Grammatical MA45:

ADVANCED

Usage of GRAMMAR AND

COMPOSITION
IN ENGLISH
Pronouns  Cherlyn Mae Agan
PRONOU
NS I She
He

Us
WWee
Definition
"Pronoun" is the sentence element used to
replace a noun, or a noun equivalent
construction. The replaced noun is named
the "antecedent".
 Syntactically, pronouns have the
same functions as nouns do;
morphologically, pronouns are used
to avoid repetition, and to
set/clarify nouns' categories of
number, person, and gender.
CATEGORIE
S OF
PRONOUNS
There are eight categories of pronouns, The
categories of pronouns are:

1. Personal Pronouns
2. Possessive Pronouns
3. Demonstrative Pronouns
4. Reflexive and Emphatic Pronouns
5. Interrogative Pronouns
6. Relative Pronouns
7. Reciprocal Pronouns
8. Indefinite Pronouns
PERSONAL
PRONOUN
 Personal pronouns represent specific people or
things. We use them depending on:
number: singular (I) or plural ( we).
person: 1st person (I), 2nd person (you) or 3rd
person(he).
gender: male (he), female (she) or neuter (it).
case: subject (we) or object (us).

We use personal pronouns in place of the

person or people that we are talking about.
 Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

personal pronouns
number person gender subject object

1st male/female I me
2nd male/female you you
singular male he him
3rd female she her
neuter it it
1st male/female we us

plural 2nd male/female you you

male/female/
3rd neuter they them

Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second
an object pronoun):
 - I like coffee.
- John helped me.
- Do you like coffee?
- John loves you.

- He runs fast.
- Did Ram beat him?

-She is clever.
- Does Mary know her?
- We went home.
-Anthony drove us.

-It doesn't work.

-Can the engineer repair it?
-Do you need a table for three?
-Did John and Mary beat you at doubles?

-They played doubles.

-John and Mary beat them
We often use it to introduce a remark:

-It is nice to have a holiday sometimes.

-It is important to dress well.

.

We also often use it to talk about the

weather, temperature, time and distance:

-It's raining.
-It will probably be hot tomorrow.
-Is it nine o'clock yet?
-It's 50 kilometers from here to
Cambridge.
Possessive

Pronouns
- We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific
person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent")
belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging
to an animal/animals or thing/things).

-You will never find a possessive

pronoun near a noun, despite the fact it
is the genitive of personal pronoun

-We use possessive pronouns depending

on:
-number: singular (mine) or plural (ours)
-person: 1st person (mine), 2nd person (yours) or 3rd person
(his)
-gender: male (his), female (hers) .
 Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some
example sentences. Each possessive pronoun can:

- be subject or object.
-refer to a singular or plural antecedent.

gender (of possessive

number person "owner") pronouns

1st male/female mine

2nd male/female yours
singular
male his
3rd
female hers
1st male/female ours
2nd male/female yours
plural
male/female/
3rd neut er theirs
 Examples:
-Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one.
(subject = My picture)
-I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my
flowers)

-All the essays were good but his was the best.
(subject
= his essay)

-John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers.

(object = her passport)
 Singular Plural
Used my our
befor your your
e
nouns his, her, its
their
Used mine ours
alone yours yours
his, hers, its
theirs
REFLEXIVE
AND
EMPHATIC
PRONOUN
 Definitions
-Reflexive pronoun is used with an active voice verb in order
to reflect the action of the verb back on the subject--the
antecedent.

-Emphatic pronoun accompanies its antecedent in order to

accentuate its action/state.

-Reflexive and emphatic pronouns take different positions

within the sentence structure.
** We use a reflexive pronoun when we
want to refer back to the subject of the
sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end
in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).
There are eight reflexive pronouns:

reflexive pronoun

myself
singular yoursel
f
himself,
herself,
itself

ourselves
plural yourselves
themselves
the underlined words are
the SAME person/thing

-I saw myself in the mirror.

-Why do you blame

yourself?

-John sent himself a copy.

