Pronouns
Although a pronoun often takes the place of a noun in a sentence, the pronoun is sometimes a
word that lacks specific meaning. Indefinite pronouns like anyone, something, somebody mean
only that unspecified people or things are referred to.
When pronouns replace other words, they carry the meanings of these replaced words. The
replaced words are called the antecedent of the pronoun. The antecedent of a pronoun is usually
a noun and its modifiers, if any, but sometimes the antecedent can be a whole sentence.
For example,
•
•
The dog lost its bone. ["Its" replaces "the dog".]
The old man, who had his car stolen, was in shock. ["Who" replaces "the
old man".]
Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns are distinguished by person, case, and number.
CASE
Number
Person
First person
(the person speaking or
writing)
!
C..
4
g
ai
Second person (the person
addressed)
*
Third person Masculine
(the person,
place, or
thing spoken Feminine
or written
about)
Neutral
First person
(people speaking or
writing)
Second person
(people addressed)
Third person
(people, places, or things
spoken or written about)
Nominative
/Subject(ive)
Objective
I
me
you
you
he
him
she
her
it
it
we
us
you
you
they
them
* In the third person singular, pronouns are also distinguished by gender.
Pronoun Case
Case is a form change that denotes the relation of a noun or a pronoun to other words in the
sentence. In English, nouns have only one form change that could be called a case change -- the
apostrophe form (possessive case). (See Possessive Case in the section on Nouns.) Some
pronouns have three or four case forms. They are the personal pronouns and the two relative
pronouns who and whoever (see Relative Pronouns section below).
Nominative or Subjective Case
The pronoun forms I, we, you, it, he, she, they, who, whoever are in the nominative case. The
uses of the nominative case are the following:
1. Expressing a subject:
For example,
•
•
•
Jason and I are going to the pizza parlor. [Me* and Jason and Jason and me*
are not acceptable in the standard dialect.]
I don't know who stole the peach tree. [Who is the subject of stole.]
Give it to whoever comes. [Whoever is the subject of comes, not the object of
to. The object of to is the whole clause whoever comes.]
2. Expressing the subject repeated:
For example,
•
Three members of our club gave woodwind recitals -- Glynis, Paul, and I.
[The subject is repeated by Glynis, Paul, and I. This repeated structure is
called an appositive.]
3. Expressing the subject when the verb is deleted:
For example,
•
•
He is more articulate than she. [The verb 'is' after 'she' has been deleted
because it is understood, and to repeat it would be redundant.]
He plays as well as I. [The verb 'play' has been deleted. Many speakers find
this construction unduly self-conscious, so they add a word that takes the
place of a verb.] He plays as well as I do.
4. Coming after the verb 'be' (a complement position).
(Some educated speakers find the nominative case after 'be' so artificial that they will sometimes
prefer to use the objective form of the pronoun.)
For example,
•
•
•
It was they who found the dog. [OBJECTIVE: It was them who found the
dog.]
That must be she. [OBJECTIVE: That must be her.]
It is I.[OBJECTIVE: It is me.]
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Objective or Accusative
The pronoun forms me, us, her, him, them, whom, whomever are in the objective case. There is
no case distinction for you and it in the objective. The same is true, in English, for all nouns.
The uses of the objective case are the following:
1. Expressing the object of a verb, verbal, or preposition:
For example,
•
•
•
•
Shoving me before him, he forced me down the alley.
My brother came between Carlos and me. [Sometimes people will say
"between Carlos and I*" under the mistaken impression that polite people
always say 'I' rather than `me'.]
Whom were they talking about? ['Whom' is the object of the preposition
'about'. In writing, 'whom' must always be used in this context. In
speaking, 'who' is becoming acceptable: Who were they talking about?]
Luis saw him leaving the parking lot. [After verbs like see, hear, and
watch, the objective form of the pronoun or noun is used.]
2. Expressing the object repeated:
For example,
•
The police ticketed three members of our group, Garcia, McEwan, and
me.
3. Expressing the object when the verb is deleted:
For example,
•
Mr. Anderson did not recommend him as highly as me. [As he did me is
also possible here.]
4. Expressing the nominal before the infinitive:
For example,
•
We wanted him to suffer. A nominal is a word that is not a noun but
functions as one.]
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Possessive Pronouns
Person
Number
Noun modifiers
(determiners)
Independent possessives
(absolute possessive
pronouns)
my
mine
your
yours
his
his
her
hers
its
its (own)*
our
ours
your
yours
their
theirs
First person
(the person speaking or
writing)
Second person (the person
addressed)
Gender *
Third person Masculine
(the person,
place, or
thing spoken Feminine
or written
about)
Neutral
fl
0
4
g
Aq
• First person
(people speaking or
writing)
Second person
(people addressed)
Third person
(people, places, or things
spoken or written about)
* Practically in American English absolute possessive pronoun "its" is not used alone. Usually it
is used with the word "own".
Functions of Possessives
1. Possessives function as determiners before nouns.
The meanings usually conveyed by these possessive determiners are possession, connection, the
performer of an act, and the classification of a thing.
For example,
•
That is his car.
