Is the word are a pronoun

What is a Pronoun?

A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that is used as a substitution for a noun or noun phrase, which is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. Pronouns are short words and can do everything that nouns can do and are one of the building blocks of a sentence. Common pronouns are he, she, you, me, I, we, us, this, them, that. A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing. So coffee becomes it, Barbara becomes she, Jeremy becomes he, the team becomes they, and in a sentence, Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon could become she drinks a cup of it every afternoon, or even she drinks it every afternoon, where the it would substitute the cup of coffee, not just the coffee.

Without pronouns, we’d constantly have to repeat nouns, and that would make our speech and writing repetitive, not to mention cumbersome. Without pronouns, Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon, she likes to have it before dinner would be Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon, Barbara likes to have the cup of coffee before dinner. Using pronouns helps the flow of sentences and makes them more interesting

• He
• It
• You
• I
• They
• We
• Who
• Him
• Them
• Whoever
• Anyone
• Something
• Nobody

Pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

1. Billy, Caren, and I were playing poker with friends -> We were playing poker with friends.
2. Ellie loves watching movies. -> She loves watching movies, especially if they are comedies.
3. Will Daniel be going to the circus with Sarah? -> Will he be going there with her?
   

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

In nearly all cases, a pronoun must follow an expression called an antecedent. This basically means that a pronoun can only really be understood in the context of prior information about the noun. For example, if we use the pronoun she in a sentence, we will only be able to understand it if we know who she is, thus an antecedent, perhaps giving the person’s name, is usually supplied first. In the example above Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon, if we had never mentioned Barbara or what she drinks, it would be unclear if we said, She drinks it every afternoon. Your reader would be confused and wonder who she is and what does she drink, wine, water, lemonade?

Once Barbara has been mentioned, we would use the pronouns she and her later in the writing in order to stop repeating the proper noun Barbara and possessive proper noun Barbara’s.
Barbara went to the restaurant for dinner with her (Barbara’s) friends. She (Barbara) was very hungry, but her (Barbara’s) friends would not stop chatting. Eventually, Barbara decided to take matters into her (Barbara’s) own hands and she (Barbara) demanded that they (Barbara’s friends) stop talking.

Imagine how that sentence would read if it kept repeating Barbara and Barbara’s. Pronouns have acted to make the writing tighter and, arguably, much more elegant. This is just a basic example of the use of pronouns, they act in many ways to help make speech and writing more lucid and dynamic.

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:

• Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places, such as someone, anybody, nothing. Notice in the examples below that there is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence.
  Indefinite pronoun examples:
  1. Anyone
  2. Somebody
  3. Whichever
  4. Whoever
  5. Other
  6. Something
  7. Nobody

  Indefinite pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

  • Would anyone like a coffee?
  • Take whatever you like. Jamie took one cookie and Ben took the other.
  • Whoever owns this is in big trouble! I want someone to move this now.

  Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create sentences that are almost abstract. Examples could include: this, all, such and something.

  • All was not lost.
  • Such is life.
  • Something tells me this won’t end well.
• Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number. Personal pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun (someone’s name) or a collective group of people or things. Personal pronouns have two main groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.
  The first is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and they. Notice that you is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or plural, addressing a group of people.

  Personal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

  • Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
  • I have more money than he
  • We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

  The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them. Consider the sentence again:

  We will be late if you don’t hurry up.

  In the above example, we is the subject of the sentence, but you is the object. Other examples of pronouns replacing the object:

  • Peter sang the song to me.
  • Missing the train will cause us to be late.

  She packed them tightly in the suitcase.

• Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves. Reflexive pronouns are used to refer back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive pronouns includes: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
  Reflexive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
  • Count yourselves
  • Annie only had herself to blame.

  Peter and Paul had baked themselves cakes.

• Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular, whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.
  Demonstrative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
  • I prefer this.
  • These are beautiful, but those belong to Danny.
  • Did you see that?

  While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun.

  I prefer this photo. These flowers are beautiful, but those vases belong to Danny. Did you see that rainbow?

  It should be clear that this, that, these and those in the example above are not pronouns because they are being used to qualify the noun, but not replace it. A good trick for remembering the difference is that a demonstrative pronoun would still make sense if the word one or ones followed it in the sentence.

