Kinds of Pronouns

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Kinds of Pronouns :



Pronouns may be divided into seven classes.

1. Personal Pronouns
2. Possessive Pronouns
3. Reflexive Pronouns (or) Emphatic Pronouns
4. Demonstrative Pronouns
5. Interrogative Pronouns
6. Relative Pronouns
7. Pronouns of Quantity

1. Personal Pronouns

These pronouns are subdivided into first, second and third persons. The first person refers to the speaker or speakers (e.g. I, we). The second person refers to the person or persons spoken to (e.g. you). The third person refers to the person or thing (people or things) spoken about (e.g. he, she, him, they).

Here is the complete list of personal pronouns.

1st Person – Singular – Subject – I
1st Person – Singular – Object – ME
1st Person – Plural – Subject – WE
1st Person – Plural – Object – US

2nd Person – Singular – Subject – YOU
2nd Person – Singular – Object – YOU
2nd Person – Plural – Subject – YOU
2nd Person – Plural – Object – YOU

3rd Person – Singular – Subject – HE, SHE & IT
3rd Person – Singular – Object – HIM, HER & IT
3rd Person – Plural – Subject – THEY
3rd Person – Plural – Object – THEM

The subject forms are said to be in the NOMINATIVE CASE and the object forms are said to be in the OBJECTIVE CASE or ACCUSATIVE CASE. By CASE, we mean the form of a word showing its relationship with other words in a sentence.

1. I saw him.
2. He told them he had met her.

2. Possessive Pronouns

We use these pronouns to show that something belongs to somebody. They are listed below.

1st Person – Singular – MINE
1st Person – Plural – OURS

2nd Person – Singular – YOUR
2nd Person – Plural – YOURS

3rd Person – Singular – HIS, HERS & ITS
3rd Person – Plural – THEIRS

3. Reflexive Pronouns (OR) Emphatic Pronouns

Here is the list of reflexive pronouns.

1st Person – Singular – MYSELF
1st Person – Plural – OURSELVES

2nd Person – Singular – YOURSELF
2nd Person – Plural – YOURSELVES

3rd Person – Singular – HIMSELF, HERSELF & ITSELF
3rd Person – Plural – THEMSELVES

Reflexive pronouns are used when the same person is the subject and the object of a verb.

1. I saw myself in the mirror.
2. The boys are washing themselves.

These pronouns can also be used to emphasize nouns or pronouns.

1. I saw the mirror myself.
2. Tom has done the work himself.

When used in this way, these pronouns are sometimes called emphatic pronouns.

4. Demonstrative Pronouns

To demonstrate is to point out. These pronouns point out persons or things. This and these are used for persons or things that are near the speaker. That and those refer to persons or things that are farther away from the speaker.

1. This is a pen.
2. Those are my children.

5. Interrogative Pronouns

These pronouns are used in asking questions. They are what, which, who, whom and whose.

1. What are you doing?
2. Who is he?
3. Which is your pen?

6. Relative Pronouns

The most common relative pronouns are who, whom, which and that.

A relative pronoun acts as a pronoun and as a conjunction at the same time.

This is the man who saved me from drowning.

In this sentence, the relative who stands for the noun man (like a pronoun) and at the same time joins two word groups (like a conjunction).

Further examples :

1. I met the man whom you had spoken about.
2. Did you see the letter which came this morning?
3. Here is the book that you were looking for.

7. Pronouns of Quantity

These pronouns refer to amount or number and include all, much, many, some, few, little, each, either, neither, two, five, etc.

1. All are present.
2. He didn’t say much about it.
3. Some of the oranges are bad.
4. Each of you will get Rs. 1000.
5. There were seven of them.

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