Download Pronoun Summary General definition: A pronoun is a word used in

English I (JAV)
Pronoun Summary
General definition:
A pronoun is a word used in place of one noun or more than one
noun.
Types of pronouns:
personal
—pronouns
reflexive
intensive
demonstrative
interrogative
relative
indefinite
referring to specific people (usually by their
relationship to the speaker). Some teachers (foreign language
teachers in particular) may refer to what we call personal
pronouns as “subject pronouns.”
—reflexives and intensives look alike (-self, -selves), but reflexives
tend to complete a circular reference where the subject of the
verb acts on himself or herself (e.g. I taught myself chess; that’s
why I stink at it.)
—reflexives and intensives look alike (-self, -selves), but intensives
only reinforce (intensify) a noun or pronoun just mentioned in
the sentence. (e.g. I myself will fix the problem.)
—pronouns that specify almost by pointing to an object (e.g. this,
that, those), but be careful: these same words followed by a noun
(e.g. those books) would be demonstrative adjectives and not
pronouns at all.
—pronouns designed to interrogate, i.e. to ask a question
—pronouns that relate an adjective clause to the word(s) it modifies
(just as the word that relates the modifying clause to the word
pronouns at the start of this sentence)
—pronouns that make usually indefinite numerical references (e.g.
many, few, both, some, anything); again be careful that a
following noun does not turn some of these pronouns into
adjectives (e.g. “I have met both students” uses an adjective, but
“Both are fine athletes” uses an indefinite pronoun.) See list on
p. 442 of your textbook.
Person of pronouns:1
first
—refers to the speaker of a sentence (e.g. I, me, my)
second
—refers specifically to the receiver of the sentence (e.g. you)
third
—refers to someone other than me or you (e.g. him, them)
occasionally very formal speech uses the third person to refer
to oneself; Senator Robert Dole has grown used to using this
rhetorical device as a sign of modesty, and Saturday Night Live
loves to draw attention to it.
Cases of pronouns:
nominative
—the case used for the subject of a sentence and the predicate
objective
possessive
nominative (the complement following a linking verb)
—the case used for the direct or indirect object of a sentence or the
object of a preposition
—the case used to show ownership (These words always behave like
adjectives, but we will always refer to them as pronouns
notwithstanding the note at the bottom of p. 437; foreign
language teachers may choose the opposite option in later
years.)
1
person, case, and number apply to nouns as well as pronouns, but since nouns no longer
change form, the case of nouns is purely academic. Naturally, that won’t stop me from asking
you about the case of nouns in class occasionally; remember that how we use a word
determines its case (just as how we use a word determines its part of speech).
8/31/97
English I (JAV)
Pronoun Summary
Number of pronouns:
singular
—refers to one
plural
—refers to more than one (you probably knew this)
Nominative Case of the Personal Pronouns
Person
Singular
1
I
2
you
3
he, she, it
Person
1
2
3
Person
1
2
3
2
Objective Case of the Personal Pronouns
Singular
me
you
him, her, it
Plural
we
you
they
Plural
us
you
them
Possessive Case of the Personal Pronouns
Singular
Plural
my, mine
our, ours
your, yours
your, yours
2
his, her hers, its
their, theirs
notice: no apostrophe for any possessive personal pronouns
8/31/97