代词精析：先行项为中性名词时，代词的选择

11次大中小

当我们说一件没有生命的物体时，代词就不需要根据名词的性别来定了，那么，该用什么样的代词来指代没有生命的物体呢？有什么规则呢？小编为大家准备了一整套解析：

当先行项为单数中性名词时，即表示无生命的名词时，代词以及相应的限定词常用中性（it，its，itself）。

例如：

That book has lost its cover. I will put a new one on it tomorrow.

Have you received my letter? It was posted a month ago.

This machine works by itself.

但是，如果说话人带感情色彩也可以使用阴性或阳性代词来指代中性物，如船员常用she称呼ship:

The sailors saw a ship in the distance. She was sailing toward the rocky island.

又如人们常称呼自己所爱的汽车为she或her：

A: How is your new car?

B: Terrific. She is going like a bomb.

如果先行项为动物名词，通常用中性代词来指代，但若说话人带有感情色彩，或者把动物拟人化，可用阳性或阴性代词。

例如：

Look at the bird. It always comes to my windows.

The cat leaped onto my bed and coiled herself there.

The blackbird rushed away to the bush, where he remained perching for about a minute.

当先行项为表示天体名称或某些抽象概念的名词时，代词或相应的限定词用中性，但若说话人带感情色彩或者把这些无生命物拟人化，也可用he或she，依习惯而定。

例如：

The sun is shining in all his splendid beauty.

Love begins playing his old tricks every spring.

History has revised her verdict.

The Autumn gave golden fruit to garden, but to the giant’s garden she gave nothing.

当先行项为国家名称时，如果仅视为地理名词，代词或相应的限定词用中性，但若视为政治实体或者说话人带感情色彩，代词或相应的限定词用阴性。

例如：

China is in East Asia. It is one of the largest countries in the world.

In the last decade of the 20th century, China began to assume her role as a world power.