Nishant loves to work. Nishant is
efficient because Nishant is hardworking. Nishant’s work is excellent.
Nishant loves to work. He is
efficient because he is hardworking. His work
is excellent.
The first set of sentences sounds repetitive. When we speak, we do not want to keep repeating a noun (name of a person or thing) every time we have to refer to it.
We use a pronoun instead of
the noun.
|
kinds
of pronouns |
||
|
pronoun
function
examples |
||
|
personal
pronouns |
refer
to people |
I,
me, they |
|
reflexive and emphatic pronouns |
reflect to the personal pronoun or
noun |
myself,
themselves |
|
possessive
pronouns |
show
possession |
mine,
yours |
|
relative
pronouns |
relating to an antecedent (the
noun that comes before) |
who,
which |
|
interrogative
pronouns |
are
pronouns which are question words |
what,
who |
|
indefinite and distributive
pronouns |
refer
to things in general |
many,
few, each, either |
|
demonstrative
pronouns |
point
out which |
this,
that, these, those |
Personal
Pronouns
We use personal pronouns in place of
the person or people that we are talking about.
We use the first person pronoun I and we to
speak of ourselves.
I like ice cream.
We eat ice cream frequently.
The second person pronoun you is
used to address the person we are speaking to.
You must tell me
what you think.
The third person pronouns he, she, it and they are
used when we talk of anybody or anything else.
He looks happy.
Take this knife and put it in
the kitchen.
The various personal pronouns and their
uses are given below.
|
number |
person |
gender |
personal
pronouns subject
object |
|
|
singular |
first |
male/female |
I |
me |
|
second |
male/female |
you |
you |
|
|
third |
male |
he |
him |
|
|
|
female |
she |
her |
|
|
|
neuter |
it |
it |
|
|
plural |
first |
male/female |
we |
us |
|
second |
male/female |
you |
you |
|
|
third |
male/female/neuter |
they |
them |
|
A pronoun can be the subject as well as
the object of a verb.
I need rest. (I is
the subject of the verb need)
The doctor told me to
rest. (me is the object of the verb told)
For a single person, sometimes we don’t know whether to use he or she, especially if we are speaking of a person in general. We can use:
If a student needs help, he or she should
see the coordinator. If a student needs help, he should see
the coordinator.
If a student needs help, they should see the coordinator.
We often use it to
introduce something or talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance.
This particular it is also termed the introductory it.
It is going to rain today.
It is important to behave
correctly.
It’s easier said than done.
Is it alright to book
a ticket for the 10 o’clock show?
Fill
in the blanks with personal pronouns.
1. Taran is a
good boy, do you like ?
2. and. always
study together.
3. Vishal
and Mohammed are brilliant students. have won many medals.
4. Tanya
loves music. Rima loves to dance. are famous.
5. When. is
cloudy rains.
6. should
speak the truth.
7. Our
pledge says that. Indians are brothers and sisters. This is to
promote tolerance amongst people.
8. Please
give your opinion on these topics.
9. I
like this pen. is better than yours.
10. This
book belongs to
Reο¬exive
and Emphatic Pronouns
Read these sentences:
I cut my hair myself.
We must learn to laugh
at ourselves.
In the first sentence, I performs
the action of cutting the hair and at the same time I receives
the action of the hair being cut.
In the second sentence, the doer of the
action is we, and at the same time we receives the
action of being laughed at.
Here myself and ourselves are
reflexive pronouns because the action is reflected to the subject.
Reflexive pronouns act as objects and
not subjects and usually show that the person who does the action of the verb
is also the person who receives the action.
When reflexive pronouns are used for
emphasis, they are called emphatic pronouns.
I myself cut my
hair.
They themselves suggested
this restaurant.
Here myself and themselves emphasize
the doer’s role in the action.
|
personal pronoun reflexive pronoun |
I |
you |
he |
she |
it |
we |
they |
|
myself |
yourself, yourselves (for plural) |
himself |
herself |
itself |
ourselves |
themselves |
Possessive Pronouns
When we want
to show possession, we use possessive pronouns.
These are my spectacles.
~ These spectacles are mine. Those are your slippers.
~ Those slippers are yours.
We see that the possessive pronouns have two forms each – my, mine; your, yours. The forms my, your, our, etc. are called possessive adjectives.
Possessive adjectives are used before nouns and do the work of an adjective.
|
personal pronoun possessive adjective possessive pronoun |
I |
you |
he |
she |
it |
we |
they |
|
my |
your |
his |
her |
its |
our |
their |
|
|
mine |
yours |
his |
hers |
its |
ours |
theirs |
Remember, never use the apostrophe in
possessive pronouns.
hers her’s theirs their’s
Be careful to use the words its and whose correctly.
its it’s (a
contraction of it is or it has)
whose who’s (a
contraction of who is or who has)
Relative Pronouns
A relative pronoun relates a
clause to a noun used earlier. The
clause is a subordinate clause and is usually introduced by the relative pronoun.
I like rasgulla. Rasgulla is a popular
sweet.
I like rasgulla, which is a popular sweet. (Which refers to
rasgulla.)
We are looking for a teacher. The
teacher should speak Marathi.
We are looking for a teacher who speaks
Marathi. (Who refers to the teacher.)
You gave me a gift. The gift was
beautiful. The gift that you gave me was beautiful. (That refers
to the gift.)
In these examples, the words which, who and that refer
to or relate to a noun that comes before, and are called relative pronouns. The
noun referred to is called the antecedent.
|
refers to
people
refers to things |
||
|
subject form |
who |
which, that |
|
object form |
whom |
|
|
possessive form |
whose |
|
Who, whose, whom, that and which are
relative pronouns.
Sometimes the relative pronouns are
left out because they are implied in the sentence.
The shop did not have the dress that I
wanted. The shop did not have the dress I wanted.
Interrogative Pronouns
The pronouns used to ask questions are
called interrogative pronouns.
Who is the
culprit? Which is your car? Whom should I
ask? What does he do? Whose is this bag?
Interrogative pronouns can also be used
to ask questions indirectly.
Ask him what he has
done.
I do not know who has
done this.
Interrogative pronouns also have
compound forms.
whoever, whichever,
whatever Whoever asked you that?
We will give the prize to whoever makes
the best project.
Whatever he did, does he deserve this?
Indeο¬nite Pronouns
Read these sentences:
One should do one’s best.
None of these shirts is
nice.
Many among the group do not
speak Hindi.
Somebody has taken my
pen.
The words in italics are pronouns that
stand in place of an undefined person or thing – they refer to persons or
things in general – and are hence called indefinite pronouns. Some examples of
indefinite pronouns are anybody, something, no
one, somebody, anyone, few, many, nobody,
etc.
Distributive Pronouns
Look at these sentences:
Thirteen children came for the party. I
gave each a chocolate.
Either of these shirts can
be bought for Nitin.
Neither is a very good
picture.
The words each, either and neither refer
to one thing at a time and are called distributive pronouns. Distributive
pronouns are always singular.
Each of these
girls has a book.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Look at these sentences:
This is the book I was
talking about.
That is the Red Fort.
The words this and that are
used to point out the things that they refer to. These words are called
demonstrative pronouns.
This and that are
singular demonstrative pronouns, and these and
those are plural
demonstrative pronouns.
This refers to something
nearer to the speaker.
That conveys a sense of
greater distance than this.
