Bhopal (Madhya Pradesh): After long and fruitless writing, I have determined to write to you myself, as much for your sake as for mine, as I would not like to think that I have passed through two long years of imprisonment without ever having received a single line from you, or any news or message even, except such as gave me pain. (Oscar Wilde, De Profundis, the Ballad of Reading Gaol & Other Writings).
Oscar Wilde taught us how to use pronouns and how to express our thoughts through them.
The three pronouns “I”, “you” and “myself” say it all. The subject pronoun “I” clearly reveals his mental state in the reflexive pronoun “myself.”
Similarly, “as much for your sake as for mine…” indicates a fine comparison between a possessive adjective, “your,” with a possessive pronoun, “mine.”
Then again, another pronoun, “such as,” though a compound one, sums up the author’s agony.
Nevertheless, there was only one Oscar Wilde, who, though led a stormy life, never went wild with the English grammar.
Ergo, old Oscar shows how the pronouns are a necessity to good writing, but their misuse may cause confusion to readers. “Apparently it had not escaped from a zoo and the police speculated he may have wandered into town from the hilly countryside.”
Two things should be noted about that sentence: first, the pronouns should be made consistent; second, as a general guide it is best not use a personal pronoun in referring to an animal unless its sex has been established or it has a name. In this instance, the bear was an “it.”
There is another example of how to confuse a reader by using pronouns without clear antecedents: “Marian says she has accompanied Boons to the restaurant on several occasions in the three months that he has been a manager of the night club. She was with him on Sunday night, he says.” As no “she” has been mentioned later than the third paragraph ahead of the one quoted some readers might think that “she” referred to Marian which it does not. Next, the “he” could be thought to refer to Boons, which would be wrong.
Then the “him” and the “he” towards the end refer to two different persons. According to frequently offered rules, a pronoun has an affinity for the nearest noun, but that is not invariably true. The best guide is to reread what has been written to keep confusion at bay.
Than I or me…
It is difficult to decide whether than should be followed by a subject pronoun or an object. Many people, including a few well-known authors, are not sure about it. We must know whether “than” is a conjunction or a preposition. The grammarians, like Fowler, HW (Henri Watson), Otto Jespersen and JC Nesfield have preferred to use “than” as a conjunction, and a conjunctions has no influence on the case of words following them. They, however, did not disagree with those who have used “than” as preposition which is generally followed by an objective case.
Objective case is preferable to subjective case when the comparison is between two objects. In colloquial speech, an objective case after “than” is nearly universal, and the authors of great repute have done that.
He is wiser than us all (Rudyard Kipling).
Nevertheless, puritans have disagreed with Kipling. According to them, the sentence should have been “He is wiser than we are…”
I am a great deal happier than I was at 28 (Virginia Woolf).
Kipling used “than” as a preposition, and Woolf did that as a conjunction. Kipling is more colloquial than Woolf (is).
According to Stunk JR and EB White, any sentence with “than” (to express comparison) should be examined to make sure no essential words are missing.
I’m probably closer to my mother than my father (ambiguous). The correct form is I am probably closer to my mother than to my father (correct).
