Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned in a text or conversation.

TYPES OF  PRONOUNS

There are several types of pronouns. Among them are personal, possessive, demonstrative, indefinite, reflexive and relative pronouns.

 

Personal pronouns stand in for nouns and noun phrases, and usually refer back in a text or conversation to them.

 

E.g.

 

•      Jane is going to watch the parade tomorrow. She plans to leave at 4 pm.

 

•      We are collecting old photographs for our project. They should still be in good condition.

 

Personal pronouns may be categorised as follows:

 

PERSON	SINGULAR		PLURAL
	Subject	Object	Subject	Object
First	I	me	we	us
(person speaking)
Second	you	you	you	you
(person spoken to)
Third	he, she, it	him, her, it	they	them
(person spoken of)

 

 

He refers to a male.

 

She refers to a female.

 

It refers to a thing or animal.

Positions of Pronouns in Sentences

A pronoun can be the subject of a verb:

 

E.g.

 

•      I can’t catch the mouse. It moves too quickly.

 

A pronoun can be the object of a verb:

 

E.g.

 

•      The flowers look beautiful. Sally arranged them just now.

 

A pronoun can be the object of a preposition:

 

E.g.

 

•      I’m going to buy some snacks. Make sure you keep a place for me.

 

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS

These refer to the person or animal that is the subject of the verb. The following are reflexive pronouns.

 

PERSON	SINGULAR	PLURAL
First	myself	ourselves
Second	yourself	yourselves
Third	himself, herself, itself	themselves

 

 

Positions of Reflexive Pronouns in Sentences

 

Reflexive pronouns may be used:

 

As the object of a verb.

 

E.g.

 

•       Meera blames herself for the mistake.

 

As the object of a preposition.

 

E.g.

 

•       Stop looking at yourself in the mirror.

 

As the indirect object of a verb.

 

E.g.

 

•       Tara gave herself a treat.

 

To emphasise a noun or personal pronoun.

 

E.g.

 

•       Jane herself baked this delicious cake.

 

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

Examples of possessive pronouns are mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, its.

 

Unlike personal pronouns, these usually stand alone and do not have to precede a noun.

 

E.g.

 

•      Karen told me that she had lost her phone. That must be hers.

•      They have found their seats. Have you spotted ours?

 

•      The cat is looking for its master.

 

Note: The possessive pronoun its is different from it’s.

 

It’s is a contracted form of it is.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS

The indefinite pronoun is used when referring to no particular person or thing.

 

Some indefinite pronouns refer to people,

e.g. someone, anyone, everybody, no one, everyone, nobody.

 

Some indefinite pronouns refer to things, e.g. something, anything, everything, nothing.

 

E.g.

 

•      Someone is at the door.

 

•      Where is everyone?

 

•      Has anyone seen the television remote control?

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

A demonstrative pronoun points to a specific thing or things to indicate whether they are close or far, in space and/or time. Like possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns stand alone and do not have to precede a noun.

 

	NEAR IN	FAR IN
	DISTANCE	DISTANCE
	OR TIME	OR TIME
Singular	this	that
Plural	these	those

 

 

E.g.

 

•      Jane stopped eating rice for dinner. This has helped her lose weight quickly.

 

•      That was the last time I saw my colleague Matthew.

 

RELATIVE PRONOUNS

Who, whom, whose, which and that function as relative pronouns when they add further information to the things or people mentioned in the sentence.

 

RELATIVE PRONOUN	REFERS TO
who	a person or people
whom	a person or people
which	a thing or things
whose	a person, people, a thing or things
that	animal(s) or thing(s)

 

The difference between who and whom is that who may be the subject of a verb; it is also often used as an object although this is frowned upon.

 

E.g.

 

•      Isn’t that Shyla who objected to the proposal?

 

•      These are candidates whom we interviewed last week.

 

Whom is used only as the object of a verb. Both who and whom can be the object of a preposition but if the preposition comes before the pronoun, you must use whom. This is illustrated in the examples below.

 

E.g.

 

•      Whom/who did you speak to about this matter?

 

•      To whom did you speak about this matter?

 

The relative pronoun that can often be used instead of who, whom and which.

 

E.g.

 

•      The shirt that Matthew bought has some stains on it.

 

Note: American English favours the use of that over which while British English still uses both that and which.