CHAPTER-2

THE

PRONOUN
(1. Personal Pronoun, 2. Reflexive Pronoun, 3. Emphatic Pronoun, 4. Demonstrative
Pronoun, 5. Relative Pronoun, 6. Interrogative Pronoun, 7. Indefinite Pronoun, 8.
Distributive Pronoun)

Definition :
A pronoun is a word used instead of a common noun or a proper noun. The word pronoun
means for a noun and it called a nouns deput y.
"Pro" + "noun" typicall y means "in place, of, instead of" a noun or a noun phrase.
Pronouns, then, replace nouns (David met Joe; he [Joe] talked for an hour) and can also
refer back to nouns (David is absent, because he is ill).

CASE
Nominative Case
I

We

You

He

She

It

Me

Us

You

Him

Her

Them

They
Accusative Case

It
Instrumental Case
With me

By me

With you

By you

With him

By him

With her

By her

With it

By it

With us

By us

With you

By you

With them

By them

Dative Case
To me

To us

To you

To him

To her

To them

From me

From us

From you

From himFrom

From her

From them

To it
Ablative Case

From it
Genitive Case
My

Our

Your

His

Her

Their

It
Locative Case
in me

with me

in you

with you

in him

with him

in her

with her

in it

with it

in us

with us

in you

with you

in them

with them

What is a noun phrase?

A noun phrase includes a noun and all of its modiers. These modifiers include
determiners and adjectives
Noun Phrase + Verb

Pronoun + Verb

Tom eats
The little boy eats

He reads

The Noun Tom and boy is replaced by the Pronoun he

PRONOUN TAKES the place of a noun in a sentence when the noun repeated more than once.
e.g.
Incorrect

Call David. I must speak to David.

Correct

Call David. I must speak to him.

More Definition :
The noun represented by a pronoun is called its antecedent. The word ante means
"before," and cede means "come." So the literal meaning of antecedent is "comes
before." Usually, the antecedent comes before the pronoun in a sentence.
Pronouns ahve masculine and feminine gender, singular and plural forms and have nominative,
possessive and objectives cases

Pronouns are used as performers/subjects or as words which receive action.

e.g.
PERFORMER / SUBJECT PRONOUNS

PRONOUNS WHICH RECEIVE ACTION

me

we

you

you

them

he

his

she

her

it

it

they

him

who

whom

Types of Pronouns by Function

More Definition :
There are several diff erent types of pronouns, each type serving a
diff erent function in the sentence.
1. Subject Pronouns

Definition :
Pronouns that are found to the left of the main verb are called subject
pronouns because they tell us who or what the doer of the verb is, or
who or what is described by the verb.
Subject Pronouns
Singular

Plural

we

you

you

he

they

she
it
2. Object Pronouns

Definition :
Object pronouns are another type of pronoun. These are pronouns that
replace nouns or noun phrases in object position in the sentence. Object
position means that the noun or noun phrase receives the action of the
verb.
Phrase

Function

The boy reads

noun phrase in subject position

Boy reads

subject pronoun

The boy reads books

noun phrase in object position

1. The boy is the subject of the verb reads. The noun phrase The boy answers the question
Who reads?, a question that helps tell us who (or what) the subject of the verb is.
2. Since The boy is in subject position and refers to a single male person, the subject pronoun
she can replace The boy
3. Books is the object of the verb reads. The words books answers the question What does
the boy (or he) read?, a question that helps tell us what (or who) the object of the verb is.

Following is a list of the most common pronouns:

Singular

Plural

Both Singular and Plural

I, me

we, us

any

she, her

they

none

he, him

them

all

it

these

most

anyone

those

more

either

some

who

each

that

which

many a

both

what

nothing

ourselves

you

one

any

another

many

everything

few

mine

several

his, hers

others

this

that

PERSONAL PRONOUN
Definition :
Personal Pronouns which stand for the names of persons. They take the place of nouns
and are used as the subject of the verb in a sentence.
Personal pronouns have three persons such as : First person; Second Person; Third Person.

First Person (Masculine or Feminine)

Singular

Plural

We

My

Our

Mine

Ours

Me

Us

e.g.
I got a free pass.

My aim is high.

Rosy is the daughter of mine.

He called me yesterday.

He is my father.

We are busy now.

We love our country.

These books are ours.

