Pronoun defined

The term comes from the Latin pro and

nomen meaning for a name.
Pronouns are words that take the place of
nouns.

The meanings they have depend on the nouns they

replace, called the antecedent, from the Latin
word, "to go before."

Antecedent may either be expressed or

understood.
A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in
person, number, and gender.
Example:
"When giving treats to friends or children, give
them what they like, emphatically not what is good
for them."
(G.K. Chesterton)
Its case depends upon its use in the
sentence. The case is determined in a sentence in
the same way the case of a noun is determined.

Kinds of Pronouns

A. Personal Pronouns
pronouns
B. Reflexive Pronouns

E. Indefinite
F. Interrogative

Pronouns
C. Demonstrative Pronouns G. Relative
Pronouns
D. Intensive Pronouns

H. Reciprocal

Pronouns

A. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Personal pronouns are so called, not only
because these words always refer to persons, but
also because, according to traditional grammar,
they can be divided into three persons:
First person, referring to the speaker, or the group
to which the speaker belongs
Second person, referring to the personal or persons
being addressed
Third person, referring to all other persons or
things.

1. Subjective and Objective Pronouns

Subject
Object
Singular Singular
Plural
Plural
First person
I
We
us
Second
person
You You
You
You
Third person
He, she, it Him,
her,
They
Them

Me

it

Subjective pronoun indicates that the pronoun

is acting as a subject.
a.I can spend more time with my Dad.
b.We are usually enticed by a good-paying job.
c. You can make your own happiness.
d.He wants to be a pilot.
e.They are ideal friends.
f. The ship was very big. It was very amazing.
Objective pronoun indicates that the pronoun is
acting as direct object of a verb, object of a
compound verb, object of a preposition, or object
of an infinitive.
a. Please send him immediately. (Q: send what or
whom?
A: him)
(Direct object)
The direct object of a verb is the thing being
acted upon by the verb. In other words, the
direct object is the receiver of the action. The
direct object can be found by locating the verb
and
asking
"what?"
or
"whom?
b.I would like to be a pilot so that I could visit
you more often. (direct object)
c. Tim idolizes me. (direct object)
d.I borrowed money from him. (object of a
preposition)
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The noun or pronoun after a preposition is

known as the object of a preposition.
e.We will sail alongside her. (object of
preposition)
f. She sits with me. (object of preposition)
g.Karl wants to see you.
Reminder: the infinitive form of the verb is
the present
form with to in front of it:
Ex. to go, to seem, to run, etc.
h.Sue wants to call her.
i. The police want to investigate them.
j. Kenny picked him up. (Object of a compound
verb)
2. Possessives

Possessive Adjective
Possessive Pronoun
My
mine
Our
ours
Your
yours
Their
theirs
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His
his
Her
hers
Its

Possessives show that someone owns

something. They
can perform as possessive
adjectives or possessive
pronouns.
Possessive Adjectives Are a Type of Pronoun

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun.

As possessive adjectives replace nouns, they are
classified as
pronouns. For this reason, they are
also called possessive pronouns. The
term possessive pronoun covers all the pronouns
that demonstrate ownership.
We use possessive adjectives to show who
owns or
"possesses" something. When my,
your, his, her, its, our, their, whose (interrogative)
precedes a noun to show possession, it becomes
an adjective.
Possessive adjectives are always placed in
front of the noun they modify.
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Here is a list of possessive adjectives

I - my dog
You - your cat
He - his book
She - her car
It - its color (NOT it's!)
We - our dog
You - your house
They - their farm
Examples:
That's my dog in the picture.
Does your cat like tuna?
He left his book in the car.
That's her car over there.
Its color is purple!
Our dog is like a member of the family.
Your house isn't far, is it?
Their farm produces pumpkins.
Her name is Mary.
We have sold

our house.

The students thanked their teacher.

Tom is a dog lover. He takes his dog Spike

everywhere!
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Possessive pronouns take the place of the

possessive determiner and noun. Hence, a noun
does not follow possessive pronouns.
Here is a list of possessive pronouns.
I - mine
You - yours
He - his
She - hers
We - ours
You - yours
They - theirs
Is this your car? - No, that one over there is
mine.
Whose lunch is this? - It's yours.
Whose house is it? - It's his.
Do you know who this belongs to? - It's
hers.
This isn't her car. It's ours.
Whose picture is this? - It's yours.
Who do those books belong to? - They're
theirs.
Yes, this house is mine.
The money was really theirs for the taking.
What's mine is yours, my friend.
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B.
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns are formed by adding
self or selves to certain forms of the
personal pronouns such as:
Myself
oneself
Yourself
ourselves
Himself
yourselves
Herself
themselves
Reflexive pronouns have two major uses:
1. As the object of a verb when that object is
the same as the nearest preceding subject.
They blamed themselves for the accident.
(direct object)
The candidate praised himself too much.
(direct object)
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She gave herself a Valentine gift. (Indirect

