Pronoun

Prepared by: Aileen May anak Ridis Rinyod Rozianah Jabelin Nur Kamariah Ensimau bt Abdullah

What is a pronoun?
A pronoun can replace a noun (a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea) or another pronoun.

Usually pronouns refer to something that was already mentioned in previous sentence or understood by the listener or reader.
They are very useful words because when you use them, you do not need to repeat nouns all the time.

 You use pronouns like "he," "which," "none," and "you" to make your sentences less cumbersome and less repetitive.

Without pronouns
Alexander is my neighbour. Alexander says that Alexander likes to sleep.

With pronouns
Alexander is my neighbour. He says that he likes to sleep.

When a pronoun replaces a word (or a group of words), the word being replaced is called an antecedent. I wrote a letter to the president, who responded quickly. In that sentence, president is antecedent of the pronoun who. A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person, number, and gender.

Grammarians classify pronouns into several types:

Personal pronouns Intensive pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns

Reflexive pronouns

Types of pronouns

Interrogative pronouns

Relative pronouns Reciprocal pronouns

Indefinite pronouns

Pronouns
acting as Adjectives

Demonstrative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns

Indefinite pronouns
Remember that pronouns are used alone and adjectives have nouns following them

Personal Pronoun

 A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and changes its form to indicate person, number, gender, and case. Subjective Personal Pronouns

Objective Personal Pronouns

Possessive Personal Pronouns

Subjective Personal Pronouns

indicate that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the sentence. "I," "you," "she," "he," "it," "we," "you," "they." Examples: i) I was glad to find the bus pass in the bottom of the green knapsack. ii) You are surely the strangest child I have ever met. iii) When she was a young woman, she earned her living as a coal miner. iv) After many years, they returned to their homeland. v) We will meet at the library at 3:30 p.m. vi) It is on the counter.

Objective Personal Pronouns

indicate that the pronoun is acting as an object of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase. Examples: "me, "you, i) After reading the pamphlet, Judy threw it into the garbage can. "it" : the direct object of the verb "threw.

"her,"him,
"it," "us," "you," and "them."

ii) Deborah and Roberta will meet us at the newest caf in the market. "us" : the direct object of the compound verb "will meet."

 Examples iii) Give the list to me. "me: the object of the preposition "to. iv) Christopher was surprised to see her at the drag races. "her" : the object of the infinitive phrase "to see."

Possessive Personal Pronouns

the pronoun is acting as a marker of possession and defines who owns a particular object or person. The possessive personal pronouns are "mine," "yours," "hers," "his," "its," "ours," and "theirs." Note that possessive personal pronouns are very similar to possessive adjectives like "my," "her," and "their."

Examples
i) The smallest gift is mine. "mine" functions as a subject complement. ii) His is on the kitchen counter. "his" acts as the subject of the sentence. iv) Ours is the green one on the corner. "ours" function as the subject of the sentence.

ii) This is yours. "yours" functions as a subject complement.

Demonstrative Pronoun
A demonstrative pronoun points to and identifies a noun or a pronoun.

"This" and "these" refer to things that are nearby either in space or in time That" and "those" refer to things that are farther away in space or time. "This" and "that" are used to refer to singular nouns or noun phrases.

These" and "those" are used to refer to plural nouns and noun phrases.

Note that the demonstrative pronouns are identical to demonstrative adjectives, though, obviously, you use them differently.

It is also important to note that "that" can also be used as a relative pronoun.

Examples:
i) This must not continue. "this" is used as the subject of the compound verb "must not continue. ii) This is puny; that is the tree I want. "this" is used as subject and refers to something close to the speaker. "that" is also a subject but refers to something farther away from the speaker. iii)Three customers wanted these. Here "these" is the direct object of the verb "wanted."