Pronouns

 What is a Pronoun? A pronoun is a word or phrase that substitutes a noun or noun phrase, and is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. Pronouns are also building blocks of a sentence, and are able to give a better look and feel of a sentence apart from replacing the long and repetitive nouns.

A pronoun can act as a subject, a direct object, an indirect object, an object of the preposition, and it replaces any person, place, animal or thing. So that Alia becomes she, Ranbir becomes he, the players becomes they, tea becomes it, and in a sentence,

Alia drinks a cup of tea every morning could become she drinks a cup of it every morning, or even she drinks it every morning, where the it would substitute the cup of tea, not just the tea.
Without the use of pronouns, repetitive nouns would make our speech and writing look dull and cumbersome. Without pronouns, Alia drinks a cup of tea every morning, she likes to have it before breakfast would be Alia drinks a cup of tea every morning, Alia likes to have the cup of tea before breakfast.

Using pronouns helps the flow of sentences and makes them more interesting, better flowing.
Pronouns are may be used to replace not only nouns, but also also certain adverbs, adjectives, and other pronouns. While referring to a person, animal, place or thing, pronouns add interest and make the speech or writing flow better.

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns can be divided into at least ten categories including the following ones:

1. Personal pronouns
2. Possessive pronouns
3. Accusative Pronouns
4. Emphatic pronouns
5. Reflexive pronouns
6. Demonstrative pronouns
7. Relative pronouns
8. Interrogative pronouns
9. Indefinite Pronouns
10. Reciprocal pronouns

1. Personal pronouns

• Personal pronoun are those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number.
• Personal pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun (someone’s name) or a collective group of people or things.
• Personal pronouns have two main groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.

The first group of pronouns is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. Here you is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or plural, addressing a group of people.
Examples of Personal pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• Priti and Pinki are friends. They play tennis together.
• You have more experience than he.
• They will be late if we don’t hurry up.
• She has a craze for whatever I do.

The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them. Consider the sentence again: They will be late if we don’t hurry up. In the above example, They is the subject of the sentence, but we is the object.
Other examples of pronouns replacing the object:

• Krishna sang the song to her.
• Missing the train will cause them to be late.
• Kalpana presented her costliest toy to me.
• Seema unpacked those items in a hurry.
• My mom put them tightly in the suitcase.

2. Possessive pronouns –

• Possessive pronouns are the ones that designate possession or ownership.
• They pose themselves at the end positions of a sentence.
• A possessive pronoun can take the place of a noun phrase to show ownership.
• The strong possessive is a type of independent genitive.

Examples include: mine, its, hers, his, yours, ours, theirs.

• The possessive pronouns like mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, theirs are generally used at the end positions.
• A possessive pronoun never takes an apostrophe.
• The weak possessives (also called possessive determiners) function as determiners in front of nouns. The weak possessives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.

Examples of Possessive pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the example:

• This book is mine.

Mine is indicating possession, that the book belongs to me. Incidentally, this in the sentence is not a pronoun but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun book. You will find that possessive pronouns often follow phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.
A possessive pronoun can take the place of a noun phrase to show ownership, as in, “This phone is mine.” The weak possessives (also called possessive determiners) function as determiners in front of nouns, as in, “My phone is broken.” The weak possessives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.

In contrast, the strong (or absolute) possessive pronouns stand on their own: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. The strong possessive is a type of independent genitive. A possessive pronoun never takes an apostrophe.
These Pronouns are used at the end of a sentence :

• Are those books yours?
• This colony is ours.
• These toys are his.
• This barren land is theirs.
• Is the fault mine or yours?

3. Accusative Pronouns-

• Accusative pronouns are the ones that replace the nouns used as objects in sentences.
• They always pose themselves at the middle or end positions of a sentence.

Examples include: me, you, it , her, him, us, you, them.
Examples of Accusative pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples:

• Are those books for her?
• This colony belongs to all of us.
• Are these toys for him?
• This barren land is gifted to them.
• Is the fault due to me or you?

4.Emphatic pronouns-

• These are the ones ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents.
• These are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but rather than just referring back to the subject of the sentence they work to reinforce the action.
• In many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the emphatic pronoun.

Examples of Emphatic pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples:

• I will do it myself.
• We made this pie ourselves.
• A nation speaks for itself through elections.

Notice how the emphatic pronoun is working to emphasize the statement. The sentence would still technically be correct without the intensive pronoun, but it adds some important context to its meaning.

5. Reflexive pronouns-

• Reflexive pronouns are those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves.
• Reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or clause of a sentence.
• The list of reflexive pronouns includes: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Examples of Reflexive pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples:

• Count yourselves
• Annie only had herself to blame.

Jack and Jill had baked themselves cakes.

6. Demonstrative pronouns-

• Demonstrative pronouns are those used to point to something specific within a sentence.
• There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but the usage can be a bit tricky at times.
• This and that are singular, whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.
• Examples of Demonstrative pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

Consider the examples:

• I prefer this.
• These are beautiful, but those belong to Donny.
• Did you see that?

While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun, as in the following examples.

• I prefer this photo.
• These flowers are beautiful, but those vases belong to Donny.
• Did you see that rainbow?

It should be clear that this, that, these and those in the example above are not pronouns because they are being used to qualify the noun, but not to replace it.
A good trick for remembering the difference is that a demonstrative pronoun would still make sense if the word one or ones followed it in the sentence. I prefer this (one). These (ones) are beautiful. Did you see that (one)? Those (ones) belong to Donny.

