Pronoun

Examples of pronouns

Before we delve into examples of pronouns, let's see what language would look like without them.

This example contains no pronouns; instead, the noun 'Jake' is repeated. Sounds a bit strange, right?

Now, let's look at the same sentence with pronouns.

The pronouns 'his' and 'he' help to make the second sentence more varied and easy to read. We know that these pronouns refer to Jake as he has previously been mentioned. In this example, Jake is the antecedent.

Pronouns and antecedents

The noun that the pronoun replaces or refers to is called the antecedent. In the example above the antecedent is 'Jack', as this is the noun that the pronouns 'he' and 'his' refer to. Take a look at some further examples of antecedents:

Here are some further examples of nouns being replaced by pronouns:

Fig 1. Examples of pronouns

Types of pronouns

The seven main types of pronouns in English are:

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated with a particular person (or sometimes animal). We often substitute the proper name of the person (e.g. 'Sarah') for the pronoun so that we don't have to constantly repeat the name of the person. We can also use pronouns when we are unsure of a person's name.

Personal pronouns consist of both subject and object pronouns, which are explained below. Possessive pronouns and reflexive pronouns can also be considered a type of personal pronoun, as they refer to specific people, animals, or things (we will cover these next!).

Subject and object pronouns

Pronouns can be subjects or objects in a sentence in a similar way to nouns being either the subject or object in a sentence. The basic rule is that the subject is the person or thing doing the action and the object is the person or thing receiving the action.

Subject pronouns

The subject pronoun in the English language is the doer of an action. It is the person, place, thing, or idea that does the action. Subject pronouns consist of the words;

• I

• You (singular)

• He

• She

• It

• We

• You (plural)

• They

Object pronouns

The object in the English language 'receives' the action. They are the person, place, thing, or idea that the action is done to. Object pronouns consist of the words;

• Me

• You (singular)

• Him

• Her

• It

• Us

• You (plural)

• Them

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns give information about who possesses the thing (noun). Possessive pronouns are words like mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs.

It is useful to remember that possessive pronouns often replace possessive nouns. For example, the sentence 'It is Sam’s (possessive noun)' becomes 'It is his (possessive pronoun)'.

Fig 2. The dog is hers

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns refer back to a person or thing. They are used when the same person, animal, or thing is the subject and the object of a sentence. The reflexive pronouns consist of the words;

• Myself

• Yourself

• Yourselves

• Ourselves

• Himself

• Herself

• Themselves

An easy way to remember the reflexive pronouns is that they all end in -self or -selves.

Summary of personal pronouns

Here's a summary of the first three types of pronouns (personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, and reflexive pronouns). We have grouped these together as they are all pronouns that normally refer to particular people (or animals).

Fig 3. Summary of personal pronouns

Pronouns showing person, number, and gender

Confused about all these different 'persons' and 'plurals' in the table? Don't worry, we've got you covered. Here is a brief summary of what they mean.

Person

The person shows the relationship of the author/speaker with the reader/listener. There are three persons in English:

• The first person shows that the author/speaker is talking about themselves. (I, me, we, us)

• The second person is used when the author is directly addressing you (in both the singular and the plural form)

• The third person shows that the author is talking about other people. (he, him, she, her, it, they, them)

Number

The number of people may also be shown in the differentiation between the singular forms (e.g. I, you, him, her) and the plural forms (e.g. we, us, you, they).

Gender

Pronouns may also differ according to gender. In English, gender is shown in the various forms of the third-person pronouns 'he' and 'her'. There is also the neuter (like 'neutral') third-person pronoun 'they'.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are words that connect a noun or pronoun to a clause or phrase. The relative pronouns are that, who, which, whose, and whom. For these pronouns, it is best to look at some examples first as they are easier to understand in context:

Fig 4. Examples of relative pronouns

Relative pronouns can refer to the subject or the object. They can also be possessive. As we can see in the examples, relative pronouns connect a noun or pronoun (eg. 'boy') with a clause or phrase (eg. 'likes me').

They are used for two reasons; firstly, they clarify what exactly we are talking about (e.g. 'the boy who likes me') and secondly they give further information about a noun (e.g. 'we ate pizza, which was a nice treat').

Other examples of relative pronouns include 'whoever' and 'whomever'. Words such as 'where', 'when', and 'what' can also be used as relative pronouns in certain contexts e.g. 'John remembers a time when he was young and outgoing' or 'I'd like to travel to the place where my dad grew up'.

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns point to a specific noun. They replace the noun in a sentence whilst also giving information about distance. There are four demonstrative pronouns in English:

• This

• That

• These

• Those

The pronouns 'this' and 'these' suggest something is nearby e.g. 'who sent this? (in my hand)' or 'look at these! (right here)'. The pronouns 'that' and 'those' suggest distance e.g. 'I'm not going to eat that (over there on the plate)', or 'those are important documents' (over there).

Demonstrative pronouns use the same words as demonstrative determiners. The main difference between the two is that pronouns can stand alone (e.g. 'who sent this?'), whereas determiners need a noun to go alongside them (e.g. 'who sent this letter?').

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns are used to refer to a person or thing that you don't need, or want, to specify precisely. In other words, they do not 'define' the noun, but instead are more general. Examples of indefinite pronouns include words like;

• Anyone

• Somebody

• Anything

• Everything

• Some

• Enough

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. They are the 'wh-' words often used at the beginning of a sentence.

There are five interrogative pronouns in English: what, who, which, whom, and whose. While these are all pretty similar to the relative pronouns we mentioned above, interrogative pronouns are used for a completely different purpose. Take a look at the following examples to understand how they are used in context:

Fig 5. Interrogative pronouns

Determiners vs. pronouns

It is important to understand the difference between pronouns and determiners as it can be quite easy to mix them up. All determiners come right before a noun or a noun phrase. They can never stand alone in a sentence. Pronouns, by contrast, can stand alone and often replace the noun or noun phrase. Take a look at these sentences:

Fig 6. Determiners and possessives

As we can see, determiners always come immediately before a noun, whilst pronouns are more independent.

Pronouns list

Here is a complete list of all the pronouns in English;

• I
• we

• you (singular and plural)

• he

• she

• it

• they

• me

• us

• her

• him

• it

• them

• mine

• ours

• yours (singular and plural)

• hers

• his

• theirs

• my

• our

• your

• her

• their

• myself

• yourself

• herself

• himself

• itself

• ourselves

• yourselves

• themselves

• as

• that

• what

• whatever

• which

• whichever

• who

• whoever

• whom

• whomever

• whose

• such

• these

• this

• those