Pronouns - Types and Examples
Definition of Pronoun-
A pronoun is a word or that part of speech that is used in the
place of a noun. A pronoun is used to avoid the repetition of a noun in the
sentence.
e.g.
I, he, she, we, they, it, her, him, those, etc.
Types of Pronouns
There are 8 types of pronouns.
They are as follows-
1.Personal Pronouns
2.Demonstrative Pronouns
3.Possessive Pronouns
4.Reciprocal Pronouns
5.Interrogative Pronouns
6.Indefinite Pronouns
7.Reflexive Pronouns
8.Relative Pronouns
See each pronoun in detail-
Personal Pronouns-
In the grammatical sense, a pronoun that is associated with a
particular person primarily is called personal pronoun. Each of the personal
pronouns shows the grammatical person, number, gender, and case of the noun it
replaces.
Three types of persons are used in personal pronoun:
First-person- I, we, us.
Second person- you, your, yourself
Third person- he, she, it, her,
him, they, them.
Personal pronouns can be in various forms, e.g. singular, plural
(depending on number).
They can be in various forms depending on the case, gender, or
formality.
e.g.
1.I don’t want to go to the office in the rain.
2.He struck her on the nose.
3.He is working hard to get the award of the best employee.
4.It’s sweet.
5.He has lived there for 5 years.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to replace nouns in a sentence,
pointing towards something in a given sentence.
List of demonstrative pronouns is as follows-
This
That
These
Those
Such
The same
None
This, that, these, those are mostly used pronouns.
These pronouns can be in two forms, either singular or plural:
Singular – This, that
Plural – These, those.
None, such these can be used as both singular and plural nouns.
These pronouns are used to point the things either near in time/
distance or far away in time/ distance.
For things near in time/distance: This, these.
For things far away in time/ distance: That, those.
e.g.
1.This is my father’s shirt.
2.That looks like the toy I used to play.
3.These are nice sandals, but they are uncomfortable.
4.This is a delicious dish.
5.None of this makes sense.
6.None of the people here seem to like the dish I cooked.
7.She wants to paint this.
8.I want to try this.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns are the pronouns used to indicate the
belongingness of one thing to another or of one person to another. This type of
pronoun shows ownership, for example, my notebook, your pen, his book, her
clip, etc.
A list of some possessive pronouns is given below.
His
Her
Mine
Your
Yours
Ours
Its
Theirs
e.g.
1.I will wear my favourite dress for the party.
2.The laptop on the table is mine.
3.Who owns this car? Is it yours?
4.His pants were old and worn.
5.That’s mine. Please do not touch it.
6.These candies are all mine.
7.I had dinner with Samir and his sister.
8.Is that boy your brother?
9.I lost my favourite dress.
10.Did you see his dog?
11.This cake is mine.
12.That is Ram’s house.
13.His neighbour, Rahul, is my best friend.
Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns are used to show the mutual relationship or
mutual action for two or more people.
There are two reciprocal pronouns that are used.
Each other- This is used when we
want to refer to two people.
One another- When we refer more
than two people, this pronoun is used.
e.g.
1.They are not happy with each other.
2.Ram and Shyam call each other every day.
3.Maria and Merry gave each other gifts on their last day of
school.
4.Tom and Jerry were talking to each other on the whole trip.
5.The students congratulated one another after receiving graduation.
6.The members of the party blamed one another for the loss of the
election.
7.Smita and I spent a lot of time at each other’s places.
Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in a sentence to ask a question.
These can be used as a subject or as an object in a sentence.
Common interrogative pronouns are:
How
Who
Whom
Whose
Which
What
e.g.
1.How many oranges do you have?
2. Who called you?
3.What do you want to eat?
4.What is your dog’s name?
5.What time are you supposed to be here?
6.Which bike do you prefer?
7.Which chair would you like to have?
8.Who was driving that bike while the accident took place?
9.Whom do you live with?
10.Whose notebook is this?
11.What do you want for your anniversary?
12.Whose shoes are those?
13.Which dress do you think looks better on me?
Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used in a sentence to talk about the
things which are not specific. As these pronouns do not indicate the exact
thing or place, these are called indefinite pronouns.
Below is a list of indefinite pronouns:
All
Another
Any
Anybody
Anyone
Anything
Both
Each
Each One
Either
Everybody
Everything
Everyone
Few
Many
More
Most
Much
Neither
No One
Nobody
None
Nothing
One
Other
Plenty
Some
Somebody
Something
Someone
Whatever
Whichever
Whoever
Whomever
Let us take some examples to understand their usage in a sentence.
e.g.
1.Someone stole my watch.
2.No one wants to help me.
3.Nobody is coming to the celebration.
4.I like both of these dresses.
5.I don’t want anyone to eat this.
6.You can’t blame me for everything.
7.Everyone is struggling to save their jobs.
8.Is there something to eat?
9.All is right with her.
10.I don’t think anyone wants to come with us.
11.Everyone is playing there.
12.He is hoping someone will help him.
13.They say you should always wear a seat belt while driving a
car.
14.I’m very hungry, so just order anything.
15.It’s your money, do whatever you want to do with it.
16.She has nothing to say in her defence.
Reflexive Pronouns
In reflexive pronouns, one acts as a subject and an object both.
The doer of the action is the recipient of that action also.
List of the reflexive pronouns:
Myself
Yourself
Itself
Himself
Herself
Ourselves
Themselves
Yourselves
Let us go through some examples to get a clear thought on this
type of pronoun.
e.g.
1.I take care of myself.
2.You can cook it yourself.
3.He can do it by himself.
4.John hurt himself.
5.He admitted to himself that he was not right.
6.I will do it myself.
7.I was in a hurry, so I ironed the clothes myself.
8.She wanted to impress him, so she baked a cake herself.
9.He is too young to go out by himself.
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to refer to previously mentioned nouns.
Relative pronouns are also used to join two sentences.
The most common relative pronouns used are:
Who
Whom
That
Whose
Which
These relative pronouns are mostly used. There are some relative
pronouns which are used less.
Here is a list of such relative pronouns:
When
Where
Whoever
Wherever
Whatsoever
e.g.
1.This is my sister who lives in the USA.
2.The man who came to our house was a salesman.
3.I have never understood people who hate tea.
4.The horse who won the race trained hard.
5.The dress that I bought yesterday is already stained.
6.Where did you buy the book that you are reading?
7.That’s the place where we met.
8.The town where he lives is in complete lockdown.
Compiled by-
Revatagaon sir
See More Resources-
Do solve the following online tests
Click belowOnline test on Framing wh- question
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