2. Possessives also determine gerunds that are used as nouns.
For example,
•
His leaving at dawn upset his father.
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3. Possessive pronouns are used before nouns that identify a part of the body.
For example,
•
I washed my hands and started eating.
Functions of Independent Possessives (Absolute Possessive Pronouns)
Independent possessives are nominals; that is, they function as subjects, objects, or complements
as nouns do. Independent possessive pronouns are not followed immediately by nouns.
For example,
•
He's a friend of Mother's and mine. [Mother's and mine are the objects of
the preposition of, and the pronoun 'mine' substitutes the word 'friend]
Relative Pronouns
When a sentence is embedded inside another sentence to function as a relative clause, a relative
pronoun replaces the repeated noun in order to make the new sentence grammatical.
For example,
•
•
Reference to ...
people
things
Magic Johnson, who has all the moves, could not be stopped.
The tools that he bought yesterday were specked with rust.
Objective Case
whom
Nominative Case
who
that
that
which
Sometimes the relative pronoun can be omitted altogether.
For example,
The tools he bought yesterday were specked with rust.
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Possessive Case
whose
----------
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
Person
Number
Possessive Pronouns
Reflexive/Intensive
Pronouns
my
myself
your
yourself
his
himself
her
herself
its
itself
our
ourselves
your
yourselves
their
themselves
First person
(the person speaking or
writing)
15
Lb
4
Second person (the person
addressed)
Gender *
Third person Masculine
(the person,
place, or
thing spoken
Feminine
or written
about)
Neutral
First person
(people speaking or
writing)
Second person
(people addressed)
Aq
Third person
(people, places, or things
spoken or written about)
Pronouns ending with 'self' or 'selves' (myself, ourselves, itself, etc.) have two functions.
1. To repeat the noun antecedent in order to emphasize and intensify the meaning
For example,
•
Mary herself was responsible.
2. To repeat the notin antecedent but in a different part of the sentence.
For example,
•
I hurt myself ['Myself' repeats 'I', but it functions as the object and the
antecedent 'I' functions as the subject.]
Note: 'Myself' should not be used in place of `me':
For example,
•
He is going to the hockey game with Michelle and myself' ['Me' should
be used.]
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Interrogative Pronouns
The interrogative pronouns 'who', 'whom', 'whose', 'which', 'what', are some of the words that
introduce questions.
•
Interrogative Pronoun
who, whom, and whose
Which
What
Indicates that the expected answer will be
a person
either persons or things
nonhuman
For example,
Answer: John
Answer: a suitcase
Answer: Justine
Who was the chairman?
What was he carrying?
Which girl was hurt?
Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns each other, one another reciprocal or mutual action or relationships. They
may be used when the plural subject and complement refer to the same persons or things, and
they are performing a reciprocal (mutual) act.
For example,
•
Adam and Mary love each other since childhood.
Though sometimes reciprocal pronouns are interchangeable, the common rule is the following:
we use each other when there are two nouns (noun groups) involved while one another is the
appropriate form to use when there are more than two nouns (noun groups).
For example,
•
•
My twins are exactly like each other.
Our office building is so small that we see one another every day.
Demonstrative Pronouns
The demonstrative pronouns this, these, that, those indicate nearness to or distance from the
speaker, literally or figuratively.
Distance from/to the speaker
Closer
Farther
Singular
this
that
Plural
these
those
=
• The antecedent of the pronoun is usually in another clause or sentence. Sometimes the reference
is too general for there to be a specific antecedent.
For example,
This is my father, Mr. Rodriguez, and those are my children, Juanita and
Arrnando. [The antecedent Mr. Rodriguez is literally closer to the speaker
than are his children.]
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•
•
Marcellus would climb trees at night. This disturbed his mother. [The
antecedent of this is the sentence about Marcellus' nocturnal treeclimbing.]
Be gentle to those who stay angry. [Those has no antecedent, in the
normal sense of the word. The reference is limited by the relative clause
that follows it.]
Indefinite Pronouns
The indefinite pronouns are so named because their, antecedents are usually vague or unknown.
These are such words as each, all, either, many, few, little, anyone, anybody, anything, someone,
somebody, something, everyone, everybody, everything, none, nobody, nothing whoever,
whatever, wherever, whichever, some, any. Some of them form the possessive case in the same
manner as nouns: anyone's, somebody else's.
Indefinite
Usage
Pronoun
1. Mainly used in affirmative sentences.
For example,
• He made some mistakes in his paper.
2. Often used in Wh/questions.
For example,
some
• Why don't you ask Mother for some more sweets?
3. Used in questions expressing a request or an invitation.
For example,
• We've got some tea. Will you have some, too?
4. Used in all types of sentences in the meaning of 'certain'.
For example,
• Some people like mustard, and some don't.
• Can you give me some idea of what your dog looked like?
1. Mainly used in interrogative sentences.
For example,
• Did he make any mistakes in his paper?
2. Used in all types of sentences in the meaning of 'every'.
any
For example,
• Any student knows it.
• You can come at any time.
3. Used in conditional clauses.
For example,
•
"Will you give me some honey?" — "With pleasure, if there is
any."
• "If you see any interesting picture there, tell me."
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