object)
2. As an intensifier: In this usage the reflexive
pronoun
may come next to the subject, or it
may follow the predicate.
The doctor himself answered the call.
The doctor answered the call himself.
A
reflexive
pronoun
must
reflect
the
antecedent.
Reflexive from Latin means bend back, thus
reflexive pronoun must bend back: to refer to
its antecedent.
In addition, reflexive pronouns have some
idiomatic meaning. By self means without
help or alone.
People spite only themselves when they refuse
to be friendly.
Johnny took those color slides himself.
They cannot help themselves.
Carol poured herself a glass of milk.
You should buy yourself a new computer.

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C. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Demonstrative pronouns point to the nouns
they are replacing. They are this and that, and their
plural forms are these, that those, respectively.
Examples: This examination is difficult.
That remark is awful.
Those boys are boisterous.
Those peasants are very courteous.

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D.

INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
Indefinite Pronouns refer to unspecified
persons, things, or groups. They cannot be
ordinarily be preceded by noun determiners.
Some common indefinite pronouns are:
All
many
one
another
More
other
both
most
Each
much
some either
Neither such
few
Example:
Few will be selected; fewer will finish.
Little is expected.
Nothing is impossible if nobody gives up.
Compounds of any, every, no, and some
with body,
-one, and thing form another group of
indefinite pronouns.
Anybody
anyone
anything
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Everybody everyone
Nobody
no one
Somebody someone

everything
nothing
something

Indefinite pronouns are grammatically

singular, but those referring to people are often
felt to be plural and are consequently replaced
by they in speech of many people, as in these
examples:
Since everyone was Chinese, and none of
them could speak English, they needed a
translator.
I know someone can teach you how to speak
English.
Do you know anyone in this village who can
speak English?
Everybody tried to surprise me, but I knew
they were there hiding in the dark.

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E.

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
The interrogative pronouns corresponding
to persons and things are who, which, and
what. As object of a verb or preposition whom
alternates with who. What is invariable.
What is on your mind?
What are you doing?
What is making that noise?
Who is she?
Who invited you?
Whom did you invite?
Which do you prefer?
Which is yours?
When a preposition immediately precedes, the
form whom is used.
To whom should I report?
The girl of whom you spoke is here.
The possessive of who is whose. What has no
possessive.
Whose Mercedez Benz is this?
Whose suggestion was it?
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Which is generally used with more specific

reference than what.
Which do you like the best?
Which did you follow?

F.RELATIVE PRONOUNS
Relative pronouns are used to connect the
relative clause to the main clause. They also
act as stand-in for the noun or for the
antecedent in the main clause.
Relative pronouns have two functions:
They take the place of noun but they also
connect those replaced nouns to subordinate
clauses.
A subordinate clause is a group of words
containing a subject and a predicate, but is not
a complete sentence. These are two kinds:
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The simple relative (which, who, whom) and

the compound relative (whatever, whichever,
whomever, whosever).
Examples:
The girl who greeted me is my niece.
The man who stole your money was
caught by the police.
The book that you gave me is very
interesting.
I dont know the time when the ship will
dock.
Do you know the reason why she is
sulking?
I see what you are printing.
I know the place where he is staying.
Daffodil, the student who borrowed the
book is my niece.
I know whatever you want the reading
center to look like.

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G.

RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
Reciprocal pronouns indicate a mutual or
give-and-take relationship between or among
people. There are only two types of pronouns
namely, each other for two, and one another
for three or more participants.
Examples:
Dan-dan and Dax help each other in
borrowing books.
All villagers cooperate with one another to
improve
their reading center.
They shared each others ideas.
The photographers often use one anothers
equipment.
The children offered each others help.
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The boys read one anothers story.

H.
INTENSIVE PRONOUNS
The Intensive pronouns: myself, yourself,
herself, ourselves, themselves, consist of a
personal pronoun plus self or selves and
emphasize a noun.
Examples:
I myself dont know what to do.
It is possible (but rather unusual) for an
intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers
to. (Myself, I dont belie you.)
The dog itself opened her fridge raider.
The president himself wrote me a letter.
I myself am tired of all this rain.

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Reflexive

Intensive

Did you hurt yourself?

volunteered to

You

yourself
teach.

That is what I want

be a
for myself.

I myself chose to
seaman.

They believe in
themselves.

They themselves were

shocked.

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