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Unit 2
PRONOUNS
Categories of Pronouns
There are eight categories of pronouns. The categories of pronouns are:
Personal Pronouns
Possessive Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns
Reflexive and Emphatic Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns
Reciprocal Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns associated with a certain person, thing, or group;
all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural
number
Pronouns have three cases:
Nominative (Subjective)
Objective
Possessive
The case depends on the pronoun’s function in the sentence.
• A first-person pronoun is the one speaking.
• A second-person pronoun is the one spoken to.
• A third-person pronoun is the one spoken about.
Nominative Case Personal Pronouns
Use nominative case when the personal pronoun is the subject of a verb.
When a personal pronoun takes the place of a noun as the subject of a
sentence, it is both a personal pronoun and a subject pronoun.
What is a subject pronoun? In essence, it’s any pronoun that is used to
replace a common or proper noun as a sentence’s subject.
Examples:
•
•
•
•
•
He sends e-mail messages to a customer in Spain.
I use the telephone frequently, but she prefers to use e-mail.
You can send an e-mail message to many people at once.
It is inexpensive to use e-mail for communication
You need to stop lying.
Nominative Case Personal Pronouns
The person – Who is speaking?
The number – Is the pronoun plural or singular?
The gender – Is the pronoun feminine (she), masculine,
or neuter?
Singular
Plural
1st Person
I
We
2nd Person
You
You
3rd Person
She, He, It
They
Objective Case Personal Pronouns
Use the objective case of personal pronouns when the
pronouns are direct or indirect objects of verbs or when it is the
object of a preposition
What is an object pronoun? It’s any pronoun that is affected by
the action the subject of the sentence takes.
Singular
Plural
1st Person
Me
Us
2nd Person
You
You
3rd Person
Her, Him, It
Them
Objective Case Personal Pronouns
Direct object of a noun:
• Mary asked her for a copy of the report.
• My friend gave him my e-mail address.
• The e-mail security presentation impressed Mina and me.
Direct object of a Preposition:
• I received two e-mail messages from her today.
• John spoke with us about Internet scams.
• Mary sent the e-mail attachment instructions to Leo and him.
Personal Pronouns
I have to submit an
assignment.
John helped me.
Do you like John?
John likes you too.
He runs fast.
Did Ram beat him?
We went home.
Anthony drove us.
I want you to read this book.
You are the fastest runner on
the team, and we’re
depending on you.
They talked to me about
acting in the play.
We enjoyed hearing her sing.
Compound Personal Pronouns
Compound personal pronouns consist of a personal pronoun and the
suffix self or selves. A compound personal pronoun is used to add
emphasis or to refer to a previously named noun or pronoun.
Singular
Plural
1st Person
Myself
Ourselves
2nd Person
Yourself
Yourselves
3rd Person
Herself, Himself,
Itself
Themselves
Compound Personal Pronouns
Use the intensive compound personal pronoun to add emphasis to a
noun or to another pronoun.
• John himself assured us the mail will be delivered.
• I myself use Snapchat every day.
Use the reflexive compound pronoun to refer to a noun or pronoun that
is used as the subject of a sentence.
• Mary gave herself a much needed vacation.
• The employees taught themselves the new e-mail system.
The words hisself, ourselfs, theirself, theirselves, yourselfs, or
themselfs are not standard English words !!!!
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are those designating possession or ownership.
They may also be used as substitutes for noun phrases, and they are
typically found at the end of a sentence or clause.
Singular
Plural
1st Person
My, Mine
Our, Ours
2nd Person
You, Yours
Your, Yours
3rd Person
Her/Hers, His, Its
Their, Theirs
Possessive Pronouns
The following sets of sentences illustrate how possessive pronouns
provide clarity.
• This is my cat, not your cat. (Sounds repetitive)
This cat is mine, not yours.
• I didn’t have my book so Jenny lent me her book. (Sounds
repetitive)
I didn’t have my book, so Jenny lent me hers.
• Your car is a lot faster than my car. (Sounds repetitive)
Your car is a lot faster than mine.
Demonstrative Pronouns
A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that is used to point to
something specific within a sentence. These pronouns can indicate
items in space or time, and they can be either singular or plural.
Near in time or distance: this, these
Far in time or distance: that, those
Examples:
This was my mother’s ring.
That looks like the car I used to drive.
These are nice shoes, but they look uncomfortable.
Those look like riper than the apples on my tree.
Such was her command over the English language.
None of these answers are correct.
Neither of the horses can be ridden.
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are those referring to one or more unspecified
objects, beings, or places. They are called “indefinite” simply because
they do not indicate the exact object, being, or place to which they
refer.
Singular Indefinite Pronouns
another, anybody, anyone, anything,
either, everybody, everyone, everything,
neither, nobody, no one, nothing,
somebody, someone, something, each,
much, one
Plural Indefinite Pronouns
Both, few, many, several
Indefinite Pronouns Singular Or
Plural
all, any, most, none, some
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to form direct and indirect questions.
Use a question mark at the end of a direct question and a period after
an indirect question.
Who, what, whose, which,
whom, whatever, whoever,
whomever, whichever
Examples:
What do you want for dinner?
Which color do you prefer?
Who was driving the car?
Whom do you prefer to vote for?
Whose sweater is this?
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 it
modifies.
• There are five relative
pronouns:
• Who , Whom = People
• Whose = Possession
• Which = Things
• That = people, and things
and as subject and object in
defining relative clauses
• The person who phoned me last
night is my teacher.
• The car which hit me was
yellow.
• The person whom I phoned last
night is my teacher.
• The car, whose driver jumped
out just before the accident, was
completely destroyed
Reciprocal Pronouns
We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is
acting in the same way towards the other.
There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words:
each other, one another.
• Mary and John gave each other gold rings on their wedding
day.
• Ram and Mina were talking to each other in the hallway.
• We give each other gifts during the holidays.
• The students congratulated one another after giving practice
speeches.
• The kids spent the afternoon kicking the ball to one another.
Now take the assessment on
Pronouns!