7. Relative pronouns-

• Relative pronouns are those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause.
• They will usually appear after a noun to help clarify the sentence or give extra information.
• Examples include: who, which, that, whom, whose.
• Consider the following sentence: The man who stole the car went to jail.
• The relative pronoun who acts to refer back to the noun man. It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as not just any man, but the one who stole the car.
• Examples of Relative pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

Consider the examples:

• The table, which sits in the hallway, is used for correspondence.
• The car that crashed into the wall was blue.
• This is the woman, whose key you found.

8. Interrogative pronouns

• Interrogative pronouns are those which introduce a question.
• Examples include: who, whom, whose, what, which.
• We can usually identify an interrogative pronoun by the fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question. Examples of Interrogative pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

Consider the examples:

• Who will come to the party?
• Which do you prefer?
• What do you need?
• Whose clothes are on the floor?
• Whom did you tell?

Whom and who are often confused, and even native speakers will use them incorrectly. Who will replace the subject of a sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct or indirect object. A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the sentence with a personal pronoun and it will still make sense. Who will come to the party? I will come to the party. The same system would not work for Whom did you tell? I did you tell.
9. Distributive Pronouns-

• Distributive pronouns are those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places, such as Each, Every, Either, Neither.
• Notice in the examples below that there is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence. Examples of Indefinite pronouns : 1. Anyone 2. Somebody 3. Whichever 4. Whoever 5. Other 6. Something 7. Nobody

Examples of Indefinite pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples:

• Each boy was given a prize.
• Either road leads to the railway station.
• Neither accusation is true.
• Each, either and neither are called distributive pronouns because they refer to persons or things one at a time

9. Indefinite Pronouns-

• Indefinite pronouns are those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places, such as someone, anybody, nothing.
• Notice in the examples below that there is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence. Examples of Indefinite pronouns : 1. Anyone 2. Somebody 3. Whichever 4. Whoever 5. Other 6. Something 7. Nobody

Examples of Indefinite pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification. Consider the examples:

• Would anyone like a coffee?
• Take whatever you like.
• Yasmin took one cookie and Zara took the other.
• Whoever owns this is in big trouble!
• I want someone to move this now.

Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create sentences that are almost abstract. Examples could include: this, all, such and something.

• All was not lost.
• Such is life.
• Something tells me this won’t end well.

10. Reciprocal pronouns-

• Reciprocal pronouns are those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one another.
• There are just two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other.
• They are mainly used to stop unnecessary repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce the idea that collective and reciprocal actions are happening to more than one person or thing.

• Kuni and Muni gave each other gifts.

Using each other allows us the sentence to be more efficient than: Kuni gave Muni a gift and Muni gave a gift to Kuni.
The countries worked with one another on national security. In this example, one another works to suggest that the action of working is being reciprocated back and forth by more than one country. Examples of Reciprocal pronoun in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

• The boxers punched each other
• The couple love one another deeply

Pronoun Rules

Pronouns are easy to work with only if you read through a few rules and examples demonstrating them here.

• Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences.

For example: We did a great job.

• Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject.

For example: It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii.

• Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their own.

For example: No one likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.

• Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us, them, and it.

For example: Dee talked to him about the mistake.

• Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes.

For example: The cat washed its tail.

In the following examples, the pronouns are italicized.

Examples of Pronouns

1. We are going on a vacation trip.
2. Don’t tell me that you won’t come with us.
3. Anybody who saysit won’t be fun has no clue what they are talking about.
4. These are terribly steep stairs.
5. They ran into each other at the mall.
6. I’m not sure which is worse: rain or snow.
7. It is one of the nicest Italian restaurants in the town.
8. Ritesh stared at himself in the mirror.
9. The laundry isn’t going to do itself.
10. Someone spilled orange juice all over the dining table!

Pronoun Exercises

The following exercises will help you gain greater understanding about how pronouns work. Choose the best answer to complete each sentence.

1. This is __________ speaking.
2. Nick
3. He
4. He Joe
5. Am

1. Clara is as smart as __________ is.
2. I
3. me
4. she
5. we

1. The dog chewed on __________ favorite toy.
2. it’s
3. it is
4. its’
5. its

1. It could have been __________ .
2. Jill
3. anyone
4. better
5. more difficult

1. Pinky is taller than __________ am.
2. I
3. me
4. she
5. we

Answers

1. B. This is he speaking.
2. C. Clara is as smart as she is.
3. D. The dog chewed on its favorite toy.
4. B. It could have been anyone.
5. A. Pinky is taller than I am.

List of Pronouns

As you read through this list of pronouns, remember that each one of these pronouns is a word that can be used to take the place of a noun. Think about ways to use the pronouns on this list in sentences, as this will increase your understanding.

---

I

We

You

She

He

They

It

---

Me

Us

You

Her

Him

It

Them

---

Mine

Ours

Yours

His

Hers

Its

Theirs

---

Myself

Yourself

Ourselves

Yourselves

Herself

Himself

Themselves

Itself

---

This

These

That

Those

That

---

Which

Who

Whom

Whose

Whom

---

Whichever

Whoever

Whomever

---

Anybody

Anyone

Anything

---

Each

Either

Everyone

Everybody

Everything

Nobody

Neither

---

None

Nothing

Somebody

One

Someone

Something

---

Few

Many

Both

Several

Any

All

Some

Most

None

Such

---

Each other

One another

---