Pronoun
Pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun, e.g. he, she, it, they, his, her, him its etc.
Example.
John is an intelligent student. He goes to school daily. He studies a lot. He is making preparation for examination. He will get high marks examination.
In the above paragraph pronoun “he” is used instead
of noun “John”. If we do not use pronoun in above paragraph we will
have to use the noun “John” again and again in each sentence. So, the purpose of pronoun is to avoid the repetition of a noun.
Examples. He, she, it, they,
you, I, we, who, him, her, them, me, us, whom, his, its, their, your,
mine, our and whose, myself, himself, herself , yourself, which,
this, that these, those, are the pronouns which are mostly used.
Pronoun can be divided into following groups.
- Personal Pronouns: e.g. I, you, He, she, it, they, who, me, him, her, them, whom
- Possessive Pronouns: e.g. yours, mine, his, hers, ours, theirs,
- Reflexive Pronouns: e.g. myself, himself, herself, itself, yourself, ourselves, themselves
- Reciprocal Pronoun: e.g. each other, one another
- Relative Pronouns: e.g. who, whom, whose, which, that
- Demonstrative Pronoun: e.g. this, these, that, those
Types of Pronoun
There five types of pronoun
1. Personal Pronoun
2. Possessive Pronoun
3. Reflixive Pronoun
4. Relative Pronoun
5. Demonstrative Pronoun
Personal Pronouns.
Personal pronoun describes a particular person or 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).
Example.
He helps poor.
The pronoun “he” in above sentence describes a person who helps poor.
Use of Personal Pronouns.
Namber |
Person |
Personal Pronoun |
|
Subject |
Object |
||
| Singular | 1st Person | I | Me |
| 2nd Person | You | You | |
| 3rd Person | He, She, It | Him, Her, It | |
| Plural | 1st Person | We | Us |
| 2nd Person | You | You | |
| 3rd Person | They | Them | |
Examples.
She is intelligent
They are playing chess.
He sent me a letter.
It is raining.
We love our country.
The teacher appreciated them.
I met him yesterday.
He gave her a gift.
Did you go to home?
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive Pronoun indicates close possession or ownership or relationship of a thing/person to another thing/person.
e.g. yours, mine, his, hers, ours, theirs, hers,
Example.
This book is mine.
The pronoun “mine” describes the relationship between
book and a person (me) who possesses this book or who is the owner of
this book.
Namber |
Person |
Possessive Pronoun |
| Singular | 1st Person | Mine |
| 2nd Person | Yours | |
| 3rd Person | Hers, his, its | |
| Plural | 1st Person | Ours |
| 2nd Person | Yours | |
| 3rd Person | Theirs |
Examples.
That car is hers.
Your book is old. Mine is new.
The pen on the table is mine.
The smallest cup is yours.
The voice is hers.
The car is ours not theirs.
I have lost my camera. May I use yours?
They received your letter. Did you received theirs.
Note: Possessive adjectives (my,
her, your) may be confused with possessive pronouns. Possessive
adjective modifies noun in terms of possession. Both possessive
adjective and possessive show possession or ownership, but possessive
adjective is used (with noun) to modify the noun while Possessive
pronoun is used instead (in place of) a noun.
Examples.
This is my book. (Possessive adjective: “my” modifies the noun “book”)
This book is mine. (Possessive pronoun: “mine” is used instead of noun “to whom the book belongs”)
Reflexive Pronoun.
Reflexive pronoun describes noun when subject’s action affects the subject itself.
e.g himself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves, itself are reflexive pronouns.
Reflexive pronouns always act as objects not subjects, and they require an interaction between the subject and an object.
Namber |
Person |
Subject |
Reflive Pronoun |
| Singular | 1st Person | I | Myself |
| 2nd Person | You | Yourself | |
| 3rd Person | He, she, it | Himself, Herself, Itself | |
| Plural | 1st Person | We | Ourselves |
| 2nd Person | You | Yourselves | |
| 3rd Person | They | Themselves |
Examples.
I looked at myself in the mirror.
You should think about yourself.
They prepared themselves for completion.
She pleases herself by think that she will win the prize.
He bought a car for himself.
He locked himself in the room.
He who loves only himself is a selfish.
Note: Reflexive noun can also be
used to give more emphasis on subject or object. If a reflexive pronoun
is used to give more emphasis on a subject or an object, it is called “Intensive Pronoun”. Usage and function of intensive pronoun are different from that of reflexive pronoun.
For example, she herself started to think about herself.
In the above sentence the first “herself” is used as
intensive pronoun while the second “herself” is used as reflexive
pronoun.
See the following examples of intensive pronouns.
Examples. (Intensive Pronouns)
I did it myself. OR. I myself did it.
She herself washed the clothes.
He himself decided to go to New York.
She herself told me.
Reciprocal Pronouns.
Reciprocal Pronouns are used when each of two or more subjects reciprocate to the other.
or
Reciprocal pronouns are used when two subjects act in same way towards each other, or, more subjects act in same way to one another.
For example, A loves B and B love A. we can say that A and B loves each other.
There are two reciprocal pronouns
- Each other
- One another.
Examples.
John and Marry are talking to each other.
The students gave cards to one another.
The people helped one another in hospital.
Two boys were pushing each other.
The car and the bus collided with each other.
The students in the class greeted one another.
Relative Pronouns.
Relative Pronoun describes a noun which is mentioned before and more information is to be given about it.
Or
Relative pronoun is a pronoun which joins relative clauses and relative sentences.
For example, It is the person, who helped her.
In this sentence the word “who” is a relative pronoun
which refers to the noun (the person) which is already mentioned in
beginning of sentence (It is the person) and more information (he
helped her) is given after using a relative pronoun (who) for the noun
(the person).
Similarly, in above sentence the pronoun “who” joins two clauses which are “it is the person” and “who helped her”.
Examples. The most commonly used five relative pronouns are, who, whom, whose, which, that.
“Who” is for subject and “whom” is used for object.
“who” and “whom” are used for people. “Whose” is used to show
possession and can be used for both people and things. “Which” is used
for things. “That” is used for people and things.
Examples.
It is the girl who got first position in class.
Adjective is a word that modifies noun.
The man whom I met yesterday is a nice person.
It is the planning that makes succeed.
The boy who is laughing is my friend.
It is the boy whose father is doctor.
The car which I like is red.
Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that points to a thing or things.
e.g. this, that, these, those, none, neither
These pronouns point to thing or things in short distance/time or long distance/time.
Short distance or time: This, these.
Long distance or time: That, those.
Demonstrative pronouns “this and that” are used for
singular thing while “these or those” are used for plural things.
Examples
This is black.
That is heavy.
Can you see these?
Do you like this?
John brought these.
Those look attractive.
Have you tried this.
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