A word (one of the traditional parts of speech) that takes the place of a noun,noun phrase, or noun clause, A pronoun can function as a subject, object, or complement in a sentence. Unlike nouns, pronouns rarely allow modification.
There are different classes of pronouns:
1. Demonstrative Pronoun
A determiner that points to a particular noun or to the noun it replaces.
There are four demonstratives in English: the “near” demonstratives this and these, and the “far” demonstratives that and those.A demonstrative pronoun distinguishes its antecedent from similar things. When a demonstrative precedes a noun, it is sometimes called a demonstrative adjective.
Examples: Always do right. This will gratify some people and astonish the rest, Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them . . . well, I have others.
Indefinite Pronoun
A pronoun that refers to an unspecified person or thing.
Indefinite pronouns include quantifiers (some, any, enough, several, many, much); universals (all, both, every, each); and partitives (any, anyone, anybody, either, neither, no, nobody, some, someone). Many of the indefinite pronouns can function as determiners.
Examples: For many are called, but few are chosen, You can fool all the people some of the time; you can fool some of the people all the time; but you can’t fool all the people all the time.
Related Post: Part of Speech (Noun)
Interrogative Pronouns
A term in traditional grammar for a pronoun that introduces a question.
In English, who, whom, whose, which, and what commonly function as interrogative pronouns. (When immediately followed by a noun,whose, which, and what function as determiners.)
Examples: Who are you?, I got a belt on that’s holding up my pants, and the pants have belt loops that hold up the belt. What is going on here? Who is the real hero?
Intensive Pronouns
A pronoun ending in -self or -selves that serves to emphasize its antecedent.
Intensive pronouns often appear as appositives after nouns or other pronouns.Intensive pronouns have the same forms as reflexive pronouns. Unlike reflexive pronouns, intensive pronouns are not essential to the basic meaning of a sentence.
Examples: I have never yet failed to meet a deadline I myself have set up, He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was the lunatic.
Personal Pronouns
A pronoun that refers to a particular person, group, or thing. Like all pronouns, personal pronouns can take the place of nouns and noun phrases.
These are the personal pronouns in English:
- First-person singular: I(subject); me (object)
- First-person plural: we (subject); us (object)
- Second-person singular and plural: you (subject and object)
- Third-person singular: he, she, it (subject); him, her, it (object)
- Third-person plural: they (subject); them (object)
Examples: Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much, From the moment I picked up your book until I laid it down, I was convulsed with laughter. Some day I intend reading it.
Possessive Pronouns
A pronoun that can take the place of a noun phrase to show ownership (as in “This phone is mine“).
The weak possessives (also called possessive determiners) function as adjectives in front of nouns. The weak possessives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.
In contrast, the strong (or absolute) possessive pronouns stand on their own: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. A possessive pronoun never takes an apostrophe.
Examples: We were both work-study kids with University jobs. Hers was in the library; mine was in the cafeteria, Mine is a long and sad tale.
Reciprocal Pronouns
A pronoun that expresses mutual action or relationship. In English the reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.
Examples: Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other, Men often hate each other because they fear each other; they fear each otherbecause they don’t know each other; they don’t know each other because they can not communicate; they can not communicate because they are separated.
Reflexive Pronouns
A pronoun ending in -self or -selves that’s used as an object to refer to a previously named noun or pronoun in a sentence. Reflexive pronouns usually follow verbs or prepositions.
Reflexive pronouns have the same forms as intensive pronouns. Unlike intensive pronouns, reflexive pronouns are essential to the meaning of a sentence.
Examples: Better to write for yourself and have no public, than to write for the public and have no self, Take everything you like seriously, except yourselves.
Relative Pronouns
A pronoun that introduces an adjective clause (also called a relative clause).
The standard relative pronouns in English are which, that, who, whom, and whose. Who and whom refer only to people. Which refers to things, qualities, and ideas–never to people. That and whose refer to people, things, qualities, and ideas.
Examples: Spaghetti at her table, which was offered at least three times a week, was a mysterious red, white, and brown concoction, One of the smaller girls did a kind of puppet dance while her fellow clowns laughed at her. But the tall one, who was almost a woman, said something very quietly, which I couldn’t hear.
Source: About.com
