Editing Pronoun (section)

=== Pronoun versus pro-form ===
Pronoun is a category of words. A [[pro-form]] is a type of [[function word]] or expression that stands in for (expresses the same content as) another [[word]], [[phrase]], [[clause]] or [[Sentence (linguistics)|sentence]] where the [[Meaning (linguistics)|meaning]] is recoverable from the context.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Crystal|first1=David|title=A dictionary of linguistics and phonetics|date=1985|publisher=Basil Blackwell|edition=2nd}}</ref> In English, pronouns mostly function as pro-forms, but there are pronouns that are not pro-forms and pro-forms that are not pronouns.<ref>{{Cite book|last1=Huddleston|first1=Rodney|title=Cambridge grammar of the English Language|last2=Pullum|first2=Geoffrey K.|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2002|location=Cambridge}}</ref><sup>[p.&nbsp;239]</sup>
{| class="wikitable"
|+Pronouns versus Pro-forms
!
!Example
!Pronoun
!Pro-form
|-
|1
|''<u>It</u> is a good idea''.
|✓
|✓
|-
|2
|''I know the people <u>who</u> work there.'' 
|✓
|✓
|-
|3
|''<u>Who</u> works there?''
|✓
|
|-
|4
|''<u>It</u> is raining''.
|✓
|
|-
|5
|''I asked her to help, and she <u>did so</u> right away.'' 
|
|✓
|-
|6
|''JJ and Petra helped, but <u>the others</u> didn't.''
|
|✓
|}
Examples [1 & 2] are pronouns and pro-forms. In [1], the pronoun ''[[It (pronoun)|it]]'' "stands in" for whatever was mentioned and is a good idea. In [2], the [[relative pronoun]] ''[[Who (pronoun)|who]]'' stands in for "the people".

Examples [3 & 4] are pronouns but not pro-forms. In [3], the [[Interrogative word|interrogative pronoun]] ''who'' does not stand in for anything. Similarly, in [4], ''it'' is a [[dummy pronoun]], one that does not stand in for anything. No other word can function there with the same meaning; we do not say "the sky is raining" or "the weather is raining".

A prop-word is a word with little or no semantic content used where grammar dictates a certain sentence member, e.g.,  to provide a "support" on which to hang a modifier. The word most commonly considered as a prop-word in English is ''one'' (with the plural form ''ones''). The prop-word ''one'' takes the place of a countable noun in a noun phrase (or determiner phrase), normally in a context where it is clear which noun it is replacing. For example, in a context in which hats are being talked about, ''the red one'' means "the red hat", and ''the ones we bought'' means "the hats we bought". The prop-word thus functions somewhat similarly to a pronoun, except that a pronoun usually takes the place of a whole noun (determiner) phrase (for example, "the red hat" may be replaced by the pronoun "it".)

Finally, in [5 & 6], there are pro-forms that are not pronouns. In [5], ''did so'' is a [[verb phrase]] that stands in for "helped" (a ''[[pro-verb]]''), inflected from ''to help'' stated earlier in the sentence. Similarly, in [6], ''others'' is a [[Proper and common nouns|common noun]], not a pronoun, but ''the others'' probably stands in for the names of other people involved (e.g., ''Sho, Alana, and Ali''), all [[proper noun]]s.