What is a pronoun?

In English grammar, pronouns are a type of generic noun that can represent any other noun. Their job is
to make communication faster and more efficient because you don’t have to repeat the same word over
and over again OR Pronoun is a word which is used instead of noun to avoid its un-necessary repetition.
Some pronoun examples include:

He

She

you

We

They

It

Pronouns are one of the eight traditional parts of speech, and they are also sometimes understood as
making up a small subcategory of nouns. The distinguishing characteristic of pronouns is that they can
be substituted for nouns. For instance, if you’re telling a story about your sister Sarah, the story will
begin to sound repetitive if you keep saying or writing Sarah over and over again:

Sarah has always loved fashion. Sarah announced that Sarah wants to go to fashion school.

You could try to mix it up by sometimes referring to Sarah as “my sister,” but then it sounds like you’re
referring to two different people:

Sarah has always loved fashion. My sister announced that Sarah wants to go to fashion school.

Instead, you can use the pronoun she to refer to Sarah after introducing her:

Sarah has always loved fashion. She announced that she wants to go to fashion school.

What is an antecedent

Remember how we mentioned that in order to use a pronoun, you need to introduce the noun first?
That noun has a name: an antecedent.

He is Ahmad.

Here He is used to refer to Antecedent which is Ahmad.

She is Soooogand,

Here She refers to Antecedent which is Sooogand.

Personal pronouns
When you think of pronouns, you most likely think first of personal pronouns. Personal pronouns are
pronouns that change form based on their grammatical person—that is, based on whether they refer to
the person speaking or writing (the first person), the person or thing being spoken to (the second
person), or the person or thing being spoken about (the third person). Here is a list of the main personal
pronouns :

I/me

she/her

he/him

they/them

It

we/us

you

Here are a couple of example sentences with personal pronouns bolded and their antecedents
underlined:

The new student will arrive today. They will need a seating assignment and a name tag.

My family loves nachos. We make them every Friday for movie night.

Subject Pronouns: They are used as the subject of sentence.

He, She, They, We, You, I, It.

Examples are:

He is going to school.

They are watching T.V.

Object Pronouns: They are used as the object of sentence.

Him, her, them, us, you, me, it.

Examples are:

I gave him a pen.

They bought a gift for us.

Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns add further information or details about noun. They include these words:

that

what

which

who

whom

Traditionally, who refers to people, and which and that refer to animals or things. Here are a few
examples of relative pronouns:

The woman who called earlier didn’t leave a message.

All the dogs that got adopted today will be loved.

My car, which is nearly twenty years old, still runs well.

Who vs. whom—subject and object pronouns

The difference is actually pretty simple: Who is for the subject of a sentence or clause, and whom is for
the object of a verb or preposition. Here are a couple of a quick examples:

Who mailed this package?

To whom was this package sent?

Demonstrative pronouns
They are used to point out to nouns. That, this, these, and those are demonstrative pronouns.

This is used for singular items that are nearby. These is used for multiple items that are nearby. The
distance can be physical or metaphorical. Take a look at these examples:

This letter has no return address.

What a fantastic idea! This is the best thing I’ve heard all day.
If you think Roses smell nice, try smelling these.

That is used for singular items that are farther away. Those is used for multiple items that are farther
away. Again, the distance can be physical or metaphorical. Here are a few examples of these pronouns:

That house would be a nice place to live.

Some new flavors of soda came in last week. Why don’t you try some of those?

Those aren’t swans, they’re geese.

Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used to refer generally to a person or thing that is not specific. Here are some
common indefinite pronouns:

one

other

none

some

anybody

everybody

no one

Here are a few examples of indefinite pronouns in sentences:

Everybody was late to work because of the traffic jam.

It matters more to some than to others.

Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.

When an indefinite pronoun functions as the subject of a sentence or clause, it usually takes singular
verbs.

Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject of the sentence.
Myself

yourself

himself

herself

itself

oneself

ourselves

yourselves

themselves

Here are a few examples:

She checked herself out of the hotel thirty minutes before checkout time.

Lola made herself a smoothie to bring to class.

Take care of yourselves.

Using myself when you mean me is a common mistake writers and speakers make. Reflexive pronouns
are correct only when the subject and object of a verb are the same. For example:

He asked myself to go for a bike ride.

He asked me to go for a bike ride.

I had promised myself I would accept more invitations.

Intensive pronouns
Intensive pronouns are used to add emphasis to the sentence. Conceptualizing the difference between
them and reflexive pronouns can be challenging because the emphasis isn’t always obvious. Take a look
at these examples of intensive pronouns and examine how they’re different from the examples in the
previous section:

I told them I could do it myself.

It was the idea itself that posed a problem, not the way it was executed.

I built this house.

I built this house myself.

Intensive pronouns can help you express pride, shock, disbelief, credulousness (or incredulousness), or
another strong emotion. Here are a few more examples:

They hiked the entire Appalachian Trail themselves?

Did you yourself see Loretta spill the coffee?

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns show ownership and possession.

They look like this:

mine

yours

ours

his

hers

theirs

its

Here are a couple of examples:

She had forgotten her jacket, so I gave her mine.

I had no idea whose bid had won the auction, but then my cousins told me that theirs had.

This book is his.

The house is ours.

Possessive adjectives also show ownership or possession. But it also clarify who or what owns
something. Unlike possessive pronouns—which replace nouns—possessive adjectives come before
nouns to modify them. They include the following:

my

your

our

his

her

their

its
Take a look at these examples of possessive adjectives in action:

I crashed my bike into a telephone pole.

Your house is always decorated so nicely.

His car is amazing.

Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. These are the interrogative pronouns:

who

whose

whom

what

which

Here are a few examples of interrogative pronouns at play:

Who wants a bag of jelly beans?

What is your name?

Which movie do you want to watch?

Whose jacket is this?

Reciprocal pronouns
These pronouns describe a mutual relationship between two or more persons. There are only two
reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another.

Take a look at these examples:

Javier and Priya, the two top salespeople on our team, are competing with each other to be named
salesperson of the year.

All my siblings are blaming one another for letting their cousins win the game.

Distributive pronouns
Distributive pronouns refer to nouns as individual from a large group.

Distributive pronouns include the following:

either

each

neither

any

none

Here are a few examples of distributive pronouns in sentences:

All of my friends entered the costume contest, and none of them won.

Cookies and muffins are available for dessert. Neither is appealing to me.