Types of Pronouns, A word used in place of noun

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English Grammar : Pronoun

TYPES OF PRONOUNS

What Are Pronouns?

"A word that is used in place of a noun is called Pronoun."

Pronouns are words which replace a noun: I, me, she, we, they, who, that, yours, his, her, etc.

Pronouns should only be used if the name of the person (or group of people), place (or places), or thing (or things) has been previously mentioned in the paragraph. Pronouns can be subjects or objects, or show possession.

Pronouns are divided into nine kinds according to their functions:

(1) Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are used in place of the person or people that we are talking about.There are seven Personal pronouns. They are: I, You, We, He, She, They & It etc.

Examples:

I like Ice-cream.
Seema loves you.

We went home.
They played doubles.

(2) Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things belonging to a person/people and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things. They are : mine, ours, yours, his/hers etc.

Examples:

This book is mine.
This school is ours.

Yours roses are lovely.
That is her umbrella.

(3) Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing is referring to the same person or thing. Reflexives are part of Personal Pronouns. They are: Myself, Yourself, Yourselves, Herself, Themselves, Himself, Itself, Oneself etc.

Examples:

I prefer to work by myself.
Why do you blame yourself?

Kevin sent himself a message.
My dog hurt itself.

(4) Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far or near in distance or time.

There are six Demonstrative Pronouns:
Singular : (1) this (2) that (3) such (4) one and
Plural : (5) these (6) those.

Examples:

Is this your pen?
That is my sister.

These are sweet fruits.
Those are our houses.

(5) Indefinite Pronouns

When sentence does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount, we used an indefinite pronoun. They are: few, some, several, any, most, other, some, each, everything, none, neither and either etc.

Examples:

Someone is here to see you.
Several people gathered for the funeral.

Anybody can practice yoga.
Many people attended her wedding etc.

(6) Distributive Pronouns

Distributive Pronouns refers to a particular person/thing. They are: Each, Everyone, Everybody, Either, Neither.

Examples:

They each got a medal.
Everyone loves flowers.

Either of you has to come for the wedding.
Neither of them was present for the wedding.

(7) Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns are used when two or more subjects (people or things) are doing the same thing, and experiencing the same consequences. They are: each other and one another.

Examples:

Simran and Raj love each other.
The gangsters were fighting one another.

(8) Relative Pronouns

Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the noun in the previous clause. They are: Who, Whom, Whose, Which and That.

Examples:

I know the person who can do this work.
Whom do you want to meet?

Whose book is this?
This is the book, which I bought in Delhi.

(9) Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns are question words used to enquire about person or thing that we do not know about. They are: who, whom, what, which.

Examples:

Who wrote this book?
Whom do you want to talk to?

What do you want?
Which book do you want?

USES OF PRONOUNS - ONE / ONESELF / ONE’S / IT

USES OF PRONOUN - "ONE"

One must treat other as one expects to be treated.

"One" is used for God/Ghost :

Jesus is the Holy One of God.

The devil is an evil one in religion.

"One" is used for the person :

He is not the one, who faces difficulties.

He is the one, who score 100 out of 100.

"One" is used as indefinite pronoun :

One must respect elders.

One must follow the Rules.

USES OF PRONOUN - "ONESELF"

Oneself (Like other reflexive pronouns) is used to emphasis.

One must help oneself before asking others.

One must suffer and learn oneself.

USES OF PRONOUN - "ONE'S"

One’s is a Possessive Adjective.

It is good to hear one’s hard work being appreciated.

It is one’s duty to serve parents/elders.

USES OF PRONOUN - "IT"

"It" is a third person singular pronoun and is used for lifeless things (inanimate objects), animals and for a baby or a small child (girl or boy) when their sex is unknown or unimportant.

IT has no possessive pronoun form e.g. This is its hole but not his hole is its.

The possessive form of IT is ITS and is not to be confused with it’s which is a contraction of it is e.g. It is my bag – It’s my bag.

As a rule pronouns do not form POSSESSIVES by adding ‘S’ eg. This bag is yours and not This bag is your’s. This purse is hers and not This purse is her’s.

"It" is also used for :

• It is 10 o’clock/ 10:30. (To tell / talk about time.)
• It is Summer / Winter / Monsoon. (To tell / talk about seasons.)
• It is a sunny day. (To tell / talk about weather.)
• It is 120 Kms away from here. (To tell / talk about distance.)
• It is Sunday. It is the 1st Sept,07. (To tell / talk about Day & Date.)
• It is good that he returned the book. (To introduce a clause) (As a temporary subject.)
• It is difficult to make him happy. (To use infinite phrase) (As a temporary subject.)
• It is no use crying over split milk. (It is no use trying on now) (As a temporary subject.)
• It is you who spoiled my day. (It is used to emphasis) (As a temporary subject.)
• It is easy to find fault with others. (It is used before the verb to be when the real subject follows.)
• It is sure that you are incorrect. (It is used before the verb to be when the real subject follows.)

WH-Question Words

The most common way to ask (for) information is to question. We use WH Question to seek information about Place, Time, Manner, Object, Choice, Reason, Distance, Duration, Number, Quantity, Frequency and Person. They are : What, Who, When, Whom, Where, Why, Whose, Which and How.