What is a pronoun?

Hello! 

Before we dive into the world of pronouns, I hope you have had a chance to check out the blog on nouns, as knowledge about nouns will make the ‘pronoun-specific’ journey much smoother and easier.

If not, no need to worry; you can check out the blog on nouns (insert direct link). For those already familiar with nouns, get ready to gain greater control over your language usage.

Learn About: What are Nouns? Types, Examples, and Definitions of Nouns

Before we discuss the basics, let us read a story.

Meet Ragini and Abhishek. Ragini is a talented artist, and Ragini spends hours in her cozy room, creating beautiful paintings. Abhishek is an avid reader. One day, Ragini invited Abhishek to her art studio to see her latest masterpiece. Abhishek was amazed by Ragini’s creativity and asked if he could borrow one of Ragini’s paintings to decorate his reading nook. Ragini happily agreed, and now, whenever Abhishek looks at the painting, Abhishek is reminded of his and Ragini’s friendship.

Now, read this:

Meet Ragini and Abhishek. She is a talented artist who spends hours in her cozy room, creating beautiful paintings and he is an avid reader. One day, Ragini invited Abhishek to her art studio to see her latest masterpiece. He was amazed by her creativity and asked if he could borrow one of her paintings to decorate his reading nook. Ragini happily agreed, and now, whenever he looks at the painting, he is reminded of their friendship.

You can decide for yourself which one is easier to read.

The second one, right?

This is the magic of pronouns.

Definition of Pronoun

Pronouns are words that replace nouns or noun phrases, eliminating the need for repetition. Pronouns serve as a substitute for nouns, not only allowing for more efficient communication but also adding fluency and clarity to our communication. They can refer to people, objects, places, or ideas, making them versatile tools in our everyday conversations and written texts.

Trust me; it is indeed as simple as it sounds.

Let’s try to understand the definition with the help of a few examples:

Examples of Pronouns:

1. Raghav is sick. He will not come to the party.
2. Mehak-e-Punjab is being closed. It was a really good restaurant. 
3. Ravi and Sara went to the park, and they enjoyed a picnic under the shade of a tree.
4. The cat groomed itself with meticulous care.
5. He told her that it was his idea, but they both knew the truth.

I hope, these examples gave you some clarity.

In this blog, we will read about the various types of pronouns, providing detailed definitions and examples to help you understand this topic efficiently.

10 Types of Pronouns

Some pronouns that we are he, him, she, her, it, they and many more. They can function as subjects, objects, possessives, or even modifiers, adapting to their grammatical context. By exploring the various types of pronouns, we can better understand their roles and convey ideas effectively.

Let us briefly discuss the different types of pronouns along with their examples for clarity:

1. Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns– The name says it all. Personal pronouns are the most commonly used pronouns and they refer to specific people or things. They can be used as the subjects of sentences or clauses and as objects. It depends on two things- 

1. whether we are talking about the speaker(first person), the one being spoken to(second person) or individual or objects outside the conversation(third person)
2. whether the subject/object is singular or plural

List of common personal pronouns are- I, me, my, you, he, she, it, him, her, his, they, them we, us.

Yes, it is time to see some examples

Examples of Personal Pronouns:

1. I am going to school with her
2. Radhika called me to say that she is coming with me
3. Can you pass me my pencil?
4. My cousins told me that they went to the shop yesterday
5. Their keys are not with them

Here, 

I, she, you, they, there are subject pronouns.

Her, me, my, them are object pronouns.

2. Possessive Pronouns:

Possessive Pronouns – These pronouns help us to talk about ownership or possession. The usage of these pronouns also depends what are we referring to that is first/second/third person. Some common possessive pronouns are- mine, my, your, yours, his, hers, its, their, theirs.

Let’s see some examples

Examples of Possessive Pronouns:

1. Is this bag yours?
2. The keys are mine.
3. Their cat lost its way.
4. The bag is hers.
5. Is this your cat?

3. Demonstrative Pronouns:

Demonstrative Pronouns – These pronouns are used to point directly to people, objects or ideas and helps us in determining the distance of it from the speaker which can be physical or metaphorical.  These pronouns include this, that, these and those. The usage depends on the grammatical number that is singular or plural and the distance of the noun from the speaker.

It sounds confusing, isn’t it?

Let’s understand this with the help of some examples.

Examples of Demonstrative Pronouns:

1. This is my house.
2. That house was mine.
3. These items are for sale.
4. Those people will come back.
5. Look at that flower; it is beautiful.

