Pronouns and Its Kinds; learn with definitions and examples of every type and its uses in related sentences.
What Is A Pronoun? | Definitions Types Examples and Usage
What Is A Pronoun: Types And Examples and Usage
Definition of Pronoun:
It is used in the place of a noun. The noun can be of any type. When we write or read a paragraph or an essay, we find a specific topic sentence repeats itself many times. For that, we cannot write its name every time. So, we use it at its (noun) place, called pronoun. Furthermore, there are three persons of pronouns, First Persons, Second Persons, and Third Persons.
For Example:
Before Using Pronoun:
I saw a flower. The flower was very attractive and beautiful. The color of the flower was pink. The flower gave a pretty sweet fragrance.
After Using Pronoun:
I saw a flower. It was very attractive and beautiful. Its color was pink. It gave a pretty sweet fragrance.
Remember, we must use noun for the first time if there is only one noun and then we will use the only pronouns of that noun otherwise if there is more than one noun, we will use relevant pronouns in sequence.
Most importantly, use “he/his/him” for male, “she/her/hers/her” for female, “they/their/theirs/them” for more than male and female/ both male or both female.
Kinds of Pronoun
1. Personal or Subjective Pronouns
2. Demonstrative Pronouns
3. Relative Pronouns
4. Interrogative Pronouns
5. Reflexive Pronouns
6. Indefinite Pronouns
7. Possessive Pronouns
1.Personal or Subjective Pronouns
These are used as subjects and also for persons. Mostly, it comes at the place of the subject that is why it is called subjective pronoun. We find it at the start of the sentence. It is also called as Nominative Case of pronouns.
For example,
I, we, you, he, she, it, they.
I wrote a writ petition.
We want to work in an insurance corporation.
You will be surprised.
He should pay attention to the matter.
She must compensate for her home issues.
It covered the whole sky.
They regarded him sincerely.
Let us learn all four cases of personal and subjective pronouns.
| Persons | Subjective Case | Possessive Singular Case | Possessive Plural Case | Objective Case | |
| 1st Person | Singular | I | My | Mine | Me |
| 1st Person | Plural | We | Our | Ours | Us |
| 2nd Person | Both | You | Your | Yours | You |
| 3rd Person | Singular | He | His | – | Him |
| 3rd Person | Singular | She | Her | Hers | Her |
| 3rd Person | Singular | It | It | Its | It |
| 3rd Person | Plural | They | Their | Theirs | Them |
Use of Pronoun:
Subjective Case:
I write a letter.
We eat fruits.
You go in a one-down position.
She sews a sweater.
He earns a livelihood.
They collectively do work.
Possessive Singular Case:
It is my tablet.
They accept our invitation.
It’s your incentive for the current month.
She is his sister.
He is her brother.
He appreciated their efforts.
Possessive Plural Case:
If we use possessive case, then use possessive plural without an object of that sentence. Moreover, it comes for relation, connection, or occupying anything by a noun or a pronoun.
For example,
It is my cricket sweater. (Possessive Singular)
It is mine. (Possessive Plural)
It means,
mine=my cricket sweater.
Objective Case:
In this case, a noun or pronoun comes in a sentence as an object.
The officer allowed him to go.
The mother loves us.
He gave them the job letters.
I gave him a scale.
2.Demonstrative Pronouns
It points out any noun instead of using “it“.
For example,
That is my coin.
These are butterflies.
Those are small plants.
This is an insurance corporation.
3.Relative Pronouns
It refers to some noun going before and also join two sentences together.
For Example,
Who, which, whose, whom.
That is the player who scored century.
These are the students whom the teacher punished.
This is the book which I lost yesterday.
This is the girl whose brother is ill.
The car whose color is grey has no audio player.
4.Interrogative Pronouns
Simply, these are used to ask any questions.
The difference between relative and interrogative pronouns is the content of questions. It means we ask questions in interrogative pronouns whereas there is no question in relative pronouns.
For Example,
How old are you?
Where are going?
Whose book is this?
Which insurance policy do you like the most?
5. Reflexive Pronouns
These end in “self” or “selves” that are used when the subject and object of a sentence are identical or the same.
For example,
Myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself, itself, themselves.
This proudy man loves himself.
| Singular | |
| 1st person | I talk to myself whenever I am alone. |
| 2nd person | You cut yourself while cutting meat. |
| 3rd person (male) | He hurt himself while playing hockey. |
| 3rd person (female) | She enjoyed herself at the party. |
| Plural | |
| 1st person | We blame ourselves on mistakes. |
| 2nd person | You all love yourselves. |
| 3rd person | They believed themselves. |
6. Indefinite Pronouns
It means we do not actually know the pronoun. We use indefinite pronouns when we want to refer to people of things without saying exactly who or what they are. The pronouns ending in “body” and “one” refer to people and those ending in “thing” refer to things.
Examples;
I saw somebody here.
Did anybody work in an insurance company?
Would you like something better?
Nobody came to the meeting.
Is there anything in the cupboard?
Everybody was present in the hall.
7. Possessive Pronouns
These are the pronouns that show the possession of any noun or pronoun.
For examples,
It is his prize.
Possessive pronouns are of three types.
A) Possessive Pronouns Singular:
We use possessive pronouns when there is an object in the sentence.
For example,
He did my work.
They do their duty perfectly.
B) Possessive Pronouns Plural:
These are the pronouns that show the possession without an object in the sentence.
For example,
Whose this book is?
This is mine. (Possessive Pronoun Plural)
3) Use of Apostrophe:
In this type, we use apostrophes to express or show the possession. To use an apostrophe, add ” ‘s ” at the end of the noun.
For example,
Smith‘s brother was named Danial.
It is Tariq‘s book.
These are Imran‘s shares.
Remember, if the noun is singular we add ‘s at the end but if the noun is plural then just add ( ‘ ) at the end of the noun which is in plural form.
For example,
This is boys‘ high school.
These are girls‘ clothes.
You may also learn:
Parts and Kinds of Sentence/Speech
Idioms and Phrases with Meanings and Examples
This is great article! Thank you 🙂