What is Pronoun? Definition, Types & Examples
What is a Pronoun?
While we speak of write, it is better to avoid repeating the same word. In order to avoid repeating the same Noun, we use some other word. A word used in this way in place of a Noun is called a Pronoun. The word Pro means for. Pronouns are used for Nouns.
A Pronoun is a word used in place of a Noun.
Thus Pronouns stand for Nouns to avoid repetition.
Kinds of Pronouns
There are nine kinds of Pronouns:
1. Personal Pronouns.
2. Possessive Pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns
4. Emphatic Pronouns
5. Interrogative Pronouns
6. Demonstrative Pronouns
7. Indefinite Pronouns
8. Distributive Pronouns
9. Relative Pronouns
1. PERSONAL PRONOUNS
A Pronoun that stands for a person or thing is called a Personal Pronoun.
Note that the Personal Pronouns don't refer only to people. They are called Personal Pronouns because they refer to grammatical, persons, which include animals, things and places, too :
Do you remember our cat? She had kittens last week. (animal)
What is the shape of this table? It is rectangular. (thing)
I visited Kolkata and Chennai last month. They are very big cities. (place)
Here is a table showing Personal Pronouns :
Singular Plural
First Person- I me we us - Used for both Mas. & Fem. Gender
Second Person- You You You You - Used for both Mas. & Fem. Gender
Third Person- he, she, it him, her, it They Them - Used for Mas, Fem & New. Gender.
*The Noun for which a Pronoun stands is called an antecedent.
*A Pronoun must agree with its antecedent in its Number, Gender, etc.
Personal Pronouns are of three types :
1. The First Person : The Pronouns which refer to the person or persons speaking are of the First Person; as,
I, we, my, our, me, us
2. The Second Person : The Pronouns which refer to the person or persons spoken to are of the Second Person; as,
he, she, it, him, her, its, they, them, their
3. The Third Person : The Pronouns which refer to the person or thing spoken of are of the Third Person; as,
he, she, it, him, his, her, its, they, them, their
The above table shows:
a. According to Number, there are two sets of Personal Pronouns - Singular Pronouns and Plural Pronouns.
b. According to Function, there are two sets of Personal Pronouns - Subject Pronouns and Object Pronouns.
1. I, we, you, she, it and they are used as Subjects.
2. Me, us, you, him, her, it and them are used as Objects.
They abused me.
(Subject) (Object)
He helped us.
(Subject) (Object)
3. After Prepositions we use the Objective form of Pronouns :
between her and me; between them and us
to her; for him; from them; without us;
4. The Verb let requires the Objective form of the Pronoun.
Let us go for a movie.
Let me try this problem.
5. The form it is me is common in spoken English although the correct form is it is I.
Who's there? It's me. (In spoken English)
Who is there? It is I. (in formal English)
Did Shivani make this piece of embroidery?
I'm not sure. It may be her. (in spoken English)
I'm not sure. It may be she. (in formal English)
I am not sure. It may be She. (in formal English)
In written English. we should prefer the formal form.
2. POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS:
A Pronoun that shows possession is called a Possessive Pronoun.
For example: 1. The books in the cupboard are mine.
2. The book on the table is yours.
In the above two sentences, the words mine and yours are the example of Possessive Pronouns. We call them Possessive Pronouns for two reasons. First they refer to some person or persons (a Noun). Secondly they are generally used to show possession. For example, the word mine serve as a substitute for the speaker. It also indicates that the books are the speaker's possession.
* Possessive Pronouns generally come ate the end of a sentence. No Noun is put after them.
Note the different uses of Possessive Pronouns in the following sentences.
That is your book. Mine is here. (Subject)
He spent his money on clothes. I spent mine on books. (Direct Object)
This house is ours. (Subject Complement)
It is a favourite of theirs. (Prepositional Object)
Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives:
This is not my pen. Mine is new.
In the first sentence, my is used as a Possessive Adjective. In the second sentence, the word mine stands for my pen, so it is used as a Pronoun.
* Like most adjectives, a Possessive Adjective is placed before a Noun. Possessive Pronoun is used in place of a Noun.
