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Pronouns
A pronoun is a word that stands for a noun. The noun that the pronoun stands for is
called its antecedent. Thus, in the sentence Employees must sign up for the program or
they will not be included, the word they is a pronoun referring to the antecedent
employees.
Pronoun Classes
• Personal pronouns consist of I, you, we/us, he/him, she/her, it, and they/them.
• Compound personal pronouns are created by adding self or selves to simple personal
pronouns: myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, themselves.
Compound personal pronouns are used either intensively, to emphasize the identity of the
noun or pronoun (I myself have seen the demonstration), or reflexively, to indicate that the
subject is the receiver of his or her own action (I promised myself I’d finish by noon).
Compound personal pronouns are used incorrectly if they appear in a sentence without
their antecedent: Walter, Virginia, and me (not myself) are the top salespeople; You need
to tell her (not herself) about the mixup.
• Relative pronouns refer to nouns (or groups of words used as nouns) in the main
clause and are used to introduce clauses: Purina is the brand that most dog owners
purchase. The relative pronouns are which, who, whom, whose, and what. Other words
used as relative pronouns include that, whoever, whomever, whatever, and whichever.
• Interrogative pronouns are those used for asking questions: who, whom, whose,
which, what.
• Demonstrative pronouns point out particular persons, places, or things: That is my
desk, This can’t be correct. The demonstrative pronouns are this, these, that, and those.
Note: When a demonstrative pronoun acts as a modifier, it becomes an adjective: That
desk is mine.
• Indefinite pronouns refer to persons or things not specifically identified. They include
anyone, someone, everyone, everybody, somebody, either, neither, one, none, all, both,
each, another, any, many, and similar words. These pronouns may also be used as
adjectives.
Pronoun Case
• Pronouns in the nominative case are the subjects of a sentence or clause (She approved
the minutes; Who is going to ship the order?). Nominative pronouns include I, we, you,
he, she, it, they, who, and whoever.
• Pronouns in the objective case are acted upon (The secretary approved them; To whom
should the order be shipped?). Objective pronouns may be the object of a verb (approved
them) or the object of a preposition (to whom). Pronouns in the objective case include me,
us, you, him, her, it, them, whom, and whomever.
• Possessive pronouns consist of my/mine, our/ours, your/yours, his, her/hers, its,
their/theirs, and whose. Unlike possessive nouns, possessive pronouns never have an
apostrophe. Constructions as their’s, your’s, and her’s are simply incorrect; it’s, you’re,
and they’re are actually pronoun-verb contractions, not possessives.
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