A prop-word is a word with little or no

semantic Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy, linguistics and comput ...

content used where grammar dictates a certain sentence member, e.g., to provide a "support" on which to hang a

modifier Modifier may refer to: * Grammatical modifier, a word that modifies the meaning of another word or limits its meaning ** Compound modifier, two or more words that modify a noun ** Dangling modifier, a word or phrase that modifies a clause in an am ...

. The word most commonly considered as a prop-word in

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

is ''one'' (with the

plural The plural (sometimes abbreviated pl., pl, or ), in many languages, is one of the values of the grammatical category of number. The plural of a noun typically denotes a quantity greater than the default quantity represented by that noun. This de ...

form ''ones''). Another term for this concept is " pro-noun" (here "pro" means "for", "instead of"), with a similar concept "

pro-verb In linguistics, a pro-verb is a verb or partial phrase that substitutes for a contextually recognizable verb phrase (via a process known as grammatical gapping), obviating the need to repeat an antecedent verb phrase.https://glossary.sil.org/t ...

" "do" (as exemplified by "I will go to the party if you do").

English language

Function

The prop-word ''one'' takes the place of a countable

noun A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for: * Living creatures (including people, alive, d ...

in a

noun phrase In linguistics, a noun phrase, or nominal (phrase), is a phrase that has a noun or pronoun as its head or performs the same grammatical function as a noun. Noun phrases are very common cross-linguistically, and they may be the most frequently oc ...

(or

determiner phrase In linguistics, a determiner phrase (DP) is a type of phrase headed by a determiner such as ''many''. Controversially, many approaches, take a phrase like ''not very many apples'' to be a DP, headed, in this case, by the determiner ''many''. This is ...

), 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 In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated ) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not co ...

, 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''). The prop-word can generally be used with any of the modifiers that can typically accompany nouns. These include

article Article often refers to: * Article (grammar), a grammatical element used to indicate definiteness or indefiniteness * Article (publishing), a piece of nonfictional prose that is an independent part of a publication Article may also refer to: G ...

s and other

determiner A determiner, also called determinative (abbreviated ), is a word, phrase, or affix that occurs together with a noun or noun phrase and generally serves to express the reference of that noun or noun phrase in the context. That is, a determiner m ...

s, attributive

adjective In linguistics, an adjective (list of glossing abbreviations, abbreviated ) is a word that generally grammatical modifier, modifies a noun or noun phrase or describes its referent. Its semantic role is to change information given by the noun. Tra ...

prepositional phrase An adpositional phrase, in linguistics, is a syntactic category that includes ''prepositional phrases'', ''postpositional phrases'', and ''circumpositional phrases''. Adpositional phrases contain an adposition (preposition, postposition, or circ ...

relative clause A relative clause is a clause that modifies a noun or noun phraseRodney D. Huddleston, Geoffrey K. Pullum, ''A Student's Introduction to English Grammar'', CUP 2005, p. 183ff. and uses some grammatical device to indicate that one of the arguments ...

s, and certain others (see Components of noun phrases). Some examples of its use are given below: *''this one'' *''a green one'' *''that one over there'' *''the ones in the box'' *''the one that you like'' *''those nice sweet ones from Peru which we usually buy'' Other words with limited semantic content that may sometimes be classed as prop-words include ''person'' and ''thing''. In English, certain combinations of determiner and prop-word have developed into

indefinite pronoun An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun which does not have a specific familiar referent. Indefinite pronouns are in contrast to definite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can represent either count nouns or noncount nouns. They often have related for ...

s: ''somebody'', ''anyone'', ''nothing'', etc.

Origin of "one"

This relatively minor topic of English syntax was a matter of a rather significant and prolonged discussion about the origin of the phrase "a good one", which involved such experts as

Eugen Einenkel Eugen is a masculine given name which may refer to: * Archduke Eugen of Austria (1863–1954), last Habsburg Grandmaster of the Teutonic Order from 1894 to 1923 * Prince Eugen, Duke of Närke (1865–1947), Swedish painter, art collector, and pat ...

Karl Luick Karl Luick (1865-1935) was the de facto founder of the Vienna School of English historical linguistics, which was continued by Herbert Koziol and has been expanded, most notably and most recently, by Herbert Schendl and Nikolaus Ritt as the most ...

Otto Jespersen Jens Otto Harry Jespersen (; 16 July 1860 – 30 April 1943) was a Danish linguist who specialized in the grammar of the English language. Steven Mithen described him as "one of the greatest language scholars of the nineteenth and twentieth ce ...

Matti Rissanen Matti Juhani Rissanen (23 June 1937 in Viipuri – 24 January 2018 in Vantaa) was a Finnish professor emeritus and researcher in English linguistics. Rissanen worked at the University of Helsinki as a docent of English philology 1969–1970, an ass ...

, among others, until the consensus of the authorities was established by Bruce Mitchell in his ''Old English Syntax''.

Tauno Mustanoja Tauno Frans Mustanoja (1912–1996) was a professor of English Philology and Literature at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He was a philologist and scholar of Medieval and Middle English. He was also a major influence in initiating what b ...

gives a detailed overview of the opinions on the subject.Tauno Mustanoja, ''A Middle English Syntax'', vol.1 . "Parts of Speech", 1960

In other languages

Most other languages lack a prop-word used equivalently to English ''one''. Instead, they may make more use of

demonstrative pronoun Demonstratives (abbreviated ) are words, such as ''this'' and ''that'', used to indicate which entities are being referred to and to distinguish those entities from others. They are typically deictic; their meaning depending on a particular frame ...

s (similar to ''this'' or ''that'' when used without a following noun or prop-word). Phrases like "the red one" may be translated simply as "the red", i.e. using a

nominalized adjective A nominalized adjective is an adjective that has undergone nominalization, and is thus used as a noun. In ''the rich and the poor'', the adjectives ''rich'' and ''poor'' function as nouns denoting people who are rich and poor respectively. In En ...

, as in the German ''der Rote'', or the Greek ''το κόκκινο''.

Japanese Japanese may refer to: * Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia * Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan * Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture ** Japanese diaspor ...

is an example of a language with a prop-word; the

particle In the Outline of physical science, physical sciences, a particle (or corpuscule in older texts) is a small wikt:local, localized physical body, object which can be described by several physical property, physical or chemical property, chemical ...

の can be used as one. 赤いの (''akai no'') = "the red one".

English language

Function

Origin of "one"

In other languages

See also

References

Further reading