Pronouns
Pronoun
is a word that replaces a noun. Pronouns are used instead of nouns, e.g. ‘he’,
‘they’, ‘who’, ‘someone’ etc.
Kinds of Pronouns
Pronouns
can be classified into the following categories.
1. Personal pronouns
These
are:
First
person pronouns (I, me, mine, us, ours)
Second
person pronouns (you, yours)
Third
person pronouns (he, she, they, them, theirs, it, its, him, his, hers, her)
Examples: You
and I have come on time.
It is nine
o’clock.
She is shorter
than me.
Note: the forms ‘my’, ‘our’, ‘your’, ‘her’,
‘their’ are called possessive adjectives as they are used with nouns and do the
work of adjective.
Examples: This is my cellphone.
(possessive adjective)
The
cellphone is mine. (possessive pronoun)
2. Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used for pointing
out something, e.g. ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’, ‘those’.
Example:
This is my pen, that is yours.
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative
pronouns are used for asking questions, e.g. ‘what’, ‘which’, ‘how’, ‘who’,
‘whose’, ‘whome’.
Examples: What
do you like the most?
Whose is the
calculator?
3. Distributive Pronouns
Distributive pronouns denote persons or
things taken as single or in groups, e.g. ‘each’, ‘either’, ‘neither’.
Examples: Each
one of them is interested in this project.
Either of you can
try it.
4. Reflexive Pronouns
Reflective pronouns refer back to the subject
, e.g. ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘themselves’, ‘herself’, ‘ourselves’, ‘himself’.
Example:
Ayesha hurt herself while cutting the vegetables.
5. Relative pronouns
Relative
pronouns refer to the noun or pronoun mentioned before. They also join two
sentences together, e.g. ‘who’, ‘whom’, ‘which’, ‘whose’, and ‘what’.
Examples: I
don’t know the man who is knocking at the door.
They are not interested in the idea which
you presented in the meeting.
6. Indefinite pronouns
Pronouns like ‘someone’, ‘something’, ‘all’,
‘somebody’, ‘many’, etc which do not tell us exact number of and gender of the subject,
are known as indefinite pronouns.
Examples: Someone
took my pen without my permission.
All are welcome
to the party.
7. Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns indicate possession. They
are ‘mine’, ‘ours’, ‘yours’, ‘his’ ‘hers’, and ‘theirs’.
Examples:
This book is mine. Where is yours? That book is his.
8. Emphatic Pronouns
Emphatic
Pronouns are used for putting emphasis on the subject. Their form is the same
as reflexive pronouns, e.g. ‘myself’, ‘himself’, etc.
Example:
I myself completed this project.
Exercise-1 based on Pronouns
Fill
in the blanks with suitable pronouns
1. ______________
wishes to see me.
2. The student
___________finishes first will get the reward.
3. _____________
of you can enter the competition.
4. _____________
must be careful of one’s own reputation.
5. I cannot
bring _____________ to hurt his feelings.
6. The dog buried_________________
bone in the back yard.
7. Those children
are intelligent. ____________ will win the prize.
8. ________________
is better than what I bought yesterday.
9. _______________
of the children takes it in turns to look after their pet.
10. He gave
away___________________ he did not need.
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