Pronoun: Definition, Types and Examples

Pronoun: Definition, Types of Pronouns with Examples

Pronoun Definition:

A pronoun is word which is used in place of noun to avoid the repetition.

Pronoun: Definition, Types and Examples

Kinds of Pronoun:

  1. Personal Pronoun
  2. Demonstrative Pronoun
  3. Relative Pronoun
  4. Interrogative Pronoun
  5. Reflexive Pronoun
  6. Indefinite Pronoun
  7. Possessive Pronoun
  8. Reciprocal Pronouns

Personal Pronoun:

Personal Pronouns are those Pronouns which are used for people / person.

They include:

Subject Pronouns: “I”, “We”, “you”,” he”, “she”, “it”,” they”

Object Pronouns: “(me)”, “(us)”,”(you)”, “(him)”, “(her)”,”( it)”,”(them)”

Possessive Pronouns: “my”, “mine”, “our”, “ours”, “your”, “yours”, “his”, “her”, “hers”, “its”, “their”, “theirs”

The order of Personal Pronouns depends on whether the sentence describes a good or bad deed:

For a good deed, the order is:

“(You)”, “(he)” and “(I)” are helping the needy and poor people.

  1. You, he and I are right.

For a bad deed, the order is:

  1. I, you and he beaten a dog.
  2. I, you and he are wrong.

So in summary, for positive/good deeds, the order is:

2nd person (you), 3rd person (he), 1st person (I)

This order of pronouns (you, he, I for good, I, you, he for bad) is used to show the relative importance or emphasis placed on each person in relation to the deed. However, this specific pronoun order is not a universal rule and may vary based on context and language.

Demonstrative Pronoun:

Demonstrative pronouns are a crucial part of English grammar used to point to something based on its distance from the speaker. Demonstrative pronouns include "this," "that," "these," and "those" .Demonstrative Pronoun points to some noun going before and is used instead of it i.e.

For Example: This, That, These, Those

The Demonstrative Pronouns "this", "that", "these", and "those" are used to point out specific people, things, places or ideas. 

Singular vs Plural

"These" and "those" are plural used to refer to more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

Examples

  1. "This book is interesting." (singular, close)
  2. "That house is beautiful." (singular, far)
  3. "These apples are ripe." (plural, close)
  4. "Those mountains are majestic." (plural, far)

Sentence Structure

Demonstrative Pronouns can be used as:

1. Adjectives: "This book is mine."

2. Pronouns: "That is my favorite."

When used as pronouns, they replace a noun and are followed by a verb.

Exceptions

 "This" can also be used to refer to something that will happen in the near future, like "This weekend, we're going on a picnic."

"That" can be used to refer to something mentioned earlier in the conversation or text, like "I saw a movie last night. That was a great film."

Remember, the choice between "this / these" and "that / those" depends on the proximity and number of the object being referred to.

Relative Pronoun:

Relative Pronoun refers to some noun going before and also joins to sentences together.

For Example:  Who, Which, That, Whose, Whom

Interrogative Pronoun:

Interrogative Pronouns are Pronouns used to ask questions. These Interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and whose are used.

Interrogative pronouns can be used in both direct questions, which end in a question mark (e.g. "What is your favorite color?

Some key points about interrogative pronouns:

What and Which are used to ask questions about people or objects.

Who and Whom are used to ask questions about people only.

Whose is used to ask questions about possession, relating to either people or objects.

Reflexive Pronoun:

Reflexive pronouns are that pronouns that refer back to the subject of the sentence, clause, or phrase in which they appear.

The main English reflexive pronouns are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

For example:

  1. "I bought myself a new book."                                         
  2. "She made herself a cup of tea."
  3. "They enjoy spending time by themselves."

Key points about reflexive pronouns:

They are different from intensive pronouns, which are used for emphasis rather than to indicate the subject and object are the same.

Reflexive pronouns should not be used as the subject of a sentence, as this would be considered nonstandard usage.

Overall, reflexive pronouns are an important part of English grammar, helping to clarify when the subject and object of a sentence refer to the same person or thing.

Possessive Pronouns:

Possessive pronouns are pronouns that indicate ownership or possession.

The main English possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs.

Possessive pronouns can be used to replace a noun phrase to avoid repetition, such as "This book is mine" instead of "This book is my book".

Possessive pronouns have singular and plural forms, and must agree with the antecedent (the person or thing being possessed) in number and gender. They are different from possessive determiners like my, our, your, which appear before a noun instead of replacing it.

Some key points about using possessive pronouns correctly:

  1. Plural possessive pronouns include ours, yours, theirs
  2. Possessive pronouns can also be gender-neutral, like theirs
  3. Overall, possessive pronouns are an important part of English grammar for clearly indicating ownership and possession in a concise way. 

Read More Related Posts:

  1. Parts of Speech
  2. Noun: Definition, Types and Examples
  3. Pronoun: Definition, Types and Examples
  4. Adjective: Definition, Types and Examples
  5. Verb: Definition, Types and Examples
  6. Adverb: Definition, Types and Examples
  7. Preposition: Definition, Types and Examples
  8. Interjection: Definition, Types and Examples
  9. Conjunction: Definition, Types and Examples
  10. Article: Definition, Types and Examples

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