Pronoun

PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word that can be used instead of a noun, noun phrase or noun clause.
Pronouns are used to replace nouns.

Look at this:
I am Joe. Clint is Joe's best friend. Clint has a dog. Clint and Clint's dog live close to Joe's house. Joe loves Clint and Clint's dog. Joe and Clint's families are friends. Joe and Clint's families love Joe and Clint's families.

Not funny? 🤔
That is how stressful and absurd our writings would have been without pronouns.

Now, let's use pronouns:
I am Joe. Clint is my best friend. He has a dog. They live close to my house. I love them. Our families are friends. Our families love each other.

Beautiful, isn't it?

All the words we used to replace the previous ones are pronouns.

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


1. Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated primarily with a particular grammatical person – first person, second person, or third person.

First person pronoun: The person talking.
You use 'I' and 'me' for yourself when speaking. You use 'we' if you are among but it was not only you.

Object position:
I will prefer a glass of orange juice.

We have eaten dinner.

Object position:

He likes me.

The teacher likes us.

Second person pronoun: This is the pronoun used for the person you are talking to.

‘You’ is the second person pronoun. It is the same in the subject and object form.

Subject form:
‘You’ look very beautiful!

Object form:
Ali will beat ‘you’

Third person personal pronoun: This is for the person you are talking about.
E.g:
Subject   -    Object
She          -        her
He            -        him
They       -        them
It              -         It

Subject     -     Object
'She' loves ‘him’
‘He’ used to like ‘them’
‘They’ hate ‘him’
‘It’ has a long tail.
We have found ‘it’

Remember, ‘it’ is used for animals and non-living things (bags, books, etc) only. Don't use ‘it’ for humans unless a baby or someone whose gender is not (yet) known or someone.

2. Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns show that something belongs to someone.

The possessive pronouns are my, our, your, his, her, its, and their. Linguists regard the aforementioned examples as possessive adjectives. We will discuss more of this as you read on.

There's also an “independent” form of each of these pronouns: mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs.

Possessive pronouns simplify constructions that show possession of a noun.

Example:

Jane takes pride in Jane’s outfits.

It sounds odd to use Jane’s name twice in this sentence. A possessive pronoun solves the problem:

Jane takes pride in her outfits.

More Examples:

‘My’ plane is delayed.

‘Your’ dinner is ready.

Remember not to judge a book by ‘its’ cover.

I would have knocked on ‘their’ door, but I heard ‘their’ baby crying.

They let us know that sb/sth owns sb/sth.

The independent pronouns examples:

My phone is dead. Pass me ‘yours’.

Did you know that Labrador is ‘mine’?

The house on the corner is ‘theirs’.

Wrong Usage:

It is ‘mine’. ✔

It is ‘my’. ❌

The book is ‘theirs’.✔

The book is ‘their’ ❌

It is ‘theirs’ book. ❌

It is their book. ✔

‘My, our, your’ have to be placed in front of a noun before they can make sense, so they are not independent pronouns.

All the ones that aren't independent pronouns, e.g: ‘my, our, your’ and ‘its’ are classified under possessive adjectives because they can not stand alone and are before a noun.

Therefore, ‘my, our, their, your, its’ act as possessive adjectives while their pronoun forms are ‘mine, ours, theirs, yours, its’. Note: ‘its’ can be a possessive pronoun and a possessive adjective, depending on how it is used.

Bobby is my dog. That is ‘its’ puppy - adjective

 Bobby is my dog. The puppy is ‘its’ - pronoun

A Common Mistake: Its vs. It’s

A very common error is putting an apostrophe in the possessive pronoun ‘its’.

It is easy to confuse ‘its’ with the contraction of ‘it is’ which does have an apostrophe. 

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Remember, though, possessive pronouns never use apostrophes.

The boat lost it’s mast in the storm.❌

The boat lost its mast in the storm.✔

Don’t judge a book by it’s cover. ❌

Don’t judge a book by its cover. ✔

3. Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogate means to ask questions. Therefore, interrogative pronouns are pronouns used for asking questions.

E.g:

Please, ‘who’ are you?

Jim, ‘where’ is it?

The bags; ‘whose’ are they?

‘Which’ of the boys beat her?

‘What’ is wrong?

These are all interrogative pronouns but be careful not to mistake them for interrogative adjectives.

