What are Pronouns

Pronouns

PRONOUN:

Pronoun is the word which is used in place of noun.

Example: Aslam is running. He is running fast. In this sentence ‘he’ is pronoun used instead of noun.

Pronouns are of three types.

	Subjective	Possessive	Objective
1st Person Pronouns	I We	Me Our	My Us
2nd Person Pronouns	You	Your	You
3rd Person Pronouns	He She They It	His Her Their Its	Him Her Them It

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What Are Possessive Pronouns?

Possessive pronouns show ownership. The term possessive pronoun covers possessive adjectivesand absolute possessive pronouns.

The possessive pronouns are:

Possessive Adjectives ·         my ·         your ·         his ·         her ·         its ·         our ·         their ·         whose

Absolute Possessive Pronouns ·         mine ·         yours ·         his ·         hers ·         ours ·         theirs

Possessive Pronouns Replace Nouns

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate who (or what) owns something. Like all pronouns, possessive pronouns take the place of nouns in sentences. 

Look at these examples:

·         Take Sarah's car to the party.

·         Take her car to the party.

(In this example, the possessive adjective her replaces Sarah.)

·         Take hers to the party.

(In this example, the absolute possessive pronoun hers replaces Sarah's car.)

Examples of Possessive Pronouns

Below are examples of possessive pronouns. (There is a mix of possessive adjectives and absolute possessive pronouns.)

·         Take her spoon and put it by your plate.

(These are both possessive adjectives.)

·         His view is that it's come to the end of its working life.

(These are both possessive adjectives.)

·         Anyone who goes to a psychiatrist ought to have his head examined. (Samuel Goldwyn, 1882-1974)

(This is a possessive adjective.)

·         Humans are the only animals that have children on purpose with the exception of guppies, who like to eat theirs. (P J O'Rourke)

(This is an absolute possessive pronoun.)

·         We cherish our friends not for their ability to amuse us, but for ours to amuse them. (Evelyn Waugh, 1903-1966)

(Our and their = possessive adjectives / ours = absolute possessive pronoun)

What is a Pronoun?

In grammar, a pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that may be substituted for a noun or noun phrase, which once replaced, is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. How is this possible? In a nutshell, it’s because pronouns can do everything that nouns can do. A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more.

Without pronouns, we’d have to keep on repeating nouns, and that would make our speech and writing repetitive, not to mention cumbersome. Most pronouns are very short words. Examples include:

• He
• She
• They
• It
• We
• Who

As mentioned, pronouns are usually used to replace nouns, however they can also stand in for certain adverbs, adjectives, and other pronouns. Anytime you want to talk about a person, animal, place or thing, you can use pronouns to make your speech or writing flow better.

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:

• Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places
• Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number
• Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves
• Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a sentence
• Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership
• Relative pronouns – those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause
• Interrogative pronouns – those which introduce a question
• Reciprocal pronouns – those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one another
• Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents

Pronoun Rules

There are a few important rules for using pronouns. As you read through these rules and the examples in the next section, notice how the pronoun rules are followed. Soon you’ll see that pronouns are easy to work with.

• Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences. For example: We did a great job.
• Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject. For example: It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii.
• Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their own. For example: No one likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
• Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us, them, and it. For example: David talked to her about the mistake.
• Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes. For example: The cat washed its whiskers.

Examples of Pronouns

In the following examples, the pronouns are italicized.

1. We are going on vacation.
2. Don’t tell me that you can’t go with us.
3. Anybody who says it won’t be fun has no cluewhat they are talking about.
4. These are terribly steep stairs.
5. We ran into each other at the mall.
6. I’m not sure which is worse: rain or snow.
7. It is one of the nicest Italian restaurants in town.
8. Richard stared at himself in the mirror.
9. The laundry isn’t going to do itself.
10. Someone spilled orange juice all over the counter top!