  I prefer this (one). These (ones) are beautiful. Did you see that (one)? Those (ones) belong to Danny.

• Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership. Examples include: mine, its, hers, his, yours, ours, theirs, whose. Consider the example:
  • This cat is mine.

  Mine is indicating possession, that the cat belongs to me. Incidentally, this in the sentence is not a pronoun but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun cat. You will find that possessive pronouns often follow phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.

  Possessive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

  • Are these bananas yours?
  • This money is ours.

  Is the fault theirs or yours?

• Relative pronouns –those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause. They will usually appear after a noun to help clarify the sentence or give extra information. Examples include: who, which, that, whom, whose. Consider the following sentence:
  The man who stole the car went to jail. The relative pronoun who acts to refer back to the noun man. It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as not just any man, but the one who stole the car.Relative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
  • The table, which sits in the hallway, is used for correspondence.
  • The car that crashed into the wall was blue.
  • This is the woman, whose key you found.
• Interrogative pronouns –Those which introduce a question. Examples include: who, whom, whose, what, which. We can usually identify an interrogative pronoun by the fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question.
  Interrogative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
  • Who will come to the party?
  • Which do you prefer?
  • What do you need?
  • Whose clothes are on the floor?
  • Whom did you tell?

  Whom and who are often confused, and even native speakers will use them incorrectly. Who will replace the subject of a sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct or indirect object. A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the sentence with a personal pronoun and it will still make sense. Who will come to the party? I will come to the party. The same system would not work for Whom did you tell? I did you tell.

• Reciprocal pronouns –Those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one another.
  There are just two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other. They are mainly used to stop unnecessary repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce the idea that collective and reciprocal actions are happening to more than one person or thing.John and Mary gave each other gifts. Using each other allows us the sentence to be more efficient than: John gave Mary a gift and Mary gave a gift to John. The countries worked with one another on national security. In this example, one another works to suggest that the action of working is being reciprocated back and forth by more than one country.

  Reciprocal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

  • The boxers punched each other

  The couple love one another deeply

• Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents. These are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but rather than just referring back to the subject of the sentence they work to reinforce the action. In many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the intensive pronoun.
  Intensive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
  • I will do it myself.
  • We made this pie ourselves.
  • A nation speaks for itself through elections.

  Notice how the intensive pronoun is working to emphasize the statement. The sentence would still technically be correct without the intensive pronoun, but it adds some important context to its meaning.

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

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 clue what 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 countertop!

Pronoun Exercises

The following exercises will help you gain greater understanding about how pronouns work. Choose the best answer to complete each sentence.

Answers

1. B. This is he speaking.
2. C. Greg is as smart as she is.
3. D. The dog chewed on its favorite toy.
4. B. It could have been anyone.
5. A. Terry is taller than I am.

List of Pronouns

As you read through this list of pronouns, remember that each one of these pronouns is a word that can be used to take the place of a noun. Think about ways to use the pronouns on this list in sentences, as this will increase your understanding.

I

We

Me

Us

You

She

He

Her

Him

They

Them

It

That

Which

Who

Whom

Whose

Whichever

Whoever

Whomever

This

These

That

Those

Anybody

Anyone

Anything

Each

Either

Everyone

Everybody

Everything

Nobody

Neither

No one

Nothing

Somebody

One

Someone

Something

Few

Many

Both

Several

Any

All

Some

Most

None

Myself

Yourself

Ourselves

Yourselves

Herself

Himself

Themselves

Itself

Who

What

Which

Whose

Whom

What is a pronoun? A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. 

Pronouns can do all of the things that nouns can do. They can be subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, object of the preposition, and more. Hey, the word pronoun even has the word noun in it!

Examples: he, she, it, they, someone, who

Let’s look at a few example sentences.

• Erik Weihenmayer is a blind mountain climber. (noun)

• He is a blind mountain climber. (pronoun)

Do you see how the pronoun he took the place of the noun Erik Weihenmayer? We can also put the noun and pronoun in the same sentence.