This(singular), these(plural) are referring to objects that are nearby or in the present. Similarly, that(singular) and those(plural) refer to objects that are further away.

4. Reflexive Pronouns:

Reflexive Pronouns – As the name suggests, these pronouns are used as the object of the verb which is same as the subject. It explains that the action reflects back on the subject.  Some common reflexive pronouns are- myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves.

You will get clarity when we look at the examples.

Examples of Reflexive Pronouns:

1. I challenged myself to complete the chapter.
2. They made a fool of themselves.
3. She prepared herself for the performance.
4. You should not praise yourself all the time.
5. We hurt ourselves while jumping.

Myself, herself, yourself are singular reflexive pronouns whereas, ourselves and themselves are plural reflexive pronouns.

5. Intensive Pronouns:

Intensive Pronouns – Again, as the name suggests, intensive pronouns helps to add intensity to the sentence. These nouns are used to emphasize the noun or pronoun. Some examples are myself, yourself, himself, herself, etc.

Now, you might say that these are same pronouns as mentioned in reflexive pronouns. 

Yes, they are but the purpose of their usage is different. For example,

Examples of Intensive Pronouns:

1. I myself finished cooking in an hour V/S I finished cooking in an hour
2. She herself did it V/S She did it
3. We ourselves completed all the work V/S We completed all the work
4. They themselves went to the organization V/S They went to the organization

In these examples, we are using intensive pronouns to emphasize the subject.

6. Relative Pronouns:

Relative Pronouns – This type of pronouns is used to relate one part of sentence with other part of the sentence. They help in combining ideas and adding important details. IT also helps to combine the dependent clause with independent clause. Common relative pronouns include- which, that, who, whom, whose.

Examples of Relative Pronouns :

1.  The man who is standing there is a doctor
2. I met my cousin after many days, with whom I share many interests.
3. The girl whose bag got lost is standing there. 
4. The dog, which is black, belongs to my neighbor.
5. The book that I am reading is really good.

7. Interrogative Pronouns:

Interrogative Pronouns – We all love asking questions. Interrogative Pronouns helps us to do just that. It helps us to ask questions for clarity and effective communication. It helps us to frame questions in such a way that we like get the specific information we want.

Some common Interrogative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, what, why and where.

Examples of Interrogative Pronouns:

1. Why are you late?
2. Where are you going?
3. What are your contact details?
4. Whose pencil is this?
5. Who are those people?

8. Indefinite Pronouns:

Indefinite Pronouns – Indefinite pronouns are essential for referring to people or things in a nonspecific manner. They assist in articulating thoughts about quantities or conveying general statements without specifying the exact subject. It is used to make communication easy when the subject or object is not specific enough. 

Common indefinite pronouns include everyone, someone, anything, nothing.

Let us try to understand its relevancy with the help of some examples:

Examples of Indefinite Pronouns:

1. Somebody left their wallet on the bench.
2. Nobody knew the answers.
3. All are welcome to attend the event.
4. Something is wrong.
5. Anybody can attend the party.

9. Reciprocal Pronouns:

 Reciprocal Pronouns – Pronouns which help us to refer to a relationship between two or more subjects or objects are called reciprocal pronouns.

Examples of reciprocal pronouns include “one another” and “each other”

Let us try to use these examples in a sentence.

Examples of  Reciprocal Pronouns:

1. They used to tell each other everything.
2. The members congratulated one another on their success.
3. We supported each other.
4. The students helped one another to solve the problem.

10. Distributive Pronouns-

Distributive Pronouns– What do we do when we need to refer to individuals in a group?

We use distributive pronouns for that.
“Each” and “every” are two main distributive pronouns.

Examples of  Distributive Pronouns:

1. Each student must plant trees.
2. Every student is the class received a certificate
3. We hold meetings every Monday
4. They received a certificate, each signed by the teacher.

Conclusion:

I agree that there are many types of pronouns and it can be a bit confusing at first. However, if you try to understand them in detail, you will see that they play an imperative role in language, enabling us to communicate more efficiently and effectively. By understanding their definitions, usage, and examples, you can enhance your language skills and communicate with more accuracy and fluency. Once you have learnt them well, you can start using them in your sentences when you practice English. Practicing English is FREE on the AceFluency App where you get 20 minutes of calling talk time free every day to connect 1:1 with co-learners.

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