The only thing that the "them" of "them shrimp" has in common with
demonstrative pronouns is that it is demonstrative. It is not a pronoun.
Being demonstrative ("pointing") and being a pronoun are two separate
features. "Determiner" is the linguistic term which covers several
classes in traditional grammar, and there are good reasons for creating
this class and changing the class status from what they used to be called.
Determiners include: (when the word precedes a noun)
- articles 'a, the'
- demonstrative 'this, that, these, those'
- "possessive adjectives" 'your, my', etc.
- 'each, every, all, some, no, either, neither'
and more ...
It's important to distinguish determiners from pronouns because pronouns
act as full noun phrases, that is, they occupy the grammatical positions
that a full noun phrase can occupy.
As to the status of the 'which' clauses under discussion, they hit me as
fragments. I am sure that, if one appeared in an expository student
paper, I would mark it as a fragment. They may well be on their way to a
new status, but I don't think fussbudgets will accept this in student
writing. I generally mark fragments and ask them to be corrected in
formal expository prose, esp. for students whose writing is not yet at
high college level. In less formal prose or in editorial prose, I am
much more likely to accept them.
I believe we are well advised to tell students to be careful of them,
and avoid them unless they are sure of their audience.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Johanna Rubba Associate Professor, Linguistics
English Department, California Polytechnic State University
One Grand Avenue • San Luis Obispo, CA 93407
Tel. (805)-756-2184 • Fax: (805)-756-6374 • Dept. Phone. 756-2596
• E-mail: [log in to unmask] • Home page:
http://www.cla.calpoly.edu/~jrubba
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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