• Not only is Erik Weihenmayer a mountain climber, but he is also a motivational speaker.

If we didn’t have pronouns, we would have to write that sentence like this.

• Not only is Erik Weihenmayer a mountain climber, but Erik Weihenmayer is also a motivational speaker.

That doesn’t sound good! Thank goodness for pronouns!

If we didn’t have them, we would have to keep saying Erik Weihenmayer every time that we wanted to refer to him. (Look! I just used the pronoun him to refer to Erik Weihenmayer!)

So, what is a pronoun? Close your eyes and see if you can remember the definition!

Antecedents

What’s missing from the following example?

He said, «I’m a great believer in luck, and I find that the harder I work, the more I have of it.»

You should be asking yourself WHO is HE? You don’t know because I have not given you the antecedent. An antecedent is the noun that a pronoun is replacing or referring to.

Now you should know whom I am talking about because I have provided the antecedent for he, Thomas Jefferson.

Do
you want to hear something strange? Not all pronouns have antecedents!
Sometimes we don’t know whom exactly we are talking about.

Someone broke my vase!

You might be able to use that to your advantage.

Mom, someone broke your vase.

It certainly wasn’t YOU, right?

Warning!

Knowing the above information and looking at this list of pronouns should be enough for you to answer that burning question, «What is a pronoun?»

If you want more in-depth information, keep reading to learn about the different types of pronouns, but don’t get bogged down. Just knowing what we’ve covered so far might be all that you need right now.

Got it? Good.

Types of Pronouns

There are many different types of pronouns. Below you’ll find a short description and a few examples of each. For more examples, see the list of pronouns.

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Personal Pronouns

Here are the personal pronouns.

I, me, we, us, you, she, her, he, him, it, they, them

For each of these pronouns, we can tell the…

• Person (Who is speaking?)
• Number (Is the pronoun singular or plural?)
• Gender (Is the pronoun masculine, feminine, or neuter?)

For instance, she is third person (the person being spoken about), singular, feminine while we is first person (the people speaking), plural, neuter.

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Relative Pronouns

These little guys introduce relative clauses (dependent adjective clauses).

who, whom, whose, that, which

This is the cookie that I want to eat.

That refers to the noun cookie, and it introduces the relative clause that I want to eat.

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Demonstrative Pronouns

There are only four demonstrative pronouns. We use them to point out particular people or things.

this, that, these, those

Sometimes, those words are used before nouns. In those cases, they are adjectives, not pronouns. (Remember, adjectives describe nouns.)

Bring me that book. (adjective)

Bring me that. (pronoun)

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Indefinite Pronouns

The prefix in- means not. Indefinite pronouns are not definite. We don’t know whom or what these refer to!

anyone, something, all, most, some

Someone yelled my name.

(Who? We don’t know.)

Everyone looked at me. (Who exactly? We don’t know.)

When indefinite pronouns are used before nouns, they are actually acting as adjectives, not pronouns.

Both people smiled at me. (adjective)

Both smiled at me. (pronoun)

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Reflexive & Intensive Pronouns

These two types of pronouns end in -self or -selves.

himself, herself, myself, itself

Those words have different names depending on how they are being used.

A reflexive pronoun is used to refer to the subject of the sentence.

I will go to the school myself. (reflexive)

An intensive pronoun is used to emphasize another noun.

He himself visited the school. (intensive)

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Interrogative Pronouns

These are pronouns that are found in questions.

Another name for a question is an interrogative sentence. Interrogative pronouns often begin interrogative sentences.

what, whom, whose, who, which

Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

Which jacket should I wear?

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Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show ownership. Another word for ownership is possession.

his, hers, your, theirs

When possessive pronouns are used before nouns, they are actually being used as adjectives, not pronouns.

Our family has vacation next week. (adjective)

That car is ours. (pronoun)

This article is about a word which is used instead of a noun. For other uses, see Pronoun (disambiguation).

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun (abbreviated PRO) is a word or a group of words that one may substitute for a noun or noun phrase.

