What are pronouns? Why do we use them?
Pronouns take the place of a noun and we use them so that we don’t have to repeat a noun. This helps to simplify speech and writing by using a word to represent longer passages and ideas.
For example:
Frank and his buddy Tim went to the beach on their day off.
Instead of:
Frank and his buddy Tim went to the beach on Frank and Tim’s day off.
There are several types of pronouns. Here they all are:
Personal Pronouns
There are three classes of personal pronouns- subjective, objective, and possessive.
Subjective pronouns are those that are the subjects of a sentence. The subjective pronouns are:
Singular I you he she it
Plural we they you
I live in New York.
They went on vacation to Mexico.
Objective pronouns are those that are objects in a sentence. The objective pronouns are:
Singular me you him her it
Plural us them you
Please give the toy to me.
Why did aunt Maggie give the toy to her?
Possessive pronouns are words that indicate ownership. The possessive nouns are:
Singular mine yours his hers its
Plural ours theirs yours
The toys in the box are mine.
Those boxes are ours.
Demonstrative Pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns point out nouns, which indicate or demonstrate what is being talked about. The demonstrative pronouns are:
this that these those
What is this? That is a coffee machine.
Do not move these? Those are not yours.
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns indicate that the subject receives the action of the verb. The reflexive pronouns are:
Singular myself himself herself yourself itself
Plural themselves ourselves yourselves
Tara hit herself on the leg.
The kids shouldn’t have laughed at the silly joke, but couldn’t stop themselves.
Intensive Pronouns
The intensive pronouns are the same as the reflexive pronouns, but emphasize the nouns or pronoun they refer too. The intensive pronouns immediately follow the noun they emphasize. If an intensive pronoun is omitted, the sentence will still make sense grammatically. The intensive pronouns are:
Singular myself yourself himself herself itself
Plural ourselves yourselves themselves
He can’t do it himself.
The accountants themselves understood the importance of the tax reporting system.
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce questions. The interrogative pronouns include:
which what who whom whose
whoever whatever whichever
Which car should we buy?
Whose wallet is that?
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to connect or relate a dependent clause to an independent clause. The relative pronouns are:
that which what
who whose who
The fare that I bought for the ferry ride was expensive.
Betty knows a local who can tell us about the history of this town.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are noun substitutes that are not definite in meaning. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below. The indefinite pronouns are:
anybody anyone anything
everybody everyone everything
somebody someone something
nothing Each One Both Few Many
Anyone can enter the park.
Everything is for sale.
One should never be rude to a judge.