The following table shows the form Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives take:
First Person(Singular) : my- mine
First Person(Plural) : our- ours
Second Person (Singular) : Your- Your
Second Person (Plural) : Your- Yours
Third Person (Singular) : his, her- his, hers
Third Person (Plural) : their - theirs
3. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Pronouns in which the action of the Subject reflects or turns back on the Subject itself are called Reflexive Pronouns.
For example:
1. I injured myself.
2. You hurt yourself.
3. We often talk to ourselves.
4. He enjoyed himself.
5. They will enjoy themselves.
6. She blamed herself for the mistake.
The words myself, yourself, ourselves, himself, themselves and herself are the example of Reflexive Pronouns. They are so called because they substitute for Nouns and the action reflects back upon the Subject. In other words, the action of the Verb returns to the doer. Thus the Subject and the Object of a Verb are the same person or thing. In other words we can define Reflexive Pronouns as.
The self Pronouns are called Reflexive Pronouns when they are used as Object of a Verb and when they refer to the same person or thing as the Subject.
This is how Personal Pronouns change to Reflexive Pronouns.
First Person (Singular) : I, myself
First Person (Plural) : we, ourselves
Second Person (Singular) : you, yourselves
Second Person (Plural) : you, yourselves
Third Person (Singular) : he, she, it
Third Person (Plural) : they, themselves
4. EMPHATIC PRONOUNS
A Pronoun used to convey emphasis is called an Emphatic Pronoun.
The - self Pronouns serve another purpose, too. They can be used to put emphasis on the Subject or Object.
The former himself killed the snake. ( emphasis on the Subject farmer)
I met the officer himself. (emphasis on the object officer)
when the - self Pronouns are used in his way, they are called Emphatic Pronouns. Thus,
The - self Pronouns are called Emphatic Pronouns when they are used to emphasize the Subject or Object.
How to Recognise a Reflexive Pronoun and an Emphasising Pronoun:
We notice that Reflexive Pronouns and Emphasising Pronouns are identical in form. Then how do we find out whether a Pronoun has been used as a Reflexive Pronoun or an Emphatic Pronoun? We should try to understand their function.
* A Reflexive Pronoun answers the question : Whom?
An Emphasising Pronoun lends emphasis.
I blamed myself for my failure.
Blamed whom ? Myself. so the word myself has been used as a Reflexive Pronoun.
Ajay: Are you sure the door was locked?
Anu : I myself locked it.
(Nobody else but I locked the door. So I know it was locked.)
Here the word myself has been used as an Emphasising Pronoun.
5.INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS
Words which substitute for Nouns and ask questions are called Interrogative Pronouns.
For Example:
1. Who is at the door?
2. Which is your book?
3. What do you want?
4. To Whom does this book belong?
5. Whose is this house?
In the above sentences, the words who, which, what, whom and whose are classed as Pronouns because they are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions.
Note the following things about Interrogative Pronouns:
1. Who, Whom and Whose are used for asking questions about persons.
2. What is used for things. What do you want?
Sometimes, What can also be used for persons.
what is your father? means what is his profession?
Interrogative Pronouns and Interrogative Adjectives:
Words like what and which can be used as Interrogative Pronoun and as Interrogative Adjectives.
Look at these examples:
1. What is your plan? (Interrogative Pronoun)
2. What plan did you follow? (Interrogative Adjective)
3. Which is the mail train? (Interrogative Pronoun)
4. Which train is late? (Interrogative Adjective)
So we see that many of the words which work as Pronoun can also be used as Adjectives when they are placed before Nouns.
6. DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
A Demonstrative Pronoun is used to point out the object or objects to which it refers.
For example:
1. This is a costly book.
2. That is Raina's house.
3. These are my favourite songs.
4. Those are his clothes.
In the above sentences, the words this, that, these and those are classed as Pronouns because they are used in place of Nouns. They are called Demonstrative Pronouns because they are used to demonstrate or point out persons or things.
1. This and that are used in the Singular Number and these and those in the Plural.
2. This and these refer to things near at hand.
That and those refer to things lying at a distance.
