Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that stands for a Noun.Words like “which”,”he”,”her”’ and “it”  are Pronouns.
Pronouns prevent the necessity of having to repeat the Nouns too often.
For example-

• Ronald had a camera. He took some beautiful pictures.

 

             Types of Pronouns

1. Personal Pronouns
2. Possessive Pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns
4. Demonstrative Pronouns
5. Indefinite Pronouns
6. Distributive Pronouns
7. Reciprocal Pronouns
8. Interrogative Pronouns
9. Relative Pronouns

 

1. Personal Pronouns

These nouns are associated with a certain person, thing, or group. Personal pronoun describes the person speaking (I, me, we, us), the person spoken to (you), or the person or thing spoken about (he, she, it, they, him, her, them).

Each pronoun can be placed in one of three persons.

Person	Singular	Plural
First Person	I	We
Second Person	You	You
Third Person	He, She, It	They

 
 

Forms of Pronouns (Cases)

 

Nominative case       (Subject)	Accusative case                 (Object)	Possessive
I	Us	My                           Mine
We	Us	Our                          Ours
You	You	Your                       Yours
He	Him	His                              His
She	Her	Her                            Hers
It	It	Its                               Its
They	Them	Their                       Theirs

 
Note* The forms my, our, your, his, her, its and there are determiners. They can also be used as possessive adjectives.
 

2. Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronoun indicates possession or ownership or relationship of a thing/person to another thing/person.
For example – Yours, mine, his, hers, ours, theirs, hers
Example
This book is his.
These bangles are mine.

Person	Singular	Plural
First Person	Mine	Ours
Second Person	Yours	Yours
Third Person	Here, his, its	Theirs

 

3. Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns are those which are used to indicate a noun which has been used in an earlier part of the same sentence. These are the ones that end in “self” or “selves”.
For Example – Myself, Themselves, Yourself, Ourselves, Herself, Himself, Itself.
Example
Ritesh was going to take the car to the mechanic but ended up fixing it herself.
I must blame myself for this.
 
     4. Demonstrative
Demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that points to a thing to things.
For Example – This, that, these, those.
Example
That is a beautiful place.
This is our new passport.
 
     5. Indefinite Pronoun
Indefinite Pronouns are those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places.
For Example – Anyone, someone, none, nobody, everything, many, few.
Example
If anyone has seen my book please return it to me.
Somebody stole my wallet.
 
         6. Distributive Pronoun
These pronouns denotes persons or things of group separately rather that collectively.
For Example – Either, Neither, Each, Any, None
Example
Either of these students can be selected for the next round of dance competition.
Each of these players deserves a prize.
 
     7. Reciprocal Pronoun
Reciprocal nouns are those expressing mutual actions or relationship. These pronouns are found in pairs.
For Example – Each other, one another.
Example
Nancy and Shreya are talking to each other.
The people helped one another in hospital.
 
       8. Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions about person or object.
For Example – Which, what, who, whom, whoever, whichever
Example
Who is the Prime Minister of India?
Whom did you borrow this shirt from?
 
      9. Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause using the pronouns.
For Example – Who, whom, whose, which,whomever,whichever and that.
Example
The gentleman who is speaking is my brother.
I’ll find out which one is correct.
 

Rules related to use of Pronouns

1. While confessing a fault (or expressing a negative idea) the sequence of the personal pronouns should be as follows :

Example

I, you and he are in the wrong and will be punished.

I, you and he have committed the sin.

2. While expressing a positive idea or praise, the sequence should be as follows:

Example

You, he and I will get an award for increasing the sales of the product by 75% this month.

 

3. When two singular nouns are joined by “and”, refer to the same person, the pronoun used in their place should be singular in form. The definite article the is placed before first noun.

Example

The accounts officer and inspector should be careful in his work of keeping accounts.

4. A singular pronoun should be used when two singular nouns are joined by either or /neither nor.

Example

Either Karishma or Kareena should do her duty.

 

5. The personal pronouns like yours, ours, hers, theirs and its are written without the apostrophe. (‘)

Example

Your’s sincerely (wrong)

Yours sincerely (right)

6. One can be used to talk about people in general, the pronoun that follows one should be one’s not his or her.

Example

One should always do one’s best.

One must not be proud of oneself.

Click on the link below to practice exercises on Pronouns

Exercise based on pronouns