Teachers like us

Our religion is English

Second Person (Masculine or Feminine)

e.g.
Singular

Plural

You

You

Your

Yours

thou, thy, thine, thee, ye are also Second Person. These are archaic and used in poetry or
when referring to God, the angels, etc.
e.g.
You are a good boy

You are a student

You are my boss

You did not offend

You are always lazy

I called you many times

You could have informed me

Where are you now?

Where is your house?

This watch is yours

This is your garden

Your team is very brilliant

Third Person (Masculine or Feminine)

e.g.
Singular

Examples

He

He is my brother

His

His name is Robert

Him

I gave him a pen

She

She is very beautiful

her

Her name is Rosy

hers

This house is hers

it

It is my pet dog

its

Its name is Simba

Plural

Examples

they

They are playing football

their

Their house is neat at Car street

theirs

This field is theirs

them

We can no call them loudly

Possessive Pronoun
Definition :

Possessive Pronoun stands for the possessive noun of the personal pronoun. These
pronouns are used to talk about things that belong to people. The words mine, yours, his,
hers, ours and theirs are possessive pronouns.
Singular Personal Pronoun

Possessive Pronoun

I, me

mine

you

yours

he, him

his

she her

hers

Plural Personal Pronoun

Possessive Pronoun

we, us

ours

you

yours

they, them

theirs

Different Between Possessive Adjective and Possessive Pronoun

Read the following sentences:
Possessive Adjective

Possessive Pronoun

This is my cellphone

This cellphone is mine.

This is your cellphone

That cellphone is yours.

This is her cellphone

This cellphone is hers.

This is his cellphone

That cellphone is his

This is our car

This car is ours

That is their car

That car is theirs

The dog lost its tail

(Its, as a possessive pronoun hardly ever occurs.)

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Definition :
Reflexive Pronouns, which are objects and which refer to the same persons as the
subjects of the verbs.
Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that end in self and selves. That means A class of pronouns
beginning with the form of personal pronouns and ending with -self / -selves.
e.g
Singular Personal Pronoun

Reflexive Pronoun

I (subject pronoun)

myself

me (object pronoun)

myself

you (subject/object pronoun)

yourself

he (subject pronoun)

himself

him (object pronoun)

himself

she (subject pronoun)

herself

her (object pronoun)

herself

it

itself

Plural Personal Pronoun

Reflexive Pronoun

we (subject pronoun)

ourselves

us(object pronoun)

ourselves

you (subject/object pronoun)

yourselves

they (subject pronoun)

themselves

them (object pronoun)

themselves

Reexive pronouns typically occur later than the subject and verb in a clause or sentence
and are identical in reference to the subject

e.g
I washed myself
We organized the party all by ourselves
Be careful not to cut yourself with that knife
You have all enjoyed yourselves
The poor man lives all by himself in an old house
She herself cooked the dinner
They have proved themselves to be right

EMPHATIC PRONOUN
Definition :
Emphatic pronoun emphasizes the noun.
e.g
I myself completed the homework.
It means that the subject itself completed the homework without anyones help

Now look at the following sentences:I will do it myself

I myself saw him do it
We will see to it ourselves
You yourself can best explain
They themselves admitted their guilt
It will be seen that here Compound Personal Pronouns are used for the sake of emphasis, and
are therefore called Emphatic Pronouns

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN
Definition :

Demonstrative Pronouns, which point out things, as this, these, that and those. Because
they convey a high degree of specificit y and distinctiveness in pointing out
("demonstrating") a referent; They are showing words.
They can be either a subject or an object in a sentence. We know which one to use by looking
at the number of and distance of the thing(s) we are referring to. Use this and these when
you are talking about things near you. Use that and those when you are talking about things
farther away.
Distance

Singular

Plural

Nearby

this

these

Far away

that

those

In writing, the demonstrative pronouns may take antecedents, but there is no fixed rule. The
pronoun may point forward.
e.g
This is my answer
That was too much for me
These are good mangoes
Hand me those candles, please
We should not be confused with Demonstrative pronouns and Demonstrative adjectives.
PRONOUN

This is my house

Are those the flowers you picked ?

ADJECTIVE

This house is mine

Did you pick those flowers?

RELATIVE PRONOUN
Definition :
Reltive Pronouns, which relate to some noun going before in the sentence as who, whose,
whom, which, what, that.
A relative pronoun does the work of a conjunction as well as a pronoun.
e.g
Who / whome / whose

normally referring to people

Which / what / that

referring to things

e.g
Sentences

Relative Pronoun

I know the man. The man lives here.