Demonstrative Pronouns and Demonstrative Adjectives.
Look at these examples:
This is my book. (This stands for the Noun book. Therefore it is a Pronoun)
This book is mine. (This qualifies the Noun book. Therefore it is an Adjective)
These are woollen gloves. (Demonstrative Pronoun)
These gloves are woollen. (Demonstrative Adjective)
* We should remember that an Adjective is usually placed just before the Noun it qualifies.
7. INDEFINITE PRONOUNS:
Indefinite Pronouns are those Pronouns which refer to persons or things in a general way. They do not refer to any particular person or thing.
For example:
1. Some are born great.
2. Many were invited but few came.
3. One cannot believe your version.
4. All are not rich.
5. Do good to others.
6. None of the books is interesting.
7. Anybody will tell you the way to the post office.
8. Somebody knocked at the door.
9. Everybody's business is nobody's business.
In the above sentences, the words some, many, few, one, all, others, none, anybody, somebody, everybody and nobody refer to persons in a general way. They do not refer to any specific (particular) person or thing. We do not know exactly which person or thing has been referred to by the Indefinite Pronoun. Therefore they are called Indefinite Pronouns.
Here is a list of Indefinite Pronouns:
anybody everybody nobody somebody some one
anyone everyone no one someone many all
anything everything nothing something few others
none several both each either neither
Note the following things about the Indefinite Pronouns :
1. We us the Indefinite Pronouns ending in - one/body to talk about people;
Somebody has stolen my book. (some person)
Somebody is at the gate. (some person)
2. We use the Indefinite Pronouns ending in -thing to talk about things:
There is noting in this bod - it is empty. (no single thing)
There is something on the roof. (some thing or object)
3. We can use else after Indefinite Pronouns.
Ask somebody else to help you.
Have you anything else to do?
4. We can also use an Adjective after Indefinite Pronouns:
There is nothing wrong in asking.
I did everything possible to help you.
5. We can also add 's (apostrophe) to Indefinite Pronouns referring people: It is impossible to remember everybody's name.
6. All Indefinite Pronouns are written as one word. But no one is written as two words for the convenience of pronunciation. If write no one as one word noone, we will have to pronounce it as noon, which sounds awkward. In order to avoid this awkwardness, we write no one as two words.
DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUNS
Distributive Pronouns are those which show that Persons or things are taken one at a time or in separate groups:
For example:
1. Each of the girls got a prize.
2. I bought two books and neither of them is interesting.
3. Either of the two roads leads to Jaipur.
Each refers to two or more persons taken one by one.
Either means one or the other.
Neither is of course, the negative of either.
In the above sentences, the Pronouns, each, either and neither refer to number of persons or things, one at a time. Such Pronouns are called Distributive Pronouns. In fact, there are only three words in English each, either and neither - that are called Distributive Pronouns.
* These Pronouns are always Singular and, as such, are always followed by a Verb in the Sigular.
Distributive Pronouns and Distributive Adjectives
When Distributive Pronouns qualify Nouns, they become Distributive Adjectives; as,
1. Each girl won a prize.
2. There are shady trees on either side of the road.
3. He has two sons. Neither son is honest.
9. RELATIVE PRONOUNS
The Pronouns - who, whose, whom, that and which join two sentences and refer back to Nouns going them. They are called Relative Pronouns.
Read the following pairs of sentences :
1. I met Ramesh. Ramesh stood first in the class.
I met Ramesh who stood first in the class.
2. We met a woman. Her son was given a reward.
We met a woman whose son was given a reward.
3. The lady is my aunt. You met the lady at the door.
The lady whom you met at the door is my aunt.
4. I know the hostel. He lives in the hostel.
I know the hostel that he lives in.
5. Chandra has found the purse. She had lost the purse.
Chandra has found the purse which she had lost.
Who does two things : (i) It joins two sentences. (ii) It is also used for the Noun (Ramesh) that goes before it.
Whose does two things: (i) It joins two sentences. (ii) It is also used for the Noun(woman) that goes before it.
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