Pronouns — Definition, Types, and Examples
Definition of Pronouns
A pronoun is a word or that part of speech that is used in the place of a noun. A pronoun is used to avoid the repetition of a noun in the sentence.
He, she, they, it, her, those, etc. are pronouns used.
Types of Pronouns
There are 8 types of pronouns that are as follows
- Personal Pronouns
- Demonstrative Pronouns
- Possessive Pronouns
- Reciprocal Pronouns
- Interrogative Pronouns
- Indefinite Pronouns
- Reflexive Pronouns
- Relative Pronouns
These are the types of pronouns we usually use. Let us now learn these types one by one with their definitions and examples.
Personal Pronouns
Definition
In the grammatical sense, a pronoun that is associated with a particular person primarily is called personal pronoun. Each of the personal pronouns shows the grammatical person, number, gender, and case of the noun it replaces.
3 types of persons are used in personal pronoun:
- First-person; I, we, us.
- Second person; you.
- Third-person; he, she, it, her, him, they, them.
Personal pronouns can be in various forms, e.g. singular, plural (depending on number). They can be in various forms depending on the case, gender, or formality.
There are two types of personal pronouns.
In a sentence, a personal pronoun can be used either as a subject or an object. Let’s have a detailed look at these.
Personal Pronouns as Subject Pronouns
Example/s
- The order is delivered to her in the office.
- I like to watch movies, but she does not.
Personal Pronouns as Object Pronouns
Example/s
- Sam likes her but not me.
- Jonny is taught by me.
Below is the table for nominative/ subjective and objective case of personal pronouns.
Let us take some examples for use of Personal Pronouns in a sentence:
Subject Pronouns
- I don’t want to go to the office in the rain.
- He struck her on the nose.
- He is working hard to get the award of the best employee.
- It’s sweet.
- He has lived there for 5 years.
Object Pronouns
- Ask it from them and they will tell you no truth.
- Sam will call you as soon as possible.
- He has transmitted the information to us.
- I helped her pull her boots off.
- Don’t tell him the truth.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Definition
Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that are used to replace nouns in a sentence, pointing towards something in a given sentence.
List of demonstrative pronouns is as follows
This, that, these, those are used most frequently
These pronouns can be in two forms, either singular or plural:
Singular — This, that
Plural — These, those.
None, such these can be used as both singular and plural nouns.
These pronouns are used to point the things either near in time/ distance or far away in time/ distance.
For things near in time/distance: This, these.
For things far away in time/ distance: That, those.
Example/s
- This is my father’s shirt.
- That looks like the toy I used to play.
- These are nice sandals, but they are uncomfortable.
- This is a delicious dish.
- None of this makes sense.
- None of the people here seem to like the dish I cooked.
- She wants to paint this.
- I want to try this.
- Such is one’s poor choice.
- Neither is yours.
Note: As everyone is aware that demonstrative pronouns are also used as a demonstrative adjective depends on their usage in a sentence. So do not get confused with them. Demonstrative pronouns are used on the place of nouns while demonstrative adjectives are used to qualify a noun.
Possessive Pronouns
Definition
Possessive pronouns are the pronouns used to indicate the belongingness of one thing to another or of one person to another. This type of pronoun shows ownership, for example, my notebook, your pen, his book, her clip, etc.
A list of some possessive pronouns is given below. Let’s have a look:
Example/s
- I will wear my favorite dress for the party.
- The laptop on the table is mine.
- Who owns this car? Is it yours?
- His pants were old and worn.
- That’s mine. Please do not touch it.
- These candies are all mine.
- I had dinner with Samir and his sister.
- Is that boy your brother?
- I lost my favorite dress.
- Did you see his dog?
- This cake is mine.
- That is Jack’s house. His neighbor, Bob, is my best friend.
Note: An apostrophe is never used with possessive pronouns.
Reciprocal Pronouns
Definition
Reciprocal pronouns are used to show the mutual relationship or mutual action for two or more people.
There are two reciprocal pronouns that are used.
Each other- This is used when we want to refer to two people.
One another- When we refer more than two people, this pronoun is used.
Example/s
- They are not happy with each other.
- Ram and Shyam call each other every day.
- Maria and Merry gave each other gifts on their last day of school.
- Tom and Jerry were talking to each other on the whole trip.
- The students congratulated one another after receiving graduation.
- The members of the party blamed one another for the loss of the election.
- Smita and I spent a lot of time at each other’s places.
Interrogative Pronouns
Definition
Interrogative pronouns are used in a sentence to ask a question. These can be used as a subject or as an object in a sentence.
Common interrogative pronouns are:
Example/s
- How many oranges do you have?
- What do you want to eat?
- What is your dog’s name?
- What time are you supposed to be here?
- Which bike do you prefer?
- Which chair would you like to have?
- Who was driving that bike while the accident took place?
- Whom do you live with?
- Whose notebook is this?
- What do you want for your anniversary?
- Whose shoes are those?
- Which dress do you think looks better on me?
Indefinite Pronouns
Definition
Indefinite pronouns are used in a sentence to talk about the things which are not specific. As these pronouns do not indicate the exact thing or place, these are called indefinite pronouns.
Below is a list of indefinite pronouns:
Let us take some examples to understand their usage in a sentence.
Example/s
- Someone stole my watch.
- No one wants to help me.
- Nobody is coming to the celebration.
- I like both of these dresses.
- I don’t want anyone to eat this.
- You can’t blame me for everything.
- Everyone is struggling to save their jobs.
- Is there something to eat?
- All is right with her.
- I don’t think anyone wants to come with us.
- Everyone is playing there.
- He is hoping someone will help him.
- They say you should always wear a seat belt while driving a car.
- I’m very hungry, so just order anything.
- It’s your money, do whatever you want to do with it.
- She has nothing to say in her defense.
Reflexive Pronouns
Definition
In reflexive pronouns, one acts as a subject and an object both. The doer of the action is the recipient of that action also.
List of the reflexive pronouns is given below:
Let us go through some examples to get a clear thought on this type of pronoun.
Example/s
- I take care of myself.
- You can cook it yourself.
- He can do it by himself.
- John hurt himself.
- He admitted to himself that he was not right.
- I taught myself to cook.
- I was in a hurry, so I ironed the clothes myself.
- She wanted to impress him, so she baked a cake herself.
- He is too young to go out by himself.
Relative Pronouns
Definition
Relative pronouns are used to refer to previously mentioned nouns. Relative pronouns are also used to join two sentences.
The most common relative pronouns used are:
These relative pronouns are used most commonly. There are some relative pronouns which are used less commonly. Here is a list of such relative pronouns:
Example/s
- This is my sister who lives in the USA.
- The man who came to our house was a salesman.
- I have never understood people who hate tea.
- The horse who won the race trained hard.
- The dress that I bought yesterday is already stained.
- Where did you buy the book that you are reading?
- That’s the place where we met.
- The town where he lives is in complete lockdown.
In this article, we discussed all pronouns. For more such articles keep reading us.
Originally published at https://englishprowess.com on May 12, 2020.