If the pronouns come before a noun, then they become interrogative adjectives. Remember possessive pronouns?

Look at these:

‘What’ time is it? - ‘What’ in this question is an interrogative adjective because of ‘time’ which is after it.

‘What’ is the time? - ‘What’ is an interrogative pronoun here because there is no noun immediately after it.

‘Which’ bag is yours? - Adjective

‘Which’ of the bags is yours? - Pronoun

‘Whose’ book is it? - adjective

‘Whose’ is it? - pronoun

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Beware of whose and who’s

‘Whose’, as we have seen above is used to ask a question involving possession.

Who’s is a contracted form of ‘who is’ or ‘who has’

Whose wallet is this? = who does this wallet belong to?

Who’s going to pay for dinner? = Who is going to pay for dinner?

Who’s lost their wallet? = ‘Who has’ lost their wallet? 

Whose going to pay for dinner? ❌

Who's wallet is this? ❌

4. Demonstrative Pronouns

To demonstrate means to point things out.

Demonstrative pronouns are used to point out specific things.

Demonstrative pronouns include: 

near in distance or time - ‘this, these’

far in distance or time - ‘that, those’

Note: The plural form of ‘this’ is ‘these’

For example, ‘this’ is my book / ‘these’ are my books.

The plural form of ‘that’ is ‘those’.

For example, ‘that’ is the boy / ‘those’ are the boys.

Other examples:

‘This’ tastes good.

Have you seen ‘this’?

‘These’ are bad times.

Do you like ‘these’?

‘That’ is beautiful.

Look at ‘that’!

‘Those’ were the days!

Can you see ‘that’?

Can you see ‘those’?

‘This’ is heavier than ‘that’.

‘These’ are heavier than ‘those’.

Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a demonstrative pronoun stands alone, while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.

‘That’ is good. - demonstrative pronoun

‘That book’ is good. - demonstrative adjective + noun

Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things only. But we can use them for people when the person is identified. Look at these examples:

‘This’ is Alvin speaking. Is ‘that’ Miriam?

Mini Quiz

Test your understanding with this quick quiz.

1. To choose the correct demonstrative pronoun (this, that, these or those), we need to know if the noun being replaced is singular or plural and ____

a. common or proper

b. near or far

c.  subject or object

2. Complete with the correct demonstrative pronoun: "Your cookies are much better than ______ over there."

 a. that

b. these

c. those

d. this

3. Complete with the correct demonstrative pronoun: "Who was ______ on the phone?"

a. that

b. this

c. those

Answers:

Near or far

Those

That

5. Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun works as a connector between two clauses. It introduces a relative clause. Relative pronouns are ‘that, which, who, whom, who's’.

Example of Relative Pronouns:

Robert is a king ‘who’ rules the seven kingdoms.

The seven kingdoms ‘which’ are ruled by different houses answers to him.

Robert only trusts Ned ‘who’ is a friend of him.

Ned is the governor of the kingdom ‘which’ is vast.

They have a slogan that is “winter is coming”.

Don’t make comments that are not appropriate in this situation.

I don’t know whose car is this.

I know whom you are dating.

The person whom you met yesterday is a doctor.

6.  Reflexive Pronoun

Reflexive pronoun redirects a sentence or a clause back to the subject, which is also the direct object of that sentence. A reflexive pronoun comes when the subject performs its action upon ‘itself’. Here, ‘itself’ is a reflexive pronoun.

A ‘reflexive pronoun’ comes when the subject and object refer to the same person or thing.

Examples:

Since she is her own boss, she gave ‘herself’ a raise. (Here, ‘herself’ is the direct object of the clause and the same person is the subject)

She allowed ‘herself’ more time to get ready.

The computer restarts ‘itself’ every night.

We told ‘ourselves’ that we were so lucky to be alive.

I don’t need your help while I can do it ‘myself’.

Don’t hurt ‘yourself’ by playing carelessly.

We have enjoyed ‘ourselves’

You boys should make it ‘yourselves’.

He spoke to ‘himself’ in front of the mirror.

They are doing it ‘themselves’.

7. Emphatic Pronouns

Emphatic pronouns are compound personal pronouns such as 'himself', 'myself' and 'yourself' used for emphasis. 

Eg: 

      We ‘ourselves’ will watch the show.

      You ‘yourself’ can tell us about the situation.

      We saw the President ‘himself’.

      She ‘herself’ told us the news.

