+--The personal pronouns are used
in the same ways in which nouns are used. Besides the regular uses that the
personal pronoun has, there are some special uses that should be
understood.
1. The word _it_ is often used in an indefinite way at the beginning of a
sentence: [It snows]. When so used, it has no antecedent, and we say it is
used _impersonally_.
2. The pronoun _it_ is often used as the _grammatical_ subject of a
sentence in which the _logical_ subject is found after the predicate verb:
[_It_ is impossible for us to go]. When so used the pronoun _it_ is called
an _expletive. There_ is used in the same way.
+34. Cautions and Suggestions.+
1. Be careful not to use the apostrophe in the possessive forms _its,
yours, ours_, and _theirs_.
2. Be careful to use the nominative form of a pronoun used as an attribute
complement: [It is _I_; it is _they_].
3. Be sure that the pronoun agrees in number with its antecedent. One of
the most common violations of this rule is in using _their_ in such
sentences as the following:--Every boy and girl must arrange _his_ desk.
Who has lost _his_ book? The use of _every_ and the form _has_ obliges us
to make the possessive pronouns singular.
_His_ may be regarded as applying to females as well as males, where it is
convenient not to use the expression _his or her_.
4. The so-called subject of an infinitive is always in the objective case:
[I asked _him_ to go].
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