PRONOUN EXPLANATION

What is a Pronoun?

In grammar, a pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that may be substituted for a noun or noun phrase, which once replaced, is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. How is this possible? In a nutshell, it’s because pronouns can do everything that nouns can do. A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more.

Without pronouns, we’d have to keep on repeating nouns, and that would make our speech and writing repetitive, not to mention cumbersome. Most pronouns are very short words. Examples include:

• He
• She
• They
• It
• We
• Who

As mentioned, pronouns are usually used to replace nouns, however they can also stand in for certain adverbs, adjectives, and other pronouns. Anytime you want to talk about a person, animal, place or thing, you can use pronouns to make your speech or writing flow better.

                   

Kinds Of Pronouns

                         

A.   Personal Pronouns:  

          Those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number           

SINGULAR				PLURAL
	subjective	objective	possessive	subjective	objective	possessive
1st person	I	me	my, mine	we	us	our, ours
2nd person	you	you	your, yours	you	you	your, yours
3rd person	he she it	him her it	his her,  hers its	they	them	their, theirs

  

B.      Demonstrative Pronouns:

                             Those used to point to something specific within a sentence.

                   

Demonstrative pronouns can also be used as determiners.

Example:

Hand me that hammer. (that describes the noun hammer)

Demonstrative pronouns can also be used as qualifiers:

Example:

She wanted that much money? (that describes the adjective much)

C.       Reflexive / Intensive Pronouns :  the "self" pronouns       

Those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves . Reflexive / intensive pronouns CANNOT REPLACE personal pronouns.

Examples:

I saw myself  in the mirror. (Myself is a reflexive pronoun, reflecting the pronoun I.)

I’ll do it myself. (Myself is an intensive pronoun, intensifying the pronoun I.)

Note:  The following words are substandard and should not be used:

                      theirselves                        theirself          hisself         ourself

               

     

D.       Indefinite Pronouns:

 Those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places.                  

Singular:

One	someone	anyone	no one	everyone
Each	somebody	anybody	nobody	everybody
(n)either	something	anything	nothing	everything
Examples:
Somebody is coming to dinner.
Neither of us believes a word Harry says.

Plural:     

Examples:

Both are expected at the airport at the same time.

Several have suggested canceling the meeting.

Singular with non-countables / Plural with countables:

Examples:

Some of the dirt has become a permanent part of the rug.

Some of the trees have been weakened by the storm.

Indefinite pronouns use apostrophes to indicate possessive case.

Examples:

The accident is nobody’s fault.

How will the roadwork affect one's daily commute?

Some indefinite pronouns may also be used as determiners.

one, each, either, neither, some, any, one, all, both, few, several, many, most

Note the differences:

Each person has a chance.

(Each is a determiner describing person.)

Each has a chance.

(Each is an indefinite pronoun replacing a noun.)

Both lawyers pled their cases well.

(Both is a determiner describing  lawyers.)

Both were in the room.

(Both is an indefinite pronoun replacing a noun.)

E.        Interrogative Pronouns:

Interrogative pronouns produce information questions that require more than a “yes” or “no” answer.

Examples:

What do you want?

Who is there?

F.       Relative Pronouns:

Those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause

Relative pronouns introduce relative (adjectival) clauses.

 

Note:	Use who, whom, and whose to refer to people.
	Use that and which to refer to things.

Pronoun Rules

There are a few important rules for using pronouns. As you read through these rules and the examples in the next section, notice how the pronoun rules are followed. Soon you’ll see that pronouns are easy to work with.

• 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: David talked to her about the mistake.
• Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes. For example: The cat washed its whiskers.