Re Personal pronouns

[Dr. John E. McLaughlin]

I love jumping into the middle of a discussion without having read in detail
the previous discussion, but this is just too tempting.

I've been reading quite a number of introductory syntax books lately for
teaching purposes, and every single one of them lists the possessive
pronouns as straightforward determiners.  They aren't even classed as
"components of a determiner" in the way that "The little poor child" is a
component of a determiner in the sentence, "The little poor child's
Christmas was quite happy."  This really isn't a point of contention among
linguists.

John E. McLaughlin, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
mclasutt at brigham.net

Program Director
Utah State University On-Line Linguistics
http://english.usu.edu/lingnet

English Department
3200 Old Main Hill
Utah State University
Logan, UT  84322-3200

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