Pronouns

Pronouns

 

A pronoun is used in place of a noun. Different forms are used to show person, number, gender, and case. There are personal, interrogative, indefinite, demonstrative, and reflexive pronouns.

 

• A personal pronoun refers to one or more individuals or things. Personal pronouns may be in the nominative, objective or possessive case.

 

Singular	Nominative (used in the place of a subject)	Objective (used after verbs)	Possessive (as an adjective)	Possessive (as a pronoun)
1st person	I	me	my	mine
2nd person	you	you	your	yours
3rd person masculine	he	him	his	his
3rd person feminine	she	her	her	hers
3rd person gender-neutral*	they*	them*	theirs	theirs*
3rd person inanimate	it	it	its	its

*see reverse side of this handout, “Pronoun/antecedent agreement”

 

Plural	Nominative	Objective	Possessive (as an adjective)	Possessive (as a pronoun)
1st person	we	us	our	ours
2nd person	you	you	your	yours
3rd person	they	them	their	theirs

 

For example:                 I took my sister to her doctor.

                                    She gave us a new table for our kitchen.

 

• An interrogative pronoun is used to ask a question. Interrogative pronouns include: who, whom, whose, what, and which.

 

For example:                 Who left the light on?

                                    Which book is yours?

 

• A relative pronoun introduces a relative clause, relating groups of words to nouns or other pronouns.

 

For example:                 Matt was the one who built the picnic table.

                                    The house, which has a garden in bloom, is very inviting.

 

• An indefinite pronoun refers to a general person or thing. Singular indefinite pronouns include: one, each either, neither, everyone, no one, anybody, somebody, nobody, everybody, anyone, and someone. Plural indefinite pronouns include: several, both, many, and few. 

 

For example:                 No one has a good idea for the workshop. (singular)

                                    Many go on vacation in August. (plural)             

 

The indefinite pronouns some, none, all, most, and any can be singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence.

 

For example:                 Some of the work is done. (singular)

Some of the marks come off easily. (plural)

 

• A demonstrative pronoun identifies or points out a noun. The demonstrative pronouns include: that, this, these, those, and such.

 

For example:                 This is more expensive than that.

                                    These are my favorites, not those.

 

• A reflexive pronoun refers to a noun and provides emphasis or shows distinction from others. Reflexive pronouns are formed with the suffixes –self and –selves.

 

For example:                 Bianca made the cake by herself.

                                    Erin and Renee tried to occupy themselves when work was slow.

 

Pronoun and antecedent agreement

 Your meanings will be clearer if your pronouns “agree” in person and number with their antecedents, which are the words that the pronouns replace or the words they refer to.

 

Pronoun and antecedent do not agree:   Students should be careful to avoid plagiarism in her writing.

Pronoun and antecedent agree:             Students should be careful to avoid plagiarism in their writing.

 

In some cases, “they” functions as a singular pronoun to refer to a person whose gender you do not know or whose preferred pronouns are they/them/theirs. For example:

 

A student should be careful about checking grammar in their writing.

 

• Antecedents joined by the word and take plural pronouns.

 

For example:                 Lisa and Tracy are writing their papers.

 

• Use a singular pronoun to refer to two or more singular antecedents joined by the words or or nor.

 

For example:                 Ben or James will read his essay.

 

• When there is more than one type of antecedent – a singular and a plural – joined by the words or or nor, the pronoun agrees with the closest antecedent.

 

For example:                 The teacher or the students will have their way.

                                          The students or the teacher will have her way.

Vague pronoun reference

 

In conversation, the prounouns it and they are often used to make vague reference to people and situations. In writing, more precise identification increases clarity..

 

Vague:                          The history test was made up of multiple-choice questions. It disturbed us.

Precise :                       The history test was made up of multiple-choice questions. This failure to evaluate students’ analytic abilities disturbed us.

Last updated 11/19/2020