Pronouns
A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that may be substituted for a noun,
and its because pronouns can do everything that nouns can do. A pronoun
can act as a subject, direct or indirect object and more.
Types of Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
Demosntrative Pronouns
Possesive Pronouns
Relative Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
Reciprocal Pronouns
Intensive Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns
We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are.
We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in -thing for things:
EXAMPLES:
Everybody enjoyed the concert.
I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.
Personal pronouns
Those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you
have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number
EXAMPLES:
I am teaching myself to play the piano.
Be careful with that knife. You might cut yourself.
Demonstrative pronouns
Those used to point to something specific within a sentence:
We use this (singular) and these (plural) as pronouns:
- to talk about people or things near us:
This is a nice cup of tea.
Whose shoes are these?
- to introduce people:
This is Janet.
These are my friends, John and Michael.
WARNING:
We dont say These are John and Michael.
We say This is John and this is Michael.
- to introduce ourselves to begin a conversation on the phone:
Hello, this is David, Can I speak to Sally?
Demonstrative pronouns
We use that (singular) and those (plural):
- to talk about things that are not near us:
Whats that?
This is our house, and thats Rebeccas house over there.
Those are very expensive shoes.
- We also use that to refer back to something someone said or
did:
- Shall we go to the cinema?
- Yes, thats a good idea.
- Ive got a new job.
- Thats great.
- Im very tired.
- Why is that?
Possessive pronouns
Those designating possession or We can use possessive pronouns
ownership after of.
We can say:
Mine Susan is one of my friends.
Yours or
Susan is a friend of mine.
His but not
Hers Susan is a friend of me
Its or
Ours I am one of Susan's friends.
or
Yours I am a friend of Susan's.
Theirs but not
I am a friend of Susan
Relative pronouns
Those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting
to introduce an adjective (relative) clause.
Examples:
The cyclist who won the race trained hard.
Spaghetti, which we eat at least twice a week, is one of
my familys favorite meals.
The book, when it was finally returned, was torn and
stained.
The store on the corner, where we usually buy all of our
art supplies, burned to the ground.
Interrogative pronouns
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
Question
are four mainAnswer
interrogative
pronouns:
Who told you? who, whom, what, which subject
John told me.
Which will the doctor see first? The doctor will see the patient in object
bluefirst.
Himself
We built a garden shed by ourselves.
Herself
Yourself Jordan made himself a sandwich, complete with pickles.
Themselves Im a little nervous about walking by myself after dark.
Ourselves The twins are growing up fast; theyre already walking
by themselves.
Jennifer sewed her dress herself.