Pronouns
Pronouns are
small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead of a
noun. Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we
didn't have pronouns, we would have to repeat a lot of nouns.
Ø Types of Pronouns
There are many
different types of pronouns. Below you will find a short description and a few
examples of each. For more examples.:
1. Personal Pronouns
Here are the
personal pronouns.I, me, we, us, you,
she, her, he, him, it, they, them
For each of
these pronouns, we can tell the...
·
Person
(Who is speaking?)
Number (Is the
pronoun singular or plural?)
·
Gender
(Is the pronoun masculine, feminine, or neuter?)
For instance, she
is third person (the person being spoken about), singular, feminine while we
is first person (the people speaking), plural, neuter.
2.
Relative
Pronouns
A relative
pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a
"relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that
its relative clause modifies. Here is an example:
·
The
person who phoned me last night is my teacher. In the above example,
"who"
·
relates
to "The person", which "who phoned me last night" modifies introduces
the relative clause "who phoned me last night"
There are five
relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that*
Who (subject)
and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which
is for things. That can be used for things and people only in defining relative
clauses (clauses that are essential to the sentence and do not simply add extra
information)
3.
Demonstrative
Pronouns
There are only
four demonstrative pronouns! this, that, these, those. We use these to point out particular
people or things.Sometimes, those words are used before nouns. In those cases,
they are adjectives, not pronouns. (Remember, adjectives
describe nouns.)
·
Bring me that book. (adjective)
·
Bring me that. (pronoun)
The prefix in-
means not. Indefinite
pronouns are not definite. We don't know whom or what these refer
to anyone, something, all, most, some
·
Someone yelled
my name. (Who? We don't
know.)
When indefinite pronouns are used before nouns, they are
actually acting as adjectives, not pronouns.
·
Both people
smiled at me. (adjective)
·
Both smiled
at me. (pronoun)
These two types
of pronouns end in -self or -selves. himself, herself,
myself, itself. Those words have different names depending on how they are
being used.
·
I will go to
the school myself. (reflexive)
·
He himself
visited the school.
(intensive)
6.
Interrogative
Pronouns
These are
pronouns that are found in questions.
Another name for a question is an interrogative sentence.
Interrogative pronouns often begin interrogative sentences. what, whom,
whose, who, which
·
Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?
·
Which jacket should I wear?
Possessive
pronouns show ownership. Another word for ownership is possession. his,
hers, your, theirs. When possessive pronouns are used before nouns, they
are actually being used as adjectives, not pronouns.
·
Our family
has vacation next week. (adjective)
·
That car is ours. (pronoun)
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