Pronouns and Determiners

Basic Rules
1. Personal Pronouns
A sentence is a group of words expressing a complete thought. Its two essential parts
are the subject and
Subject of a
sentence

Object of a
sentence

Examples

I
you
he, she, it
we
you
they

me
you
him, her, it
our
your
their

I had dinner at my house.

You had dinner at your house.
She had dinner at her house.
We had dinner at your house.
You had dinner at your house.
They had dinner at their house.

2. Possessive Pronouns and Determiners

Possessive
determiners

Possessive
pronouns

Examples

my
your
his, her, its
our
your
their

mine
yours
his, hers, its
ours
yours
theirs

This
This
This
This
This
This

is
is
is
is
is
is

my car. It is mine.
your car. It is yours.
his car. It is his.
our car. It is ours.
your car. It is yours.
their car. It is theirs.

3. Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns

Examples

myself
yourself
himself, herself, itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves

I did it myself.
You did it yourself.
She did it herself.
We did it ourselves.
You did it yourselves.
They did it themselves.

4. Relative Pronouns
Relative
pronouns

Examples

who
which
whose

Ben, who moved to London, bought a house.

He bought the black car, which was cheaper.
This is the tower whose faade was restored last
year.
I visited Roberta, whose husband had left her.

5. Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns

Examples

who
what
which
whose

Who left the door open?

What were you thinking?
Which car do you like best?
Whose fault was it?

6. Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative Examples
pronouns
this
that
these
those

This is my house right here.

That over there is the school.
These are my children. Aren't they cute?
Those are my sister's children. They are brats!

7. Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns

Examples

someone / somebody
anyone / anybody
one
each
either
none
etc.

Somebody stole my bike.

Has anyone seen my bike?
One has to watch out for thieves.
Each one of them could have done it.
Either one of them could have done it.
I saw none of them last week.
I didn't talk to either one last week.
I talked to neither one last week.

8. Determiners
a. identifiers

a/an, the, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns

can tell the listener whether the speaker is talking about specific example or in
general (a house vs. the house)

can tell the speaker's attitude toward something (this vs. that)

two identifiers cannot be put together (The my car.)

b. quantifiers

much, many, a lot, few, several, little, most, all, less, enough, every, ...

give information about how many / how much the speaker is thinking about

combinations of quantifiers are possible: Tom talks to her every few days.