A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence. Pronouns are used so that our
language is not cumbersome with the same nouns being repeated over and over in a
paragraph. Some examples of pronouns
include I, me, mine, myself,she, her, hers, herself, we, us, ours and ourselves. You may
have noticed that they tend to come in sets of four, all referring to the same person, group or
thing.
He, him, his and himself, for example, all refer to a male person or
something belonging to him
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns can be the subject of a clause or sentence. They are: I, he, she, it, they,
we, and you. Example: They went to the store.
Personal pronouns can also be objective, where they are the object of a verb, preposition,
or infinitive phrase. They are: me, her, him, it, you, them, and us. Example: David gave the
gift to her.
Possession can be shown by personal pronouns, like:mine, his, hers, ours, yours,
its, and theirs. Example: Is this mine or yours?
Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns are often (but not always) found at the beginning of a sentence. More
precisely, the subject of a sentence is the person or thing that lives out the verb.
I owe that person $3,000. I am living out that debt. I is the subject
pronoun.
He and I had a fight. This sentence has two subjects
because he and I were both involved in the fight.
He broke my kneecaps. You get the idea.
To him, I must now pay my children's college funds. If you'll notice, the
verb in this sentence the action is "pay." Although I is not at the
beginning of the sentence, it is the person living out the action and is,
therefore, the subject.
Object Pronouns
By contrast, objects and object pronouns indicate the recipient of an action or motion. They
come after verbs and prepositions (to, with, for, at, on, beside, under, around, etc.).
"The police arrested me and him." or "The police arrested he and I?"
Some people will tell you that you should always put the other person first and refer to
yourself as "I" because it's more proper, but those people are wrong. You can put the other
person first out of politeness, but you should always use the correct pronouns (subject or
object) for the sentence.
A good test to decide which one you need is to try the sentence with one pronoun at a time.
Would you say, "Me had a fight?" Of course not. You'd say, "I had a fight." What about, "Him
had a fight?" No, you'd say, "He had a fight." So when you put the two subjects together, you
get, "He and I had a fight." The same rule applies to the other example.
You wouldn't say, "The police arrested he," or, "The police arrested I."
Possessive pronouns, on the other hand mine, yours, ours, theirs, his, hers, its are truly
pronouns because they refer to a previously named or understood noun. They stand alone,
not followed by any other noun. For comparison's sake, look at this sentence:
Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns do not point to any particular nouns, but refer to things or people in
general. Some of them are: few, everyone, all, some, anything, and nobody. Example:
Everyone is already here.
Relative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun. These
are:who, whom, which, whoever, whomever, whichever, and that. Example: The driver who
ran the stop sign was careless.
Intensive Pronouns
These pronouns are used to emphasize a noun or pronoun. These are: myself, himself,
herself, themselves, itself, yourself, yourselves, and ourselves. Example: He himself is his
worst critic.
Demonstrative Pronouns
There are five demonstrative pronouns: these, those, this, that, and such. They focus
attention on the nouns that are replacing. Examples: Such was his understanding. Those
are totally awesome.
Interrogative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to begin a question: who, whom, which, what, whoever,
whomever, whichever, and whatever. Example: Who will you bring to the party?
Reflexive Pronouns
There is one more type of pronoun, and that is the reflexive pronoun. These are the ones
that end in self or "selves." They are object pronouns that we use when the subject and
the object are the same noun.
Usually, the guy I borrowed the money from will send an employee to
collect the money, but since I owed so much, he himself came to my house.
No matter what your teachers may have taught you about pronouns, the I's don't always
have it. If your teachers ever warned you about the evils of gambling, however, they
were right about that. You don't want someone breaking your kneecaps with his
crowbar; it will hurt, the police might arrest you, and you may never forgive yourself.