I wish I knew the man who owns that farm.
The hostess continued the introduction, "Here is Mr Swift, a
tutor, and my nephew Maurice, whom he's tutoring."
Meg loved her little brother to whom she had been a second
mother.
The relative pronoun whose may be used of both persons and
things.
e.g. We went one day to the picture-dealer in whose shop my
brother thought he could buy a picture or two.
When it came to literature, young Maurice was the one
whose reading in any way compared with Swift's.
There are newspapers in Great Britain whose pages are large-
ly filled with news of sport and with stories of film-stars,
or accounts of crime and of law-court trials.
The relative pronoun which is used of things.
e.g. She sat down behind the tea tray which the servant had just
brought in.
As I walked up the endless stairs of the house in which
Strickland lived, I confess I was a little excited.
She obtained some opinions which later I realized were en-
tirely sensible.
She had never owned a dress which her girlfriends would con-
sider expensive.
Note. With a collective noun used as the antecedent the relative who is used
when the individuals forming the group are meant, and the relative which when the
group as whole is meant.
e.g. He wanted to interview someone from the team who were now resting.
He wanted to interview someone from the team which was winning.
Which is also used if the antecedent of the attributive clause
is the whole of the principal clause.
e.g. That day she took her share of the meal, which nowadays she
rarely did.
He invited us to dinner, which was very kind of him.
The decision was postponed, which was exactly what he wanted.
The attributive clauses of the above type are always separated
from their principal clause by a comma (see the examples above).
The relative pronoun which in this type of attributive clauses is
rendered in Russian as что.
Which preceded by the preposition of is parallel in meaning to
whose when the latter is used of things.
Cf. We crossed the river the current of which was very rapid.
We crossed the river whose current was very rapid.
That is used of both persons and things, singular and plural.
e.g. You are the very people that I've been meaning to speak to.
He is not a man that can understand such things.
That was all the education that she had had during her girl-
hood.
She had a wit that was irresistible.
The actress told him of the plays that she had been in and
what parts she had had.
That (not who or which or what) is used:
a) after most indefinite pronouns,
e.g. Have you got all that you need?
Sylvia had always had everything that she wanted.
There is not much that can be done.
Fred looked about the room, trying to discover something
that might remind him of Sally.
He never says anything that is worth listening to.
b) after nouns modified by an adjective in the superlative de-
gree as well as by first or last.
e.g. Yesterday was one of the coldest days that I've ever known.
He has written the best book that I've ever read on the sub-
ject.
It was the first time that he heard of the episode.
c) after a noun modified by same,
e.g. She wore the same dress that I had seen her in at her sister's
wedding.
d) when the antecedent is both a person and a thing,
e.g. He talked of the people and the places that he had visited.
Unlike who and which, that cannot be preceded by a pre-
position.
Cf. This is the letter about which I told you.
This is the letter that I told you about.
Note. When a relative pronoun serves as a prepositional object, the following
sentence patterns are possible.
e.g. This is the story of which I spoke.
This is the story which Ispoke of.
This is the story that Ispoke of.
This is the story I spoke of.
Attributive clauses fall into two groups — non-defining and
defining clauses (see "Articles", § 15). That as a relative pronoun
is possible only with defining clauses, i.e. attributive clauses that
cannot be removed from the sentence without destroying its
meaning. Note, however, that who and which can be used with
both kinds of attributive clauses — defining and non-defining.
e.g. At the time I was reading a book that (which) I had heard so
much about.
At the time I was reading an interesting book which later on
I gave as a present to my niece.
I'd like you to meet the girl that (whom) I'm going to marry.
She is both charming and clever. I'd like you to meet the
girl, who(m) you are sure to fall for.
Relative pronouns are often dropped in spoken English unless
they perform the function of the subject of the sentence or intro-
duce non-defining attributive clauses.
e.g. At the party I saw some people____ I knew personally.
The man___ I gave up my seat to was very grateful.
Is it the paper__ you wanted to see?
He went back the way he had come.
NUMERALS
§ 1. Numerals include two classes of words — cardinal and or-
dinal numerals.
Cardinal numerals indicate number: one, two, three, four, ten,
twelve, eighteen, twenty, thirty-three, seventy-five, ninety-one, a
hundred, one hundred and forty-six, two hundred and twenty-
eight, a thousand, three thousand and fifty-two, seven thousand
three hundred and seventeen, etc.
Note 1. The numerals hundred, thousand and million are always preceded by
the indefinite article a or the numeral one. The latter is generally used when these
numerals are followed by some other numerals, e.g. a hundred but one hundred and
twenty three; a thousand but one thousand seven hundred and thirty.
Note 2, Care should be taken to remember the following patterns:
a) five hundred books (= 500 books), b) hundreds of books,
three thousand cars (= 3,000 cars), thousands of cars,
two million workers (= 2,000,000 workers), millions of workers.
In the examples under (a) the exact number of persons or things is given; in
the examples under (b) hundred, thousand and million do not indicate any exact
number but only a great multitude of persons or things.
Ordinal numerals indicate order: first, second, third, fourth,
tenth, twelfth, eighteenth, twenty-fifth, forty-seventh, a hun
dredth, two hundred and thirty-ninth, etc.
(For the use of articles with ordinal numerals see "Articles", § ll.)
Note 1. Dates are read in the following way:
1st September, 1944 — the first of September (September the first),
nineteen {hundred and) forty four, 5th January, 1807 — the fifth of January
{January the fifth), eighteen hundred and seven.
Note 2. Common fractions are read in the following way: — 2/3= two thirds;
3/8 = three eights; 5/12 = five twelfths.
Decimal fractions are read as 3.5 = three point five 4.76 = four point seventy six, 8.03 — eight point naught three,
§ 2. Both cardinal and ordinal numerals can have certain func-
tions of nouns (a) and of adjectives (b) in the sentence.
e.g. a) Three of the schoolboys fell ill with scarlet fever.
There were four of us there.
"Will you have another cup of tea?" "No, thank you. I've
had two."
There were three questions in the test. The second was
particularly difficult.
Jane was the first to wake up.
"Which exercise would you like to do first?" "I think I'd
begin with the third."
b) We had three visitors that day. The first visitor to arrive
was my aunt Milly.
ADVERBS
§ 1. Adverbs are a miscellaneous class of words which is not
easy to define. Some adverbs resemble pronouns, e.g. here, there,
then, where. Others have a lot in common with prepositions, e.g.
about, since, in, before, over. Still others are derived, from adjec-
tives, e.g. seriously, slowly, remarkably.
Adverbs have diverse lexical meanings and differ from each
other in their structure and role in the sentence.
Structurally, some adverbs are single words (e.g. fast, well,
clearly, somehow, nowhere, sideways, southward(s), etc.), others
are phrases (e.g. at last, all along, at first, in front, from above,
since then, till later, for once, the day after tomorrow, all of a
sudden, as a result, etc.).
Most adverbs serve to modify verbs, adjectives and other ad-
verbs in the sentence.
e.g. He spoke resolutely.
They are coming here tomorrow.
He has known it all along.
My mother looked somewhatpale.
She knew him very well.
Some adverbs modify whole sentences expressing an evaluation
of what is said in the sentence with respect to either the form of
communication or to its content.
e.g. Briefly,there is nothing more I can do about it.
Frankly, Iam tired.
Still other adverbs have a connective function between what is
being said and what was said before.
e.g. I've talked to him several times about the matter, and yethe
does nothing about it.
He, however, hasn't arrived yet.
The girl seems very intelligent, though.
She wouldn't come anyway.