-I made it myself. OR I myself made it.
-Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it
yourself?
-She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke
to me.
DEMONSTRATIV
E PRONOUN
Demonstrative pronouns and
demonstrative adjectives have
exactly the same forms. The way to
differentiate them depends on their
position relative to the
antecedent/determined nouns.

Demonstrative pronouns
THIS, THESE, THAT, THOSE.
THE FORMER, THE LATTER
THE FIRST, THE LAST
THE OTHER,THE OTHERS
SAME
SUCH
SO
 A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or
things:
*near in distance or time (this, these)
*far in distance or time (that, those)
near far
singular this that

plural these those

*This tastes good.

*These are bad times.
*That is beautiful.
*Those were the days!
ATTENTION
The word "that" has four main functions:

1. demonstrative pronoun or adjective:

That book is good.
That is good.

2. relative pronoun:
Anything that you remember could help a lot.

3. conjunction:
He said that he had been there before.

4. adverb:
The snow was that high.
 -Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with
demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a
demonstrative pronoun stands alone,
while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.

-That smells. (demonstrative pronoun)

-That book is good. (demonstrative adjective + noun)

Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things

only. But we can use them for people when the
person is identified. Look at these examples:
-This is Josef speaking. Is that Mary?
-That sounds like John
INTERROGATIV
E PRONOUN
We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The
interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't
know (what we are asking the question about).
There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom,
what, which.

-The possessive pronoun whose can also be an

interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).

subject object

person who whom

thing what

person/thing which

person whose (possessive)

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, 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 people, and things and as subject and
object in defining relative clauses.

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and

there is no difference between male and female.
 Examples:
- 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
- When we use these reciprocal pronouns:

there must be two or more people, things or groups

involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I,
you [singular], he/she/it), and
they must be doing the same thing
Examples:
- John and Mary love each other.
- The ten prisoners were all blaming
one another.
- Why don't you believe each other?
INDEFINITE

PRONOUN
An indefinite pronoun does
not refer to any specific
person, thing or amount. It
is vague and "not
definite". Some typical
indefinite pronouns are:
 Some Indefinite Pronouns
Singular Plural
another everybody no one both
anybody everyone nothing few
anyone everything one many
anything much somebody others
each neither someone several
either nobody something

All, any, most, none and some can be singular

or plural, depending on the phrase
that
Note that many indefinite pronouns also function
as other parts of speech. Look at "another" in the
following sentences:

-He has one job in the day and another at night.

(pronoun)
- I'd like another drink, please. (adjective)
 Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural.
However, some of them can be singular in one context and
plural in another.

Notice that : A singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND

that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and
gender).
- All is forgiven.

- All have arrived.

- We can start the meeting because everybody

has arrived.
- John likes coffee but not tea. I think both are good.
How do I use pronouns correctly?

 There are several important areas that you must understand

in order to use pronouns correctly.
I. Pronoun Choice
II. Pronoun Consistency
III. Pronoun Reference
IV. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
 Pronouns

Pronoun Agreement
Here’s the Idea
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
 Here’s the Idea

Antecedent

The antecedent is the noun or

pronoun that a pronoun
replaces or refers to.
 Here’s the Idea

Use a singular pronoun to refer to a

singular antecedent.

One story has its setting in Egypt.

 Here’s the Idea

Use a plural pronoun to refer to a

plural antecedent.

The characters have their motives for murder.

 Here’s the Idea

The pronoun must agree in person

with the antecedent.

Louis likes his mysteries to

have surprise endings.
 Here’s the Idea

The gender of the pronoun must be the

same as the gender of its antecedent.
 Here’s the Idea

Personal pronouns have three gender forms:

• masculine he, his, him

• feminine she, her, hers

• neuter it, its

 Here’s the Idea

Agatha Christie sets many of her

her
stories in England.

The hero has to use all his

wits to solve the crime.
 Why It Matters

In your writing, you will

sometimes refer to several
people or groups of people.

Correct pronoun-antecedent
agreement will help your
readers keep track of who is
who in your writing.
 Pronoun - Antecedent Agreement

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 Reference

 www.google.com
 www.wikipedia.com
 www.studymafia.org
 References:
1- www.englishclub.com .

2- www.corollarytheorems.com.

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