      The city ‘itself’ does not receive much rainfall.

      They ‘themselves’ prefer to stay at home.

When reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize the noun or personal pronoun, they are called emphatic pronouns.

RELATION BETWEEN REFLEXIVE AND EMPHATIC PRONOUNS - DEFINITION

Reflexive pronouns show that the action of the subject reflects upon the doer. However, an emphatic pronoun simply emphasizes the action of the subject. 

Example:

She cuts ‘herself’. - ‘herself’ is a reflexive pronoun since the subject's (the girl's) action (cutting) refers back to the doer (the girl). 

She ‘herself’ cut the cake. - ‘herself’ is an emphatic pronoun because it is emphasizing the subject (the girl).

Emphatic pronouns are also called Intensive pronouns.

8. Reciprocal Pronouns

The reciprocal pronouns are used to express a relationship in which ‘the same thing is done by each of two parties’ towards the other or more parties towards others. 

The reciprocal pronouns: ‘each other and one another’.

A reciprocal pronoun is used to shorten a long sentence by not repeating the same action done by two or more people.

Examples:

Ray is waving to Roy and Roy is waving to Ray.

Ray and Roy are waving to ‘each other’.

The reciprocal pronouns are used to express a relationship in which the same thing is done by each of two parties towards the other or more parties towards others. 

For example:

Jack is smiling at Jill and Jill is smiling at Jack.

This is the same as:

Jack and Jill are smiling at ‘each other’.

The smile is reciprocated by the other. 

The reciprocal pronouns refer mostly to people, but they can also be applied to animals or things. 

‘Each other’ is usually used when writing or speaking about two people or things.

For more than two people or things, ‘one another’ is generally used, but it is not a rule that must be strictly followed.

The subject has to be plural for the reciprocal pronouns to be used.

Examples:

‘The twin brothers’ often argue with ‘each other’.

’Adam and Eve’ have been writing to ‘each other’ for years.

‘The few puppies’ chased ‘one another’ across the field.

At the meeting, ‘they’ insulted ‘one another’.

9. Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to an unspecified or unidentified person or thing. It's vague rather than specific, and it doesn't have an antecedent.

Indefinite pronouns include quantifiers ‘some, any, enough, several, many, much’; universals ‘all, both, every, each’; and partitives ‘any, anyone, anybody, either, neither, no, nobody, some, someone’. Many of the indefinite pronouns can function as determiners. Positive indefinite pronouns ending in ‘-body’ can be interchanged with those that end with *‘-one’, such as ‘anybody’ and ‘anyone’.

Types of indefinite pronouns fit two categories: 

Those that are made up of two morphemes and are called ‘compound pronouns’, such as ‘somebody’.

And 

Those that are followed by the word of, called ‘of- pronouns’, such as *all* or ‘many’. 

E.g: ‘All of’ you.

‘Many of’ the boys

A List of Indefinite Pronouns:

all, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everything, enough, everybody, everyone, few, many, most, much, neither, no one,nobody, none, nothing, several, some, somebody, someone, something.

Quiz on Pronouns

Fill in the blank spaces with any pronoun that fits in.

1. ____ do ____ live?

2. What is ____ name?

3. ____ name is Jane. ____ live across the street with ____ parents. My parents love ____. 

4. Look at ____ boys. ____ are my friends. We love ____.

5. ____ teacher asked ____ who did my homework for ____. I told ____ that I did it ____.

6. The boys ____ killed the snake.

7. The little girl ____ mother died is crying.

8. ____ are my friends. I ____ them.

9. This book is ____.

How many could you answer?

Answers to the quiz on pronouns:

1. Where do you/they/I/we live?

2. What is your/her/his/their/its/our name?

3. My name is Jane. I live across the street with my parents. My parents love me/themselves/each other.

Note: My parents love ‘each other’ means that my mum loves my dad and my dad loves her.

But

My parents love ‘themselves’ means that my mum loves herself and my dad loves himself.

4. Look at those boys. They are my friends. We love one another.

Note: ‘Those’ is acting as a determiner/an adjective

5. My/our teacher asked me/us who did my homework for me/us. I/We told him/her that I/we did it myself/ourselves.

6. The boys themselves killed the snake.

7. The little girl whose mother died is crying.

8. They are my friends. I love them.

9. This book is mine/yours/ours/his/hers/theirs.

Happy learning.