Pronouns have traditionally been regarded as one of the parts of speech, but some modern theorists would not consider them to form a single class, in view of the variety of functions they perform cross-linguistically. An example of a pronoun is «you», which can be either singular or plural. Subtypes include personal and possessive pronouns, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, relative and interrogative pronouns, and indefinite pronouns.^{[1]: 1–34 [2]}

The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on an antecedent. For example, in the sentence That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat, the meaning of the pronoun he is dependent on its antecedent, that poor man.

The name of the adjective that belongs with a «pronoun» is called a «pronominal«.^[A] A pronominal is also a word or phrase that acts as a pronoun. For example, in That’s not the one I wanted, the phrase the one (containing the prop-word one) is a pronominal.^[3]

Theory[edit]

Pronoun versus pro-form[edit]

Pronoun is a category of words. A pro-form is a type of function word or expression that stands in for (expresses the same content as) another word, phrase, clause or sentence where the meaning is recoverable from the context.^[4] In English, pronouns mostly function as pro-forms, but there are pronouns that are not pro-forms and pro-forms that are not pronouns.^{[5][p. 239]}

Pronouns versus Pro-forms

	Example	Pronoun	Pro-form
1	It is a good idea.	✓	✓
2	I know the people who work there.	✓	✓
3	Who works there?	✓
4	It is raining.	✓
5	I asked her to help, and she did so right away.		✓
6	JJ and Petra helped, but the others didn’t.		✓

Examples [1 & 2] are pronouns and pro-forms. In [1], the pronoun it «stands in» for whatever was mentioned and is a good idea. In [2], the relative pronoun who stands in for «the people».

Examples [3 & 4] are pronouns but not pro-forms. In [3], the interrogative pronoun who does not stand in for anything. Similarly, in [4], it is a dummy pronoun, one that does not stand in for anything. No other word can function there with the same meaning; we do not say «the sky is raining» or «the weather is raining».

Finally, in [5 & 6], there are pro-forms that are not pronouns. In [5], did so is a verb phrase that stands in for «helped», inflected from to help stated earlier in the sentence. Similarly, in [6], others is a common noun, not a pronoun, but the others probably stands in for the names of other people involved (e.g., Sho, Alana, and Ali), all proper nouns.

Grammar[edit]

Pronouns (antōnymía) are listed as one of eight parts of speech in The Art of Grammar, a treatise on Greek grammar attributed to Dionysius Thrax and dating from the 2nd century BC. The pronoun is described there as «a part of speech substitutable for a noun and marked for a person.» Pronouns continued to be regarded as a part of speech in Latin grammar (the Latin term being pronomen, from which the English name – through Middle French – ultimately derives), and thus in the European tradition generally.

Because of the many different syntactic roles that they play, pronouns are less likely to be a single word class in more modern approaches to grammar.^[6]

Linguistics[edit]

Linguists in particular have trouble classifying pronouns in a single category, and some do not agree that pronouns substitute nouns or noun categories.^[1] Certain types of pronouns are often identical or similar in form to determiners with related meaning; some English examples are given in the table.

	Pronoun	Determiner
Possessive	ours	our freedom
Demonstrative	this	this gentleman
Indefinite	some	some frogs
Negative	none	no information
Interrogative	which	which option

This observation has led some linguists, such as Paul Postal, to regard pronouns as determiners that have had their following noun or noun phrase deleted.^[7] (Such patterning can even be claimed for certain personal pronouns; for example, we and you might be analyzed as determiners in phrases like we Brits and you tennis players.) Other linguists have taken a similar view, uniting pronouns and determiners into a single class, sometimes called «determiner-pronoun», or regarding determiners as a subclass of pronouns or vice versa. The distinction may be considered to be one of subcategorization or valency, rather like the distinction between transitive and intransitive verbs – determiners take a noun phrase complement like transitive verbs do, while pronouns do not.^[8] This is consistent with the determiner phrase viewpoint, whereby a determiner, rather than the noun that follows it, is taken to be the head of the phrase. Cross-linguistically, it seems as though pronouns share 3 distinct categories: point of view, person, and number. The breadth of each subcategory however tends to differ among languages.^[9]

Binding theory and antecedents[edit]

The use of pronouns often involves anaphora, where the meaning of the pronoun is dependent on another referential element. The referent of the pronoun is often the same as that of a preceding (or sometimes following) noun phrase, called the antecedent of the pronoun. The grammatical behavior of certain types of pronouns, and in particular their possible relationship with their antecedents, has been the focus of studies in binding, notably in the Chomskyan government and binding theory. In this binding context, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns in English (such as himself and each other) are referred to as anaphors (in a specialized restricted sense) rather than as pronominal elements. Under binding theory, specific principles apply to different sets of pronouns.