I know the man who lives here.

Relative Pronoun
The man who stole the car has been caught
The man whom you accused is not guilt
The woman whose house I rented is my cous
The house which you see was built long ago
I mean what I say
Take anything that you like
Here the girl whom you wanted to meet
The happy laughter that made me smile came from the three-year-old who lives next door
The Relative Pronoun who has different forms for Accusative and Genitive
e.g
who works hard.
whom / who all praise
This is the boy / girl

whose exercise is done well

who works hard.
whom / who all praise

These are the boys / girls

whose exercises are done well

It will be noticed that the forms are the same for singular and plural, masculine and feminine.

Rules 1 : In informal usage, a relative pronoun is optional when it is followed by a subject;

its required in formal usage.
e.g
Formal

This is the gift that I got last New Year

Informal

This is the gift I got last New Year

Rules 2 : When the relative pronoun is not followed by a subject, it must be included.
e.g
Hussy is a boy who loves to play video games

Rules 3 : When the relative pronoun is preceded by a comma, it must be included.

e.g
Brian, who likes to raise chickens, is an FFA member.

Rules 4 : Whose is the possessive relative pronoun; it cannot be omitted.

e.g
John is a teenager whose goal is to get into a good college.

INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN
Definition :
Interrogative Pronouns, which ask questions, as, who, which, what, whom, whose.
They are here used for asking questions, and are, therefore, called Interrogative Pronouns.
e.g
Who built that house?
Which is your house?
Whose is this book?
Which do you prefer, tea or coffee?
Which of the boys saw him?

What is the matter?

Who is he talking to?
Who are those people?
Whom do you want?
Whose is this umbrella?
Whom are you playing with?

Note :
Who can be used as the object of a verb as well as the subject.
Whom is used only as the object.
If we put the preposition before the interrogative pronoun, you must use

whom.

The Interrogative Pronouns are used in asking indirect questions.

e.g
I asked who was speaking.
Ask what he wants.
Say which you would like best.
I want to know who told you that story.

INDEFINITE PRONOUN
Definition :
Indefinite Pronouns, which refer to persons or things in a general or indefinite wa y.
Pronoun that typically indicates an unspecied, even generic, person or thing. A pronoun or
determiner with indenite meaning; a quantier. The indenite pronouns and determiners are
:
e.g
Pronouns
anybody

everybody

nobody

somebody

anyone

everyone

no one

someone

anything

everything

nothing

something

every

no

Determiners
alan

Both Pronouns and Determiners

any

either

fewest

least

much

some

all

enough

half

many

neither

both

(a) few

(a) little

more

one

each

fewer

less

most

several
Indefinite pronouns are div ided into two categories :

(i) The Antecedent-Bearing Indefinite Pronoun . (ii) The Antecedentless Indefinite Pronouns.
Antecedent-Bearing Indefinite Pronoun
one
e.g: I like this house better than the other one .
Antecedent-Bearing Indefinite Pronoun
body
how
one
thing
some

where

body
how
one
thing
any

where

Indefinite Pronouns are listed here in three groups .

SINGULAR INDECATORS
anybody

anyone

anything

everybody

everyone

everything

somebody

someone

something

another

each

either

neither

nobody

nothing

none

one

The Plural Indicators are used with things that can be counted.
e.g.: All of the chairs are broken.
PLURAL INDECATORS
all

any

both

enough

few

more

none

plenty

several

some
The Portion Indicators are singular, and are used with things that cannot be counted.
e.g.: All of the water is pure.
PORTION INDECATORS

all

any

enough

less

little

more

much

plenty

none

some
Common e.g.
All are quite safe
Many were rescused from the flood
Some are born great
Few escaped unhurt
None of them was clever
I did not see any of them
Do good to others
One should love ones neighbour
Much can be said on both sides
Little was known to him about the accident
Several of them stood up
Anybody can do this work
Everyone of you must attend the meeting
Everybody knows him very well
Nothing more was known about him
No one came to receive him

Someone should do this work

Somebody has stolen my watch
Something is better than nothing

DISTRIBUTIVE PRONOUN
Definition :
Distributive Pronouns, which refer to persons or things taken one at a time, as each,
either, neither. For this reason the y are alwa ys singular and as such followed by the verb
in the singular.
An equal relationship with one another.
e.g
Each

Each of these girls deserved a reward

Either

We may take either of these two books

Neither

Neither of them writes well