Topic: Pronoun & its types

 

Topic:             Pronoun & its types

Section Overview

·         Introduction

·         Personal pronoun

·         Possessive pronouns

·         Reflexive Pronoun

·         Demonstrative pronouns

·         Relative Pronouns

·         Interrogatives (including interrogative pronouns)

·         Indefinite Pronouns

 

Pronouns are used in place of nouns. The main use of pronouns is to refer to something that has been mentioned previously (when it is said to have an antecedent).

Example: Pronouns with antecedent

1.       “I bought a book but I left the book on the bus.”  (The book in the second sentence above can be replaced by a pronoun)

2.       I bought a book but left it on the bus. I bought a book which I left on the bus. 

 

·         The Antecedent

As previously mentioned, a pronoun is used to replace a noun. This noun is called the antecedent.

The prefix “ante” means before, so for example:

·         The police officers rushed into their headquarters.

In this example, the pronoun “their” refers back to the police officers. The underlined noun is, therefore, the antecedent of “their.”

In a simple sentence such as that stated above, it is very easy to identify the antecedent that the pronoun is referring to. However, you should be very careful with the use of pronouns in writing complicated sentences or paragraphs. If not used properly, these can confuse readers as to what you’re talking about. Make sure that your antecedent will not get lost to avoid this confusion.

·         Kinds of Pronouns

There are six kinds of pronouns with different functions:

1. Personal pronouns

This kind of pronoun refers to a particular person or thing. The form of the personal pronoun that is appropriate to use for a specific sentence depends on the gender and number of persons or things that serve as the antecedents.

For example, you are referring to a female subject in the sentence, the pronouns that are appropriate to use are she, her, and hers. If you are referring to a male, you can use: he, him, and his. For a group of persons, not including yourself, the appropriate pronouns are they, them, and theirs.

Personal pronouns can serve as the subjects, objects of the verb or preposition, and can also show possession. They are formally classified into subjective personal pronouns, objective personal pronouns, and possessive personal pronouns.

Examples:

1.       I (subject) gave it to him (object). – “I gave it to he” is nonsense.

2.       He (subject) gave it to me (object)

3.       We (subject) gave it to them (object).

4.       They (subject) gave it to us (object).

2. Demonstrative pronouns

The function of this kind of pronoun is to point to a noun. Examples are this, these, that, and those. The pronouns “this” and “these” points to things that are nearby while the other two are for things that are far. Aside from proximity, you must also consider the number of things you are pointing out. For singular nouns, “this” and “that” should be used, while for plural nouns “these” and “those” are appropriate.

Examples:

1.       That is the car that I’ll buy for my birthday.

2.       This is my ball / These are my shoes

3.       That is my ball / Those are my shoes

4.       I will never forget this (referring to a recent experience)

5.       I will never forget that (referring to something in the further past)

3. Indefinite pronouns

This kind of pronoun refers to unspecified things. Some examples are any, all, another, each, anyone, anything, anybody, nobody, everyone, everybody, someone, somebody, few, and many.

Examples:

1.       Many were called for the interview but only 3 were hired.

2.       He’s ready to give up everything for his family’s safety.

3.       Has everybody handed in their assignment?

4. Intensive pronouns

The function of intensive pronouns is to give emphasis to the antecedent. Examples of this kind of pronoun are: myself, itself, himself, herself, yourself, yourselves, themselves, and ourselves.

Examples:

1.       The president himself said that it was a terrorist attack.

2.       I myself knew that it was a mistake.

5. Interrogative pronouns

As the title implies, the function of this kind of pronoun is to ask questions. Examples of interrogative pronouns are: who, what, which, whom, whoever, whatever, whichever, and whomever.

 

Examples:

Which is Used to ask a question about a specific group

1.       Which food do you prefer?

2.       Which regions of Pakistan have you visited?

3.       Which cinema shall we go to?

What is Used to ask a question in general

1.       What university did you attend?

2.       What time will you arrive?

Whose is Used to ask about possession or association.

1.       Whose brother is that?

2.       Whose keys are these?

6. Relative pronouns

This kind of pronoun links one clause or phrase to another. Some of the most common relative pronouns are: who, whoever, whomever, that, and which. Who and whom refer only to people. Whose and that can refer to people, animals and things whereas Which is used to refer to animals and things.

Examples:

1.       The contestant who gets the highest score wins the million-dollar jackpot.

2.       He will accept whichever project comes first.

3.       He is the man who played cricket for Pakistan.

4.       There is the dog that bit my sister.

7. Reflexive pronouns

This kind of pronoun is used to refer back to the subject. Some of the reflexive pronouns are yourself, myself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves, and itself. They are formed by adding –self or –selves for the plural form to a personal or possessive pronoun.

Example:

1.       Sandra never forgets to send a copy of the email to herself.

2.       If you do not stop doing that you will hurt yourself.

3.       He promised to repair the broken fence, however, we ended up fixing it ourselves.

Final Thoughts

An in-depth understanding of pronouns and their functions is very important in creating well-constructed compositions. Pronouns make the flow of words and thoughts smoother and this should definitely engage your readers.