English Basics

Types of Pronoun

Types of Pronoun

A pronoun is a word which is used instead of a noun. A pronoun is used instead of a noun to avoid repetition of a noun in an essay. e.g. she, he, they, it, her, his, him, its

Pronouns are classified into following types:

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. Demonstrative Pronouns
  4. Reflexive Pronouns
  5. Relative Pronouns
  6. Reciprocal Pronouns

1⇒ Personal Pronouns

A personal pronoun refers a specific person or object or group of things directly.
e.g.  He, I, she, you, it, they me,, who, him, whom her, them etc.

A person pronoun describes a person or a thing in following ways.

1st Person: (the person who speaks) e.g. I, we, me, us
2nd Person: (the person who is spoken to) e.g. you
3rd Person: (a person or a thing which is spoken about). e.g. she, he, they, it, her, him, them,

Usage of Personal Pronoun:

  Person Personal Pronouns
Subjects Objects
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 an intelligent teacher.
  • They were going to market.
  • He bought some nice books.
  • She shouted for help.

2⇒ Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun describes a close possession to or an ownership of or relationship to a noun (a person or a thing).

e.g. his, yours, hers, mine,  ours, theirs, mine, etc

  Person Possessive Pronouns
Singular 1st Person Mine
2nd Person Yours
3rd Person his, Hers, its
Plural 1st Person Ours
2nd Person Yours
3rd Person Theirs

Examples:

  • This book is yours.
  • This laptop is mine.
  • That car is hers.
  • These houses are ours not theirs.
  • He lost his books. He needs yours.        
  • This computer is mine, not yours

3⇒ Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun is the pronoun which points to a noun (a thing or things).

e.g. that, this, those, these, none, neither e.t.c.

In a short distance (or in terms of time): This, these. 
In a long distance (or in terms of time): That, those.

Examples:

  • This is a book.
  • That is a car.
  • These are ducks.
  • Those are birds.
  • Can you see that?

4⇒ Reflexive Pronoun

A reflexive pronoun expresses a noun when the subject’s action affects (or influences) the subject itself. 
e.g. herself, yourself, himself, ourselves, itself, themselves, are few reflexive pronouns.

A reflexive pronoun always acts as an object, not as subject, and it expresses inter-influence between a subject and the object.

  Persons Subjects Reflexive Pronouns
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:

  • She was looking to herself in the picture.
  • She locked herself in a room.
  • He prepared himself for the test.
  • They considered themselves the happiest people of the world.

5⇒ Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a word which is used in relation to a noun and modifies (gives more information about) the same noun.
OR 
Relative pronouns are those pronouns that join relative clauses and the relative sentences.

e.g. which, who, that, whom, whose etc.

Example: She is the girl, who sings songs.

The word ‘who’ in above example is a relative pronoun that modifies (tell more about) the noun(girl). The same pronoun joins the sentence ‘she is the girl’ to a clause ‘sings songs’.

Examples:

  • It is the dog which barks at strangers.
  • The girl who is walking in the garden is very beautiful
  • It is the laptop which I like the more.
  • They were the people who had come out for a strike.

6⇒ Reciprocal Pronoun

A reciprocal pronoun is used when two or more nouns (subjects) are reciprocating to each other or one another in some action.

A reciprocal pronoun is used if two sor more subjects act in a same manner towards each other or one another.

There are two reciprocal pronouns in English language.

  • One another
  • Each other

Examples:

  • Two girls pushed each other.
  • Sara and John love each other.
  • The people in the party greeted one another.
  • Two students in exam copied from each other.
  • The balls on the snooker table collided with one another.

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