Different Types of Pronouns

Different Types of Pronoun!

DEFINITION OF PRONOUN

A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun. I, we, you, he, she, it, they, are pronouns.

Example:

• Ali is a good boy because Ali does his work in time. (Not suitable)
• Ali is a good boy because he does his work in time. (Suitable)

Note: in the second sentence we have used a pronoun (he) in place of a noun (Ali) which make our sentence look professional.

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns are pronouns that refer to a specific person or thing in a sentence and can be divided into two groups: nominative and objective.

1. Nominative personal pronouns can act as the subject of a sentence (I, you, he, she, it, we, they).

For example: I went to the store after work. You should not go to class if you are sick.

2. Objective Personal pronouns, on the other hand, act as objects of a sentence (me, you, him, her, it, us, them).

For example:

1. Alex came out with Joe and me.

2. Melissa really likes him.

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns are pronouns that show ownership; in other words, something belongs to someone else (my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs). More different types of pronoun includes:-

For example:

1. That book is mine .

2. Their shoes are under the bed.

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns are pronouns that are used to show that the subject of the sentence is receiving the action of the verb (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves).

For example:

1. She can handle the situation herself.

2. We can write the paper ourselves.

Intensive Pronouns

Intensive Pronouns are pronouns that are used only to place emphasis on the subject and are not essential to the meaning of the sentence.

Note: These pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but they act differently in the sentence and are always placed next to the subject that they are emphasizing (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves).

For example: You yourself must go to the police station. *Here, the pronoun “yourself” is used only to place emphasis on the subject “you” and does not change the meaning of the sentence.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns are pronouns that are used to identify nouns and answer the question “which one?” (this, that, these, those)

For example: These are the books that John was talking about. *Here, the pronoun “these” identifies which books John was talking about

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are pronouns that are used only in reference to a question (who, what, which, whom, whose).

For example:

1. Which one of these pens is yours?

2. Who is that girl?

Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns are pronouns that are used to connect clarifying information to nouns or other pronouns within a sentence (who, that, which, whom, whose, whoever, whichever, whomever, whatever).

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns are pronouns that are used in reference to a person or thing that is not specific or not known. Indefinite pronouns are also used to identify a general group of people or things (i.e. everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, somebody, most, all, each every, some, none, one, few, both, many, several).

For example:

1. Everybody has to take the Writing Proficiency Examination in order to graduate.

2. All of the seniors were excited for graduation.

More different types of pronoun includes:-

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal Pronouns are pronouns that are used to refer to a mutual set of people (each other, each other’s, one another, one another’s).

For example:

1. We need to help one another survive.

2. They had remembered each other’s phone numbers.

Download this lesson of different types of pronoun from EngDic.