Pronoun/Adjective Confusion

Question

According to Towson.edu, the word his is a referential possessive pronoun in the sentence "President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in 1863." However, other grammar web sites indicate that his used in this way functions as an adjective.Is the word his in the example sentence a pronoun or an adjective? Also, in either case, is his the referent? Can an adjective be a referent?Source: http://www.towson.edu/ows/pro antagree.htm#_antecedentI will appreciate any help. Thanks for taking the time to read.Regards,Shupkay

Terryxpress · Accepted Answer

It is a possessive adjective, referring to Pres. Lincoln.
For other learners, if I add some clarification:
'his' presents this kind of problem, because 'his' is also the form of the possessive pronoun, compared with the forms of the other possessive pronouns/possessive adjectives:

Possessive Pronouns in RED, possessive adjective in BLUE
I - mine- my
You - yours - your
He - HIS - HIS
She - hers - her
We - ours - our
You - yours - your
They - theirs - their

Shupkay · Answer

Thanks, Terry.

BillJ · Answer

shupkayAccording to Towson.edu, the word his is a referential possessive pronoun in the sentence "President Lincoln delivered his Gettysburg Address in 1863." However, other grammar web sites indicate that his used in this way functions as an adjective. Is the word his in the example sentence a pronoun or an adjective?

"His" is a pronoun. Towson is essentially correct, though a better term is genitive pronoun, (not possessive pronoun). Personal pronouns like my, your, his, etc. (and the ones like mine, yours, ours etc.) are more correctly called 'genitive personal pronouns'.

They are often analysed in traditional grammar as possessive adjectives, but the term adjective can easily be proved to be incorrect.

For example, in No one objected to [his joining the party], his is the subject of the bracketed clause, not a modifier, so an adjective analysis of his makes no sense at all. Moreover, his could easily be replaced by the nouns Kim's or the doctor's as in No one objected to [Kim's / the doctor's joining the party]. Nouns replace other nouns not adjectives, so again an adjective analysis of his (or any other genitive pronoun) is clearly incorrect.

shupkayAlso, in either case, is his the referent? Can an adjective be a referent?

No to both. The subject of your example, President Lincoln, is referential - that is it refers to a certain individual named President Lincoln, called the referent. The pronoun his is also referential; it a salient interpretation it too refers to President Lincoln, this time by virtue of the anaphoric relation between the pronoun and its antecedent.

BillJ

Shupkay · Answer

Many seemingly credible grammar sources—even dictionaries—define what you call genitive personal pronouns as possessive adjectives. Before reading your post, I had come to the conclusion that the word his (used in Towson's example) is a type of determiner. Now I am confused. Although your explanation made sense, I am still reluctant to submit to the rather unpopular belief that there is no such thing as a possessive adjective. If you have a source for your explanation, please share.

EDIT: Something just occurred to me.

No one objected to [his joining the party].

To me, the group of words that you bracketed does not look like a clause but rather a gerund phrase. The only subject in the sentence is no one.

Shupkay · Answer

I have something else to add, but I am unable to edit my post again. Excuse my double posting.

In the sentence "No one objected to his joining the party," his essentially (and illogically) refers to no one.

BillJ · Answer

shupkayMany seemingly credible grammar sources—even dictionaries—define what you call genitive personal pronouns as possessive adjectives. Before reading your post, I had come to the conclusion that the word his (used in Towson's example) is a type of determiner. Now I am confused. Although your explanation made sense, I am still reluctant to submit to the rather unpopular belief that there is no such thing as a possessive adjective. If you have a source for your explanation, please share.

Both the Oxford and Cambridge dictionaries call them determiners, not adjectives. Determiner is a function, pronoun is a category. The genitive pronouns his, our, their, etc. function as genitive determiners.

As I said, the term 'possessive adjective' is found in traditional grammar, but more enlightened grammars today see them as pronouns, for the reasons I gave.

shupkayNo one objected to [his joining the party].To me, the group of words that you bracketed does not look like a clause but rather a gerund phrase. The only subject in the sentence is no one.

Clauses have a subject and predicate structure, whereas phrases do not. In the expression his joining the party, his is a subject and joining the party is a verb phrase as predicate (joining is the verb and the party is its direct object). It is thus a gerund clause.

BillJ

Shupkay · Answer

Well, at least we both agree that his can be a determiner. I know what a clause is, but because so many sources call this kind of determiner a "possessive adjective," I naturally recognized the gerund construction as a phrase. You probably think I am being hardheaded in saying so, but I will have to research the matter more thoroughly to come to my own conclusion. Thanks for talking.

BillJ · Answer

shupkayIn the sentence "No one objected to his joining the party," his essentially (and illogically) refers to no one.

No, his refers to someone mentioned elsewhere in the discourse.

BillJ

Shupkay · Answer

I am going by what Towson teaches. The writer of Towson's online writing support would consider your example sentence to contain faulty pronoun reference. Of course, I don't believe everything I learn from the web site; hence this thread's existence.

Incidentally, assuming what you've explained to be true, the following would be incorrect, wouldn't it?

Mistaken Notions
Grammar just doesn't sink naturally into everyone's head. To some writers, the fact that one word resembles another is enough reason to treat those words equally when it comes to capitalization in a title. For example:
The Time of their Lives
(wrong; "their" is an adjective and should be capitalized

Source: http://www.writersblock.ca/tips/monthtip/tipmar98.htm

BillJ · Answer

shupkayI am going by what Towson teaches. The writer of Towson's online writing support would consider your example sentence to contain faulty pronoun reference. Of course, I don't believe everything I learn from the web site; hence this thread's existence.

No it would not, and in any case I do not make silly mistakes like that, thank you very much!

It most certainly does not contain a faulty pronoun reference. The clause I quoted was obviously part of a larger discourse, such as:

"Was Ed invited"?
"No, but no one objected to his joining the party".

Here, "his" clearly has "Ed" as antecedent. Pretty obvious, I would have thought.

shupkayMistaken NotionsGrammar just doesn't sink naturally into everyone's head. To some writers, the fact that one word resembles another is enough reason to treat those words equally when it comes to capitalization in a title. For example: The Time of their Lives (wrong; "their" is an adjective and should be capitalized

"Their" is not an adjective, for the reasons I have already given. Please don't keep quoting from unscholarly sources.

I've spent a lot of time answering your points. If you can't, or won't, accept my answers, that's up to you.

Good luck with your studies.

BillJ

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