In English, reflexive and reciprocal pronouns must adhere to Principle A: an anaphor (reflexive or reciprocal, such as «each other») must be bound in its governing category (roughly, the clause). Therefore, in syntactic structure it must be lower in structure (it must have an antecedent) and have a direct relationship with its referent. This is called a C-command relationship. For instance, we see that John cut himself is grammatical, but Himself cut John is not, despite having identical arguments, since himself, the reflexive, must be lower in structure to John, its referent. Additionally, we see examples like John said that Mary cut himself are not grammatical because there is an intermediary noun, Mary, that disallows the two referents from having a direct relationship.

On the other hand, personal pronouns (such as him or them) must adhere to Principle B: a pronoun must be free (i.e., not bound) within its governing category (roughly, the clause). This means that although the pronouns can have a referent, they cannot have a direct relationship with the referent where the referent selects the pronoun. For instance, John said Mary cut him is grammatical because the two co-referents, John and him are separated structurally by Mary. This is why a sentence like John cut him where him refers to John is ungrammatical.

Binding cross-linguistically[edit]

The type of binding that applies to subsets of pronouns varies cross-linguistically. For instance, in German linguistics, pronouns can be split into two distinct categories — personal pronouns and d-pronouns. Although personal pronouns act identically to English personal pronouns (i.e. follow Principle B), d-pronouns follow yet another principle, Principle C, and function similarly to nouns in that they cannot have a direct relationship to an antecedent.^[9]

Antecedents[edit]

The following sentences give examples of particular types of pronouns used with antecedents:

• Third-person personal pronouns:
  • That poor man looks as if he needs a new coat. (the noun phrase that poor man is the antecedent of he)
  • Julia arrived yesterday. I met her at the station. (Julia is the antecedent of her)
  • When they saw us, the lions began roaring (the lions is the antecedent of they; as it comes after the pronoun it may be called a postcedent)
• Other personal pronouns in some circumstances:
  • Terry and I were hoping no one would find us. (Terry and I is the antecedent of us)
  • You and Alice can come if you like. (you and Alice is the antecedent of the second – plural – you)
• Reflexive and reciprocal pronouns:
  • Jack hurt himself. (Jack is the antecedent of himself)
  • We were teasing each other. (we is the antecedent of each other)
• Relative pronouns:
  • The woman who looked at you is my sister. (the woman is the antecedent of who)

Some other types, such as indefinite pronouns, are usually used without antecedents. Relative pronouns are used without antecedents in free relative clauses. Even third-person personal pronouns are sometimes used without antecedents («unprecursed») – this applies to special uses such as dummy pronouns and generic they, as well as cases where the referent is implied by the context.

English pronouns[edit]

English personal pronouns have a number of different syntactic contexts (Subject, Object, Possessive, Reflexive) and many features:

• person (1st, 2nd, 3rd);
• number (singular, plural);
• gender (masculine, feminine, neuter or inanimate, epicene)

Personal pronouns in standard Modern English

Person	Number & Gender	Subject	Object	Dependent possessive (determiner)	Independent possessive	Reflexive
First	Singular	I	me	my	mine	myself
Plural	we	us	our	ours	ourselves
Second	Singular	you	your	yours	yourself
Plural	yourselves
Third	Masculine	he	him	his	himself
Feminine	she	her	hers	herself
Neuter/Inanimate	it	its	itself
Epicene	they	them	their	theirs	themself
Plural	themselves

English also has other pronoun types, including demonstrative, relative, indefinite, and interrogative pronouns:

Demonstrative	Relative	Indefinite	Interrogative
this	who / whom / whose	one / one’s / oneself	who / whom / whose
these	what	something / anything / nothing (things)	what
that	which	someone / anyone / no one (people)	which
those	that	somebody / anybody / nobody (people)
former / latter

