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| All types of English Pronouns |
In this article we're going to learn the following:
REPLACING NOUNS WITH PRONOUNS
Subject pronoun and Object pronounDemonstrative Pronouns
Possessive pronouns
Possessive determiners
Typical possessive pronoun errors
Interrogative pronouns ( what, which, who, whom, and whose).
Joining clauses with relative pronouns
Reflexive pronouns
reflexive pronouns for the same subject and object.
Reflexive pronouns using by
Examples of Independent Clauses
Examples of dependent Clauses
Linking a dependent clause to a sentence(independent clause) with relative pronouns
First, before talking about pronouns, we need to use why we use pronouns.
REPLACING NOUNS WITH PRONOUNS
To avoid the frequent use of the same
noun, pronouns
can be used instead.
Using personal pronouns
Personal pronouns take
the place of a noun. They are identified
as 1st, 2nd and 3rd
persons.
They can be used as both subject and object. Look at the following
table:
Subject and object pronouns
Singular
|
Plural
|
|||
Subject
|
Object
|
Subject
|
Object
|
|
1st
person
|
I
|
me
|
we
|
Us
|
2nd person
|
you
|
you
|
you
|
you
|
3rd
person
|
He,she
|
Him,her
|
they
|
them
|
it
|
it
|
|||
 | ||
| English pronouns |
possessive Pronouns
•We
use pronouns to refer to possession and ‘belonging’. There are two types: possessive
pronouns and
possessive determiners. We use possessive determiners before a noun. We use
possessive pronouns in place of a noun:
personal pronoun
|
possessive determiner
|
possessive pronoun
|
I
|
my
|
mine
|
you (singular and plural)
|
your
|
yours
|
he
|
his
|
his
|
she
|
her
|
hers
|
it
|
its
|
its*
|
we
|
our
|
ours
|
they
|
their
|
theirs
|
one
|
one’s
|
one’s*
|
Note:
*We avoid using its and one’s as
possessive pronouns except when we use them with own:
The house seemed asleep yet, as I have
said, it had a life of its
own.
One doesn’t like to spend too much time
on one’s
own.
possessive determiner
Typical possessive pronoun errors
We don’t use ’s after
possessive pronouns:
Are those gloves hers?
Not: Are
those gloves her’s?
’s is not used with the possessive
pronoun its. It’s means ‘it is’:
The team is proud of its ability
to perform consistently well.
Not: … proud
of it’s ability …
We don’t use another determiner with a
possessive determiner:
I’m going to get my hair
cut this afternoon.
Not: … get
the my hair cut …
We don’t use possessive determiners on
their own. They are always at the beginning of noun phrases:
That’s not my book.
It’s yours. (or It’s your book.)
Not: It’s
your.
We don’t use possessive pronouns before
nouns:
Lots of our friends
were at the party.
Not: Lots
of ours friends …
Interrogative pronouns
The five interrogative pronouns are what,
which, who, whom, and whose.
•What
– Used to ask questions about objects. Examples:
•What
do you want for dinner?
•I
wonder what
we’re doing tomorrow.
•What
is your friend’s name?
•What
time are we supposed to be there?
Which
•Which –
Used to ask questions about people or objects. Examples:
•Which
color do
you prefer?
•Which
of these ladies is
your mother?
•She
asked which train to
take.
•Which
seat
would you like?
Who
•Who –
Used to ask questions about people(subject). Examples:
•Who is
that?
•Who was
driving the car?
•I’m
wondering who will
be at the party.
•Who is
going to take out the trash?
Whom
•Whom
–used instead of "who" as the object of
a verb or preposition, it
is used to ask questions about people.
Examples:
•Whom did
you speak to?
•Whom do
you prefer to vote for?
•You
should ask whom to
call.
•Whom do
you live with?
Whose
•Whose –
Used to ask questions about people or objects, always related to possession.
Examples:
•Whose
sweater is this?
•Whose
parents are those?
•I
wonder whose dog
knocked our garbage can over.
•Whose
phone is that?
Dependent clause, independent clause (sentence), or a phrase
•A clause is a group of words that includes a
subject and a verb.
•A
clause is two types either dependent (meaning is not complete or
independent (meaning is complete)
•A sentence is an
independent clause, and usually ends with a period.
•A phrase,
which does not contain a subject and a verb (e.g.,
in the afternoon, drinking from the bowl).
Examples of Independent Clauses (sentences)
•Tara
ate a cheese roll .
•My
cousin failed his driving test six times.
Examples of dependent Clauses
after she watched the news,…
Even though his mother was a driving
instructor,…
Linking a dependent clause to a sentence(independent clause) with relative pronouns
Joining clauses with relative pronouns
•Relative pronouns have
a similar function to conjunctions.
•They
link dependent
clauses to main
clauses and
usually
•follow
a noun. They
are the same words as the interrogative pronouns
Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns end
in –self or -selves.
They refer back to the subject forms of personal pronouns (underlined in the
example below):
We didn’t
decorate it ourselves.
Someone else did it for us.
subject pronoun
|
reflexive pronoun
|
I
|
myself
|
you (singular)
|
yourself
|
he
|
himself
|
she
|
herself
|
it
|
itself
|
one
|
oneself
|
we
|
ourselves
|
you (plural)
|
yourselves
|
they
|
themselves
|
Reflexive pronouns for same subject and object
We often use reflexive
pronouns when
the subject and the object of the verb refer to the same person or thing:
He cut himself on
the broken glass.
She made herself a
cup of tea and sat down in front of the television.
Parents often
blame themselves for
the way their children behave
We use a reflexive pronoun to make it
clear who or what is being referred to.
Compare
Agnes looked at herself in
the mirror.
The subject and the object are the same. |
|
Agnes looked at her in
the mirror.
The subject and the object are different. Agnes is looking at someone else in the mirror.
|
Reflexive pronouns + by meaning alone
We often use reflexive pronouns
with by to
mean ‘alone’ or ‘without any help’:
Why don’t you go by
yourself?
The children made the entire
meal by
themselves.
The five interrogative pronouns are what,
which, who, whom, and whose.