PRONOUNS

What are pronouns?

Pronouns are words that substitute a noun or another pronoun. Examples of pronouns are he, she, who, themselves...

In the example:

Mike likes his daughter.

Mike and his daughter can be replaced by he and her:

He likes her

Types of pronouns

1. Subject pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
2. Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them)
3. Reflexive pronouns (myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves)
4. Possessive pronouns (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs)
5. Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, those, these)
6. Relative pronouns (who, which, that, whose)

1. What are subject pronouns?

A subject pronoun, also called subjective or subject personal pronoun, is used as substitute for proper and common nouns.

Examples

John is a doctor - He is a doctor
The laptop is on the desk - It is on the desk

A subject pronoun is used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence.

Example
______ did the job.
I, you, he, she, it, we, and they all fit into the blank and are, therefore, subject pronouns.

A subject pronoun indicates:

• number: singular or plural,
• gender: male or female,
• person: first, second or third person.

Examples

I (first person singular)

you (second person singular)

She (third person singular female)

He (third person singular male)

It (third person singular inanimate )

We (first person plural)

You (second person plural)

They (third person plural)

The words "I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they" are subject pronouns. They refer to a person or thing in speech or in writing.

2. What are object pronouns?

An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functions as the object of a verb or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the subject of a verb.
Examples:

• He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is the object of the preposition with)
• She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)

Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know what the object is.

• She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her.
• I like this film. I saw it last week.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns in English are the following:

me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Object pronouns come after either a verb (e.g "like") or a preposition (e.g "to").
Examples:

• I like you but you don't like me.
• Do you really hate her?
• She loves sitting next to him.
• She always writes e-mails to us.
• He's talking to her about it.

3. What are reflexive pronouns?

Reflexive pronouns are used when the complement of the verb is the same as the subject.
Example:

He hurt himself.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object.
Example:

I wrote it myself. (I want to emphasize the fact that I wrote it.)
I spoke to the president himself. (I spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.)

Every morning...

I look at myself in the mirror. 

Reflexive pronouns

The words " myself, yourself, himself..." are reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are words that show that the person who does the action is also the person who is affected by it: Examples:

"I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."

"He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him.

4. What is possessive pronoun?

A possessive pronoun is a part of speech that attributes ownership to someone or something. Like any other pronoun, it substitutes a noun phrase and can prevent its repetition. For example, in the phrase, "These glasses are mine, not yours", the words "mine" and "yours" are possessive pronouns and stand for "my glasses" and "your glasses," respectively.

Examples

This is our house. It's ours.
This is my bedroom. It's mine.
This is my brother's bike. It's his.

 The words "mine, yours, his, hers, its , ours, theirs" are possessive pronouns. They show who or what something belongs to

.

Note

1. A possessive pronoun differs from a possessive adjective.
Examples:

• What color is your brother's jacket?
  His jacket is black.
  (your and his are possessive adjectives; your and his modify the noun jacket in both examples)
• What color is yours?
  Mine is blue.
  (yours and mine are possessive pronouns - yours functions as a subject complement in the first example; mine functions as a subject in the second example)

2. "It's" is not a possessive pronoun or adjective; it is a contraction of it is or it has.

Example:

• It's not my book = it is not my book
• It's got five bedrooms = it has got five bedrooms 

5. What are relative pronouns?

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause within a complex sentence.
In the example:

Mike found the keys that he had lost.

that is a relative pronoun which introduces the relative clause that he had lost.
In English the relative pronouns are who, whom, which, whose, and that.

Relative pronouns

who - subject or object pronoun for people

They caught the lady who killed her baby.
I know the man who you met.

which - subject or object pronoun

I read the book which is on the table.I visited the town which you told me about.

which - referring to a whole sentence

They were unsuccessful which is disappointing.

whom - used for object pronoun for people, especially in non-restrictive relative clauses (in restrictive relative clauses use who)

The boy whom you told me about got the best grades in mathematics.

that - subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in restrictive relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

I like the vase that is over there.