Personal and possessive[edit]

Personal[edit]

English personal pronouns^[2]: 52

Person	Number	Case
Subject	Object
First	Singular	I	me
Plural	we	us
Second	Singular	you
Plural
Third	Singular	he	him
she	her
it
they	them
Plural/Epicene	they	them

Personal pronouns may be classified by person, number, gender and case. English has three persons (first, second and third) and two numbers (singular and plural); in the third person singular there are also distinct pronoun forms for male, female and neuter gender.^{[2]: 52–53} Principal forms are shown in the adjacent table.

English personal pronouns have two cases, subject and object. Subject pronouns are used in subject position (I like to eat chips, but she does not). Object pronouns are used for the object of a verb or preposition (John likes me but not her).^{[2]: 52–53}

Other distinct forms found in some languages include:

• Second person informal and formal pronouns (the T–V distinction), like tu and vous in French. Formal second person pronouns can also signify plurality in many languages. There is no such distinction in standard modern English, though Elizabethan English marked the distinction with thou (singular informal) and you (plural or singular formal). Some dialects of English have developed informal plural second person pronouns, for instance, y’all (Southern American English) and you guys (American English).
• Inclusive and exclusive first person plural pronouns, which indicate whether or not the audience is included, that is, whether we means «you and I» or «they and I». There is no such distinction in English.
• Intensive (emphatic) pronouns, which re-emphasize a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as the reflexive pronouns; for example: I did it myself (contrast reflexive use, I did it to myself).
• Direct and indirect object pronouns, such as le and lui in French. English uses the same form for both; for example: Mary loves him (direct object); Mary sent him a letter (indirect object).
• Prepositional pronouns, used after a preposition. English uses ordinary object pronouns here: Mary looked at him.
• Disjunctive pronouns, used in isolation or in certain other special grammatical contexts, like moi in French. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Who does this belong to? Me.
• Strong and weak forms of certain pronouns, found in some languages such as Polish.
• Pronoun avoidance, where personal pronouns are substituted by titles or kinship terms (particularly common in South-East Asia).

Possessive[edit]

Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession (in a broad sense). Some occur as independent noun phrases: mine, yours, hers, ours, theirs. An example is: Those clothes are mine. Others act as a determiner and must accompany a noun: my, your, her, our, your, their, as in: I lost my wallet. (His and its can fall into either category, although its is nearly always found in the second.) Those of the second type have traditionally also been described as possessive adjectives, and in more modern terminology as possessive determiners. The term «possessive pronoun» is sometimes restricted to the first type. Both types replace possessive noun phrases. As an example, Their crusade to capture our attention could replace The advertisers’ crusade to capture our attention.^{[2]: 55–56}

Reflexive and reciprocal[edit]

Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing acts on itself, for example, John cut himself. In English they all end in -self or -selves and must refer to a noun phrase elsewhere in the same clause.^[2]: 55

Reciprocal pronouns refer to a reciprocal relationship (each other, one another). They must refer to a noun phrase in the same clause.^[2]: 55 An example in English is: They do not like each other. In some languages, the same forms can be used as both reflexive and reciprocal pronouns.

Demonstrative[edit]

Demonstrative pronouns (in English, this, that and their plurals these, those) often distinguish their targets by pointing or some other indication of position; for example, I’ll take these. They may also be anaphoric, depending on an earlier expression for context, for example, A kid actor would try to be all sweet, and who needs that?^[2]: 56

Indefinite[edit]

Indefinite pronouns, the largest group of pronouns, refer to one or more unspecified persons or things. One group in English includes compounds of some-, any-, every- and no- with -thing, -one and -body, for example: Anyone can do that. Another group, including many, more, both, and most, can appear alone or followed by of.^{[2]: 54–55} In addition,

• Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group separately rather than collectively. (To each his own.)
• Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things. (Nobody thinks that.)
• Impersonal pronouns normally refer to a person but are not specific as to first, second or third person in the way that the personal pronouns are. (One does not clean one’s own windows.)

