Pronouns

 

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or another pronoun. Pronouns help you avoid

unnecessary repetition in your writing and speech. A pronoun gets its meaning from the noun

it stands for. The noun is called the antecedent.

Although Seattle is damp, it is my favorite city.

               antecedent      pronoun

There are different kinds of pronouns. Most of them have antecedents, but a few do not.

Quick Tip

The word antecedent comes from a Latin word meaning “to go before.” However,

the noun does not have to appear before the pronoun in a sentence. It often does,

though, to keep sentences clear and avoid misreadings.

1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person, place, object, or thing.

Singular                                                               Plural

First person: I, me, mine, my                             we, us, our, ours

Second person: you, your, yours                        you, your, yours

Third person: he, him, his, she, her, hers, it       they, them, their, theirs, its

2. Possessive pronouns show ownership. The possessive pronouns are: your, yours, his, hers,

its, ours, their, theirs, whose.

           Is this beautiful plant yours?

           Yes, it’s ours.

Quick Tip

Don’t confuse personal pronouns with contractions. Personal pronouns never

have an apostrophe, while contractions always have an apostrophe. Use this

chart:

Pronoun                                 Contraction

yours                                     you’re (you are)

its                                            it’s (it is)

their                                         they’re (they are)

whose                                         who’s (who is)

3. Reflexive pronouns add information to a sentence by pointing back to a noun or pronoun

near the beginning of the sentence. Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves.

        Tricia bought herself a new car.

All her friends enjoyed themselves riding in the beautiful car.

4. Intensive pronouns also end in -self or -selves but just add emphasis to the noun or pronoun.

         Tricia herself picked out the car.

5. Demonstrative pronouns direct attention to a specific person, place, or thing. There are

only four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.

          This is my favorite movie.

          That was a fierce rain storm.

6. Relative pronouns begin a subordinate clause. There are five relative pronouns: that,

which, who, whom, those.

          Jasper claimed that he could run the washing machine.

          Louise was the repair person who fixed the machine after Jasper washed his sneakers.

Singular                  Plural             Singular or Plural

another                    both                  all

anyone                     few                   any

each                          many               more

everyone                  others                most

everybody                several             none

everything                                        some

much

nobody

nothing

other

someone

anybody

anything

either

little

neither

no one

one

somebody

something

7. Interrogative pronouns ask a question. They are: what, which, who, whom, whose.

         Who would like to cook dinner?

         Which side does the fork go on?

8. Indefinite pronouns refer to people, places, objects, or things without pointing to a specific

one. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed in the chart on the previous page.