Pronouns

 

 
In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a word that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not consider them to form a single class, in view of the variety of functions they perform cross-linguistically.
 
  Pronoun  
  A word that takes the place of a noun.  
     
 
  Four types of pronouns  
 
    (a) Personal pronouns    
    (b) Possessive pronouns    
    (c) Demonstrative pronouns    
    (d) Interrogative pronoun    
 
     
 
3.1  Personal Pronouns
 
  Personal pronoun   
  A short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person.  
  Examples: I, You, We, They, He, She, It, Him  
     

 

Following are the examples showing how the pronouns are used:
 
(a) Adam, Kamal, and Nabil are bus drivers. They ferry schoolchildren.
(b) We are taking drawing lessons. It is up to us to choose the drawing tools.
 
3.2  Possessive Pronouns
 
  Possessive pronouns  
  These pronouns are used to show who an object belongs to.  
  Examples: Mine, Yours, Ours, Theirs  
     
 
Following are the examples showing how the pronouns are used:
 
(a) Her friend is here to see her. (Alya’s friend is here to see her.)
(b) The kitten is hers. (The kitten belongs to her.)
 
There are two types of possessive words.  A possessive adjective has a noun after it while a possessive pronoun does not. The table below shows the personal pronouns, possessive adjectives, and possessive pronouns.
 
Personal pronouns Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns
I my mine
you your yours
he his his
she her hers
it its -
we our ours
they their theirs
 

The sentence in brackets means the same as the former sentence.

Example: This is my bag. (The bag is mine.)

Notice that there is the noun ‘bag’ after ‘my’. But there is no noun after ‘mine’.

 
3.3  Interrogative Pronouns
 
  Interrogative pronouns  
  Used to ask about people, places, or things.  
  Examples: Who, Whom, Which, What, and Where.  
     

 

Following is the correct usage of the interrogative pronouns:
 
Who, Which, What, and Where Used to ask about people, places, or things.
Whose Used to ask who an object belongs to.
How Used to ask the manner in which something is done. 
 
Following are the examples showing how the pronouns are used:
 
(a) Who is this man wearing the red shirt?
(b) Which is your bag, the blue or red one?
 
3.4  Demonstrative Pronouns
 
  Demonstrative pronouns  
  The pronouns represent nouns and express their position as near or far (including in time).  
  Examples: This, That, These, and Those.  
     

 

The table below shows the usage of each demonstrative pronoun.
 
Demonstrative Pronouns Use
This and that To describe singular nouns
These and those To describe plural nouns
This and these To refer to things that are near to us
That and those To refer to things that are far away
 
3.5   Usage of Each
 
  • Each is used to refer to every single member of a group. It basically means ‘every’.
  • Each is used with countable nouns only.
  • Each takes singular verbs, nouns, and pronouns.
  • Example: Each teacher was given a beautiful planner from the new bookstore.