PRONOUNS

She

He

We

Us

Definition
"Pronoun" is the sentence element used to replace a noun, or a noun equivalent construction. The replaced noun is named the "antecedent".

CATEGORIES OF PRONOUNS

Syntactically, pronouns have the same functions as nouns do; morphologically, pronouns are used to avoid repetition, and to set/clarify nouns' categories of number, person, and gender.

There are eight categories of pronouns, The categories of pronouns are:

1. Personal Pronouns. 2. Possessive Pronouns . 3. Demonstrative Pronouns. 4. Reflexive and Emphatic Pronouns. 5. Interrogative Pronouns. 6. Relative Pronouns. 7. Reciprocal Pronouns. 8. Indefinite Pronouns.

PERSONAL PRONOUN

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on: number: singular (I) or plural ( we). person: 1st person (I), 2nd person (you) or 3rd person(he). gender: male (he), female (she) or neuter (it). case: subject (we) or object (us).

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about.

Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

personal pronouns number person 1st 2nd singular 3rd 1st plural gender male/female male/female male female neuter male/female subject I you he she it we object me you him her it us

2nd
3rd

male/female male/female/ neuter

you
they

you
them

Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second an object pronoun):

- I like coffee. - John helped me. - Do you like coffee? - John loves you. - He runs fast. - Did Ram beat him? -She is clever. - Does Mary know her? - We went home. -Anthony drove us. -It doesn't work. -Can the engineer repair it? -Do you need a table for three? -Did John and Mary beat you at doubles? -They played doubles. -John and Mary beat them

We often use it to introduce a remark:

-It is nice to have a holiday sometimes. -It is important to dress well.

.

We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:
-It's raining. -It will probably be hot tomorrow. -Is it nine o'clock yet? -It's 50 kilometers from here to Cambridge.

Possessive Pronouns

- We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).
-You will never find a possessive pronoun near a noun, despite the fact it is the genitive of personal pronoun

-We use possessive pronouns depending on: -number: singular (mine) or plural (ours) -person: 1st person (mine), 2nd person (yours) or 3rd person (his) -gender: male (his), female (hers) .

Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Each possessive pronoun can: - be subject or object. -refer to a singular or plural antecedent.
number person 1st 2nd singular

gender (of "owner")

male/female male/female

possessive pronouns mine yours

3rd 1st
plural 2nd 3rd

male female male/female

male/female male/female/neut er

his hers ours

yours theirs

Examples: -Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture) -I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers)

-All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay) -John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport)

Singular

Plural

Used before nouns Used alone

my your his, her, its mine yours his, hers, its

our your their ours yours theirs

REFLEXIVE AND EMPHATIC PRONOUN

Definitions
-Reflexive pronoun is used with an active voice verb in order to reflect the action of the verb back on the subject--the antecedent. -Emphatic pronoun accompanies its antecedent in order to accentuate its action/state. -Reflexive and emphatic pronouns take different positions within the sentence structure.

** We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural). There are eight reflexive pronouns:
reflexive pronoun

singular

myself yourself himself, herself, itself ourselves yourselves themselves

plural

the underlined words are the SAME person/thing

-I saw myself in the mirror. -Why do you blame yourself ? -John sent himself a copy.

-I made it myself. OR I myself made it. -Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself? -She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN

Demonstrative pronouns and demonstrative adjectives have exactly the same forms. The way to differentiate them depends on their position relative to the antecedent/determined nouns.
Demonstrative pronouns THIS, THESE, THAT, THOSE. THE FORMER, THE LATER THE FIRST, THE LAST THE OTHER,THE OTHERS SAME SUCH SO

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

*near in distance or time (this, these) *far in distance or time (that, those)
near singular plural this these far that those

*This tastes good. *These are bad times. *That is beautiful. *Those were the days!

ATTENTION
The word "that" has four main functions: 1. demonstrative pronoun or adjective: That book is good. 2. relative pronoun: Anything that you remember could help a lot. 3. conjunction: He said that he had been there before. 4. adverb: The snow was that high.

-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 smells. (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 Josef speaking. Is that Mary? -That sounds like John

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about). There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which .

-The possessive pronoun whose can

also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).
subject person thing person/thing person who what which whose (possessive) object whom

Examples:
question answer

Who told you?

Whom did you tell? What's happened?

John told me.

I told Mary. An accident's happened.

subject
object subject

Relative Pronouns

- A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies.
There are five relative pronouns:

who, whom, whose,

which, that.
Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which is for things. That can be used for people, and things and as subject and object in defining relative clauses.

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

Examples:
- The person who phoned me last night is my teacher. - The car which hit me was yellow. - The person whom I phoned last night is my teacher. - The car, whose driver jumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed

Reciprocal Pronouns

- We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words: - each other - one another

- When we use these reciprocal pronouns: there must be two or more people, things or groups involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it), and they must be doing the same thing

Examples:
- John and Mary love each other. - The ten prisoners were all blaming one another. - Why don't you believe each other?

INDEFINITE PRONOUN

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

Some Indefinite Pronouns

Singular
another anybody anyone anything each either everybody everyone everything much neither nobody no one nothing one somebody someone something

Plural
both few many others several

All, any, most, none and some can be singular or plural, depending on the phrase that follows them.

Note that many indefinite pronouns also function as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the following sentences:

- He has one job in the day and another at night. (pronoun) - I'd like another drink, please. (adjective)

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another.

Notice that : A singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). - All is forgiven. - All have arrived. - We can start the meeting because everybody has arrived.
- John

likes coffee but not tea. I think both are good.

References:
1- www.englishclub.com . 2- www.corollarytheorems.com.

Taghreed Ahmed Basabrain 3091116