Pronouns and its Kinds

In order to reduce the onus of repetition of the same Noun over and over again, pronouns were introduced to lend variety and formality of a sentence structure. Pronouns can be as effective as Nouns when being used as a Subject, Object, Indirect Object and so on.

Pronouns are necessarily kept short in keeping with their nature to lend brevity to a sentence. Examples : I, You, He, She, They, We. They can also be used for adverbs, adjectives and other pronouns.

Types of Pronouns:

1. Personal Pronouns: When people think of pronouns, this is the most obvious association. They are the pronouns which replace nouns representing people.

Examples     – I, You, He, she, They , We, Who.

Usage           - We went to the school.

                       He went on to play County Cricket, subsequently.

1. Relative Pronouns: They are used to add more information to a sentence structure.

Examples: who, whoever, whom, whomsoever, when, where, which, that, whose, whom

Usage: The man, who first, ignited fire  must have made quite a discovery.

2. Possessive Pronouns: So named since they show to whom they belong .

Examples:       His, her, their, your, my, our

Usage :            Have you seen her book?

                         This is my piano.

3. Absolute Possessive Pronouns: The difference with possessive pronouns being they are not associated as an adjective but have their own existence.

Examples :          Mine, Yours, His, Hers, Ours, Theirs.

Usage :                This book is mine.

                            The decision is theirs.

4. Reciprocal Pronouns: Used to express actions or emotions that are mutual.

Examples:            each other, one another.

Usage   :              They loved one another since the beginning of time.

                            They consider each other siblings.

5.  Reflexive Pronouns: It is the type of pronoun that is preceded by the adverb, adjective, noun or pronoun to which it refers as long as the antecedent is in the same clause. The person realizing the action is also the recipient of the action.

Examples: myself, yourself, himself, herself, themselves.

Usage:  We do not need a cook, we can do the cooking ourselves.

              The car is in a class by itself.        

6.  Demonstrative Pronouns: Used to point to something specific within the sentence and can either be near or fair in distance or time.Can also be used as a noun in a sentence if the noun is understood from the pronoun’s context.

Examples:           Near -   This, these

                           Far   -   That, those

                           None, neither, such

Usage:                 These are beautiful shoes, but they are not comfortable.

                            Such was his command over the language.

                            None of us can go.

7.  Subject Pronouns: A pronoun that takes place of a noun as the subject that is the person or things that performs the action of the verb.

They can either be singular or plural or gender neutral in case of indeterminate sex or inanimate objects.

Examples:            He, She, They,I , We , It

Usage:                  It stood the test of time.

                             She performed in the school play eventually.

8.  Object Pronouns: Normally used as a grammatical object wither direct object of the verb or as preposition.

They can be singular or plural or gender neutral.

Examples :              I  becomes Me .

                                You remains You.

                                He becomes Him.

                                She becomes Her.

                                They come them.

                                It remains It.

                                We becomes Us.

Usage: The spider bit me on myankle.

9.  Indefinite Pronouns: Are those that refer to one or more unspecified objects, beings or places without indicating the exact ones. They sometimes act as determiners, too.

Examples:       any, anybody, anyone

                        Some, somebody, someone,

                        Every, everybody, everyone

                        No, nobody, noone

                        All, both, each, any, several, enough, many, much, few, either, neither.

Usage: Everyone is expected to stand at the start of the National Anthem.

            Either choice has its own advantage.

10.   Interrogative Pronouns: Used to ask questions usually specific in nature. A pronoun is termed interrogative when used for enquiring purposes.

In some cases interrogative pronouns take the suffix ‘ever’ or archaic form ‘so ever’.

Examples: What, which, who, when, whose

Usage:  What is your friend’s name?

              Which color do you prefer?

11.   Intensive Pronouns: Also called emphatic pronouns they end in self/ selves and place emphasis on some noun/ pronoun used earlier in the sentence. The difference with reflexive pronouns being they only lend impact but do not add any other meaning to the basic sentence structure.

Example: myself, ourselves, himself, herself, themselves, itself.

Usage:  I made cake for my son, myself.

             We, ourselves, have the power to change the world for the better.

English Grammar and Composition

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