Relative and interrogative[edit]

Relative[edit]

Relative pronouns in English include who, whom, whose, what, which and that. They rely on an antecedent, and refer back to people or things previously mentioned: People who smoke should quit now. They are used in relative clauses.^[2]: 56 Relative pronouns can also be used as complementizers.

Interrogative[edit]

Relative pronouns can be used in an interrogative setting as interrogative pronouns. Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. In reference to a person, one may use who (subject), whom (object) or whose (possessive); for example, Who did that? In colloquial speech, whom is generally replaced by who. English non-personal interrogative pronouns (which and what) have only one form.^{[2]: 56–57}

In English and many other languages (e.g. French and Czech), the sets of relative and interrogative pronouns are nearly identical. Compare English: Who is that? (interrogative) and I know the woman who came (relative). In some other languages, interrogative pronouns and indefinite pronouns are frequently identical; for example, Standard Chinese 什么 shénme means «what?» as well as «something» or «anything».

Archaic forms[edit]

Archaic personal pronouns^[2]: 52

Person	Number	Case
Subject	Object
Second	Singular	thou	thee
Plural	ye	you

Though the personal pronouns described above are the current English pronouns, Early Modern English (as used by Shakespeare, for example) use a slightly different set of personal pronouns, shown in the table. The difference is entirely in the second person. Though one would rarely find these older forms used in recent literature, they are nevertheless considered part of Modern English.

Kinship[edit]

In English, kin terms like «mother,» «uncle,» «cousin» are a distinct word class from pronouns; however many Australian Aboriginal languages have more elaborated systems of encoding kinship in language including special kin forms of pronouns. In Murrinh-patha, for example, when selecting a nonsingular exclusive pronoun to refer to a group, the speaker will assess whether or not the members of the group belong to a common class of gender or kinship. If all of the members of the referent group are male, the MASCULINE form will be selected; if at least one is female, the FEMININE is selected, but if all the members are in a sibling-like kinship relation, a third SIBLING form is selected.^[10] In Arabana-Wangkangurru, the speaker will use entirely different sets of pronouns depending on whether the speaker and the referent are or are not in a common moiety. See the following example:

See Australian Aboriginal kinship for more details.

Special uses[edit]

Some special uses of personal pronouns include:

• Generic you, where second person pronouns are used in an indefinite sense: You can’t buy good old-fashioned bulbs these days.
• Generic they: In China they drive on the right.
• Gender non-specific uses, where a pronoun refers to a non-specific person or a person whose gender is not specified: English usage and acceptance varies (and has varied) regarding generic he and singular they, among others.
  • A closely related usage is the singular they to refer to a person whose gender is specified as non-binary, genderqueer, or other, which has gained popularity in LGBTQ+ culture in particular.
• Vernacular usage of «yo» as a gender neutral pronoun has also been recorded among school students in Baltimore.^[12][13]
• Preferred gender pronoun selected to reflect gender identity
• Dummy pronouns (expletive pronouns), used to satisfy a grammatical requirement for a noun or pronoun, but contributing nothing to its meaning: It is raining.
• Royal we, used to refer to a single person who is a monarch: We are not amused.
• Nosism: The use of the pronoun we to refer to oneself.
• Resumptive pronouns, «intrusive» personal pronouns found (for example) in some relative clauses where a gap (trace) might be expected: This is the girl that I don’t know what she said.

See also[edit]

[edit]

In English[edit]

• Old English pronouns

In other languages[edit]

Notes[edit]

References[edit]

Further reading[edit]

External links[edit]

• English pronouns exercises, by Jennifer Frost
• «Pronoun» . New International Encyclopedia. 1905.

What is a pronoun? Pronoun definition. Learn different types of pronouns in English with pronoun examples, useful grammar rules and ESL infographics.

Pronoun Definition: Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it less repetitive and less awkward.

Some of the most common Pronouns are – he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use: Personal Pronouns, Demonstrative Pronouns, Interrogative Pronouns, Relative Pronouns, Indefinite Pronouns, Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns, Reciprocal Pronoun.

Types of Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

What is a personal pronoun?

Personal pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate the different genders, numbers, case, and persons speaking.

