A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that is used as a substitution for a Noun or Noun phrase, which is known as the Pronoun’s Antecedent. Pronouns are short words and can do everything that nouns can do and are one of the moat important word in a sentence. Common pronouns are he, she, it, I, you, we, they, him, her, me, us, them, this, that etc.
A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing. For example: ”Ritika drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon”. In this sentence the nouns could become pronouns like ‘She’ drinks a cup of ‘It’ every afternoon, or even she(Ritika) drinks it(a cup of coffee) every afternoon, where the it would substitute the ‘cup of coffee’, not just the coffee.
What is The Antecedent?
As previously mentioned, a pronoun is used to replace a noun. This noun is called the antecedent. “Ante” means before, so for example: The police officers rushed into their headquarters. In this example, the pronoun “their” refers back to the police officers’ headquarters. The underlined noun is therefore, the antecedent of “their.”
In a simple sentence such as that stated above, it is very easy to identify the antecedent that the pronoun is referring to. However, you should be very careful with the use of pronouns in writing complicated sentences or paragraphs. If not used properly, these can confuse readers as to what you’re talking about. Make sure that your antecedent will not get lost to avoid this confusion. Here is a list of the most common pronouns that you can use to replace different kinds of noun.
Types of Pronouns:
1. Personal Pronoun:
Divided as Subjective and Objective Pronouns. The Subjective Pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, they, and who. And the Objective Pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, them and whom.
Examples:
(a) The policeman ran behind the thief. (in this ‘the police man’ is the subject and the ‘thief’ is the object). So we can say ‘He’ ran behind ‘him’.
(b) ‘They don’t know me’. (in this sentence ‘they’ is subject and ‘me’ is the object. There are several pronouns which seem to be ‘Plural but act as Singular’, taking singular verbs.
The most common of these pronouns are anybody, anything, any, each, either, everyone, everybody, nobody, not one, etc. These pronouns must be followed by a singular verb.
2. Relative Pronouns:
A relative pronoun is used to link one phrase or clause to another phrase or clause. It is called a relative; pronoun because it relates to the word that it modifies and is not specific. There are 5 relative pronouns- who, whom, whose, that, and which. The compounds: whoever, whomever, and whichever; are also relative pronouns.
Example:
(a) You may invite ‘whoever’ you like to the party. The person ‘who’ phoned me last night is my teacher.
3. Demonstrative Pronoun:
These pronouns are used to demonstrate (or indicate): This, that, these, those and such are all demonstrative pronouns.
Examples:
(a)‘This’ is the one I left in the car.
(b) I don’t help ‘such’ people.
4. Indefinite Pronoun:
Indefinite pronouns are used for non-specific things. All, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each, both, few, either, none, one and no one are most common.
Examples:
(a) ‘Somebody’ must have seen the driver leave.
(b) ‘All’ are waiting for the bride to arrive.
5. Interrogative Pronoun:
These pronouns are used in questions. Although they are classified as pronouns, it is not easy to see how they replace nouns. Who, which, what, where and how are all interrogative pronouns.
Examples:
(a) ‘Who’ told you to do that?
(b) ‘Where’ is his office?
6. Possessive Pronoun:
Possessive pronouns are used to show possession. As they are used as adjectives, they are also known as possessive adjectives. My, your, his, her, its, our and their- are all possessive pronouns.
Examples:
(a) Have you seen ‘her book’?( Have you seen ‘hers’?)
(b) who has taken’ my book’? (who has taken ‘mine’?)
7. Reciprocal Pronoun:
Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions or feelings that are reciprocated. The two most common reciprocal pronouns are- each other, together and one another.
Examples:
(a) They like one another.
(b) The spoke to one another.
8. Reflexive Pronoun:
A reflexive pronoun ends with 'self' or 'selves' and refers to another noun or pronoun in the sentence.
Examples:
(a) The dog bit ‘itself’.
(b) She spoke to’ herself’.
(c) They fought among ‘themselves’.
Although the pronoun types above are widely used in speaking english on a daily basis, the above content does not imply or restrict the scope and application of pronouns due to multiple concepts and applications around pronouns.
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