PRONOUNS
Types, Genders and Numbers
PRONOUNS
They are words that take the place of
nouns. They are substitutes for
nouns.
• Look at these sentences:
• Women fancy jewelry..
• Those very beautiful women fancy jewelry.
• They like jewelry.
Grammatical Number
• A pronoun may be singular or plural.
•
• I, me, he, him, she, her, it, anyone, this,
that, are all singular.
• we, us, they, them, all, these, those, are all
plural.
Gender of Pronouns
• It may be masculine, feminine, common,
or neuter.
• Masculine - he, him, his
• Feminine - she, her, hers
• Common - they, them, theirs
• Neuter - it, its, that, this
TYPES OF PRONOUNS
The seven types of pronouns
• 1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person
or thing. Their form changes to indicate a person,
number, gender, or case.
•
Kinds of Personal Pronoun
• Subjective personal pronouns are pronouns
that act as the subject of a sentence. If you are
learning English as a second language,
remember that the subjective personal pronouns
are I, you, she, he, it,we, you, and they. For
example:
• “I walked directly to the party.”
• “You showed up late; she was annoyed.”
• “He thought you had forgotten; we knew you were
just behind.”
• Objective personal pronouns are pronouns
that act as the object of a sentence. If you are
learning English as a second language,
remember that the objective personal pronouns
are me, you, her, him, it, us, you, and them. For
example:
• “The police officer told my brother and me to slow
down.”
• “He pointed to the pedestrians and said to be careful
of them.”
• “The police officer said there are a lot of speedy
motorists like us.”
•
• Possessive personal pronouns are pronouns
that show possession. They define a person, or a
number of people, who owns a particular object.
If you are learning English as a second language,
remember that the possessive personal pronouns
are mine, yours, hers, his, its, ours, and theirs.
For example:
• “Is this book yours or his?”
• “All the books are mine.”
• “Nobody's house has as many books as theirs, not
even ours.”
• 2. Demonstrative pronouns point to and
identify a noun or a
pronoun. This and these refer to things that are
nearby in space or time,
while that and those refer to things that are
farther away in space or further away in time.
For example:
• “This is the dress I will wear; that is the one I
wore yesterday.”
• “That is not true.”
• “Please pay for those.”
• 3. Interrogative pronouns are used to ask
questions. The interrogative pronouns
are who, whom, which, and what. If you are
learning English as a second language, it is
important to remember that who and whom are
used to refer to people, while which is used to
refer to things and animals. Who acts as the
subject, while whom acts as the object. For
example:
• “Which is the best restaurant?”
• “What did he tell you?”
• “Whom should we invite?”
• 4. Relative pronouns are used to link one phrase
or clause to another phrase or clause. The
relative pronouns are who,whom, that,
and which. The compounds whoever, whomever,
and whichever are also commonly used relative
pronouns. For example:
• “The bill, which included all our meals, was
larger than expected.”
• “The waiter who served us doesn't know how to
add.”
• 5. Indefinite pronouns refer to an identifiable, but
not specified, person or thing. An indefinite
pronoun conveys the idea of all, any, none, or
some. If you are learning English as a second
language, remember the following common
indefinite
pronouns: all,another, any, anybody, anyone, an
ything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, f
ew, many, nobody, none, one,several, some, so
mebody, and someone.
• For example:
• “Everybody got lost on the way there.”
• “Somebody forgot to bring the map.”
• “No wonder so few showed up.”
• 6. Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of
the clause or sentence. The reflexive pronouns
used in writing English
aremyself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, oursel
ves, yourselves, and themselves. For example:
• “She baked a cake for herself.”
• “We decided to eat it ourselves.”
• “We heard her say, 'They should be ashamed
of themselves.'”
• 7. Intensive pronouns are used to emphasize
their antecedent. Intensive pronouns are
identical in form to reflexive pronouns. For
example:
• “I myself find pronouns fascinating.”
• “They themselves think everyone should know
about pronouns.”
• “You yourself should tell everyone how great
pronouns are.”
