The Secret Life of Pronouns

Found in Littered with books but beyond my budget. Shall scour in libraries

Partly a research journey, the book traces the discovery of the links between function words and social and psychological states. Written for a general audience, the book takes the reader on a remarkable and often unexpected journey into the minds of authors, poets, lyricists, politicians, and everyday people through their use of words.

At the heart of this book is the idea that our words leave indelible fingerprints of personality, our relationships and backgrounds, and even our plans for the future. Once you see the power of pronouns, articles, and other function words, you will better understand:

• How Tweets and Facebook posts can tell us about the personality of their authors.
• Why lying to others and to ourselves causes us to talk differently.
• How it’s possible to predict if two people will fall in love by counting the function words the two people use in their first conversation with one another.
• When we can predict a person’s age, sex, where they live, and what their background is by analyzing their conversations or emails.
• Why self-confident leaders rarely use the word “I” and insecure and depressed people do.
• How writing about an emotional upheaval using particular linguistic styles can help you get past it.
• Why analyzing your own emails, letters, and natural conversations can tell you about yourself and the relationships you cherish most.