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)

4.      Indefinite Pronouns

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)

5.      Reflexive & Intensive Pronouns

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.

A reflexive pronoun is used to refer to the subject of the sentence.

·         I will go to the school myself. (reflexive)

·         An intensive pronoun is used to emphasize another noun.

·         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?

7.      Possessive Pronouns

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)

Source :

http://www.english-grammar-revolution.com/what-is-a-pronoun.html

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pronouns.htm