We can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on:

Gender:

Pronoun examples: He, His, Him, Her, Hers, She, Them, etc.

• He went to the market.
• She is doing the laundry.
• It is important to them.
• …

Number:

Singular Pronouns – Where the pronoun is only referring to one specific noun.

• That book belongs to me.

Plural Pronouns – Where the pronoun is used to refer to a number of nouns.

• That is their book, not yours.

Cases:

Subjective Case: She is at work.

Objective Case: He will meet us later.

Possessive Case: That is our clubhouse.

Types of Pronouns – Personal Pronouns | Infographic

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Demonstrative Pronouns

What is a demonstrative pronoun?

Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far or near in distance or time. They are only four in number – This, That, These and Those.

Pronoun examples:

• That is a beautiful house.
• These were made by me.
• Everyone remembers those days.
• This is what he is charging?
• …

Types of Pronouns – Demonstrative Pronouns | Infographic

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Interrogative Pronouns

What is a interrogative pronoun?

Who, Whom, Which and What are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions about a person or object that we do not know about. Compounds of these words are made by attaching ‘-ever’ to the words to strengthen the emphasis on the word.

Pronoun examples:

• Which one would you like?
• What is your name?
• Who will be managing the buffet?
• Whom did you tell about this?
• Whoever could have done this?
• Whichever one will you choose?
• …

Interrogative Pronouns | Infographic

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Relative Pronouns

What is a relative pronoun?

Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause using the pronouns – Who, Whom, Whose, Which and That.

Pronoun examples:

• She will choose the colour which looks good on everyone.
• She is complaining to whoever she comes across nowadays.
• There is a car in the parking lot that someone has painted a bright pink.
• She needs to know by tomorrow who will be accompanying her on the trip.
• Is there anyone here whose mobile phone has a signal?
• …

Relative Pronouns | Infographic

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Indefinite Pronouns

What is an indefinite pronoun?

Indefinite pronouns are used to show unspecified objects or people, whether in plural or in singular. They are used to indicate the entire noun or some of the noun or none of the noun.

Some common indefinite nouns are – anyone, someone, none, everything, many, few, etc. For examples:

• If anyone has seen my notebook please return it to me.
• A few of the members were not satisfied with the service.
• Nobody was answering when I called them last.
• …

Indefinite Pronouns | Infographic

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Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns are those which are used to indicate a noun which has been used in an earlier part of the same sentence. These pronouns are – Myself, Themselves, Yourself, Ourselves, Herself, Himself and Itself.

• Rosa was going to take it to the shop but ended up fixing it herself one afternoon.

Here, we can see that herself is being used to refer to ‘Rosa’ again at the end of the sentence.

• He prefers to be by himself after a game.

Here, himself is used to refer to ‘him’.

• Apart from ordering in, they cooked a few snack themselves.

Here themselves is used to show that ‘they’ cooked something.

• The horse hurt itself while trying to escape.

Since itself is a gender neutral pronoun, it is used to show the nouns that have no definite gender. E.g. : material things or ideas, etc.; or whose gender is unknown. E.g. : animals.

These same words are also called Intensive Pronouns, which are used to lay emphasis on the pronoun that comes before them in the sentence.

• They themselves knew that the prank was in bad taste.

Here, the pronoun themselves is used to emphasise ‘they’.

• Avoid reporting things that you yourself haven’t witnessed. 

Here yourself is used to emphasise the pronoun ‘you’.

Reciprocal Pronoun

There are just two Reciprocal Pronouns: Each other and One another. They are used when two or more nouns are doing or being the same to one another. Both of these pronouns are plural in nature as they can only be used in situations where there is more than one noun.

• Jamie and Jack always sit beside each other in break.

Here, the reciprocation is between the children as they both sit together.

• They haven’t seen one another since last year.

Here, neither of the two parties has seen each other in some time.

• The trees seem to reach towards each other in a strong wind.

Here, we have an unspecified amount of trees bending towards the others in a strong wind.

Types of Pronouns Chart

Types of Pronouns Chart | Image

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Pronoun Exercises

Pronoun Exercise 1

Pronoun Exercise 2