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A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. Pronouns are a subcategory of nouns. Pronouns refer to either a noun that has previously been mentioned or a general noun that does not need to be specified. They can help to prevent repetition.
'Jake drove Jake's new car. Jake was happy with Jake's new purchase. '
This example contains no pronouns; instead, the noun 'Jake' is repeated. Sounds a bit strange, right?
'Jake drove his new car. He was happy with his new purchase. '
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.
This noun that the pronoun 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:
'I went to the cinema (antecedent). It (pronoun) was great.'
'Leonardo Di Caprio (antecedent) went to the zoo. He (pronoun) didn't like the tigers.'
Here are some examples of nouns replaced by pronouns:
Examples of pronouns (StudySmarter)
In this article we will cover the 7 main types of pronoun, these include:
Personal pronoun
Reflexive pronoun
Relative pronoun
Possessive pronoun
Demonstrative pronoun
Indefinite pronoun
Interrogative pronoun
Personal pronouns are pronouns that are associated with a particular person (or animal). We often substitute the proper name of the person (eg. 'Sarah') for the pronoun so that we don't have to constantly repeat the name of the person. Personal pronouns consist of both subject and object pronouns, which are explained below. We will also group possessive pronouns and reflexive pronouns with personal pronouns as they all refer to specific people, animals, or things.
Pronouns can also 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 .
The subject pronoun in the English language is the ' doer '. They are 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), and they.
'He ate my shorts'
For example, in the sentence ' he ate my shorts' the pronoun ' he ' is the subject as he is doing the action ('ate').
'They hugged the old man'
In the sentence ' they hugged the old man' the pronoun ' they ' is the subject as ' they ' are doing the hugging action.
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), and them.
'Faye told him to go outside'
Here the pronoun ' him ' is the object as he is receiving the action ('told').
'They didn't clean it'
A more tricky sentence (to challenge your subject / object knowledge) is, 'They didn't clean it'. Here there are two pronouns, however it is the pronoun 'it' that is receiving the action and is therefore the object pronoun. (The pronoun 'they' is therefore the subject as it is doing the action).
Possessive pronouns give information about who possesses the thing (noun) . Possessive pronouns are words like mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs.
'This jacket is mine '
In this sentence, the possessive pronoun 'mine' indicates that the noun (the jacket) belongs to me.
'The dog is hers '
In this sentence, the possessive pronoun 'hers' indicates that the noun (the dog) belongs to a previously mentioned girl / woman, or someone that is being pointed to.
It is useful to remember that possessive pronouns often replace a possessive noun. For example, the sentence 'It is Sam’s ' becomes 'It is his ' and 'It is Ellie’s ' becomes 'It is hers '.
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, yourself, yourself, yourself, yourself, yourselves, and yourself . An easy way to remember the reflexive pronouns is that they all end in -self or -selves.
'He cut his hair himself '
Here the pronoun refers back to the subject. In other words, the subject 'he' does the action back onto 'himself' so the reflexive pronoun is used.
'I believe in myself '
In this sentence, the reflexive pronoun 'myself' shows that the action (believe) refers back to the subject (I).
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).
Summary of personal pronouns (StudySmarter)
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 shows that the author is talking about you (in both the singular and the plural)
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 (eg. I, you, him, her) and the plural forms (eg. 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 'it'.
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:
Examples of relative pronouns (StudySmarter)
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 (eg. 'the boy who likes me') and secondly they give further information about a noun (eg. '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 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 eg. 'who sent this ? (in my hand)' or 'look at these ! (right here)'. The pronouns 'that' and 'those' suggest distance eg. '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 (eg. 'who sent this ?'), whereas determiners need a noun to go alongside them (eg. 'who sent this letter ?').
Indefinite pronouns are used to refer to a person or thing that you don't need to, 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
'Everything is going as planned '
In this sentence the indefinite pronoun 'everything' refers to a thing that isn't specified in the sentence. We don't know what exactly is going as planned (it could be a big secret birthday party, but we'll never know!).
'Don't tell anyone my secret'
Here the indefinite pronoun 'anyone' refers to people in general rather than specifying someone in particular.
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:
Examples of interrogative pronouns (StudySmarter)
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:
Determiners vs. pronouns (StudySmarter)
As we can see, determiners always come immediately before a noun, whilst pronouns are more independent.
Personal pronouns are associated with a particular person (or animal). They consist of subject pronouns that perform an action (I, you, he, she, it, we, and they) and object pronouns that receive the action (me, you, him, her, it, us, and them).
Possessive pronouns tell us who owns something. They consist of the words mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs.
Reflexive pronouns refer back to a person: myself, yourself, yourself, yourself, yourself, yourself, yourselves, and themselves.
Relative pronouns connect a noun or pronoun to a clause or phrase: that, who, which, whose, and whom.
Demonstrative pronouns point to a specific person or thing: this, that, these, and those.
Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things that you don't need to or want to specify precisely. This includes words like anyone, somebody, anything, some, and enough.
Interrogative pronouns are wh- words that are used to ask questions: what, who, which, whom, and whose.
,
A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun or a noun phrase in a sentence. They refer to either a noun that has previously been mentioned or does not need to be specified and helps to prevent repetition.
Relative pronouns are words that connect a noun or pronoun to a clause or phrase. The most common relative pronouns include the words that, who, which, whose, and whom. Relative pronouns clarify what exactly we are talking about (e.g. ‘the boy who likes me’) and give further information about a noun (e.g. ‘we ate pizza, which was a nice treat’).
Possessive pronouns tell us who owns something. They consist of the words mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. For example, in the sentence ‘the dog is hers’ the possessive pronoun ‘hers’ indicates that the noun (the dog) belongs to a previously mentioned girl/ woman, or someone that is being physically pointed out.
Personal pronouns are associated with a particular person (or 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. They consist of subject pronouns that do the action (I, you, he, she, it, we, and they) and object pronouns that receive the action (me, you, him, her, it, us, and them).
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