Types of Pronouns:

Personal Pronouns: The personal pronoun takes the place of a specific or named person or thing. Personal pronouns come in three different cases: Subject Pronouns, Object Pronouns, and Possessive Pronouns. Examples: Subject Pronouns: I you, she, he, they, we, it, who Object Pronouns: me, you, him, her, them, us, it, whom Possessive Pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours, its, whose Subjective Singular First Person I Plural we you Objective Singular me you Plural us you Possessive Singular my, mine Plural our, ours

Second Person you Third Person he, she, it

your, yours your, yours its, their

it, they him, her,it it, them his, her

Demonstrative Pronoun: The demonstrative pronoun points out a specific person, place, or thing. Examples: this, that, these, those Reflexive Pronoun: The reflexive pronoun adds information by pointing back to a noun or another pronoun. Examples: myself, yourself. Intensive Pronouns: The intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a noun or pronoun. Examples: myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves Indefinite Pronouns: Indefinite pronouns refer to persons, places, or things without specifying for certain which one. Examples: everybody, anybody, somebody, all, each, every, some, none, one Interrogative Pronoun: An interrogative pronoun is used to ask a question. The personal interrogative pronouns come in the same three cases as the personal pronouns.Examples: who, what, where, which Relative Pronouns: A relative pronoun begins a subordinate clause and relates the clause to a word in the main clause. Examples: who, whom, which and that Reciprocal Pronoun: A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that involves an exchange. Examples: each other, one another Negative Pronoun: A negative pronoun refers to a negative noun phrase. Examples: no-one, nobody, neither, none and nothing

ronouns: Reflexive and Intensive

Use pronouns correctly in a story. With a partner, write a story or series of related sentences using ten of the pronouns in the chart above, including at least one reflexive and one intensive pronoun. Read your story or sentences aloud to another pair. Have them check the sentences for correct usage. Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns in sentences. Example: Mark will take Marks little brother with Mark. You can substitute pronouns to make the sentence clearer: Mark will take his little brother with him. See the chart below containing singular and plural nominative, objective, possessive, and reflexive personal pronouns. Review the examples of special pronouns and the rules of agreement that follow the chart. Personal Pronouns (Reflexive and intensive pronouns are in boldface.) Singular First Person Second Person Third Person I, me, my, mine you, your, yours he, she, it, him, her, hers, myself yourself its, himself, herself, itself Plural First Person Second Person

Third Person

we, us, our you, your, yours, they, them, their, theirs ours, ourselves yourselves themselves

REFLEXIVE AND INTENSIVE PRONOUNS Reflexive pronouns are used to reflect the subject for clarity. Examples: I will do it myself. Arnie was able to build the model himself, and the teacher was impressed. Reflexive pronouns never substitute for subject or object pronouns. INCORRECT: Ben and myself will do the project together. CORRECT: Ben and I will do the project together. INCORRECT: The program will be introduced by Andrea and myself. CORRECT: The program will be introduced by Andrea and me. Intensive pronouns are used to intensify or strengthen a statement. I myself will have the first slice of cake. The queen herself made an appearance at the ball.

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Pronouns: Pronouns and Agreement Use this guide to complete the activities on the next page. Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns in sentences. The antecedent is the word to which a pronoun refers. See the chart of personal and indefinite pronouns below. Personal Pronouns Singular First Person Second Person Third Person I, me, my, mine you, your, yours he, she, it myself yourself him, his, her, hers, its Plural First Person Second Person Third Person we, us, our you, your, yours, they, them, their, theirs ours, ourselves yourselves themselves Indefinite Pronouns Singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something Plural: both, few, many, others, several Singular or Plural: all, any, more, most, none, some Pronouns must agree with their antecedents in gender and number, and must also agree with verbs. See the examples below. INCORRECT: Everyone bring their books to class. CORRECT: Everyone brings his or her book to class. Everyone is a singular pronoun and must have a singular verb and a singular pronoun to agree with it. Usually, a prepositional phrase does not affect agreement. Example: The book about sports is on the shelf. Here book is the singular subject that must agree with the verb is. The prepositional phrase about sports only modifies book (telling which book) and does not affect subject-verb agreement. However, because some pronouns are either singular or plural, the prepositional phrase can provide information. Examples: all of it some of it most of it any of it all of them some of them most of them any of them _________________________________________________________ Pronouns and Agreement Use the guidelines provided to complete the activities. Complete the following sentences by circling the correct pronoun. Check your work with a partner and discuss how you made your choices. 1. Everybody wants to speak about (their, his or her) own project at the fair.

2. 3. 4. 5.

Colleen and (I, me) want to show our artwork at the fair, too. Each project has (their, its) own point of view about history. Most of the projects (has, have) never been exhibited before. Anybody from the class (is, are) allowed to go and spend the day.

Complete the following sentences by circling the correct verb. 6. Everyone in the class (are, is) participating in the fair. 7. Some of them (has, have) more than one event to attend. 8. Most of the projects (is, are) on display for the whole week. 9. My classmates and teacher (feel, feels) every excited to be part of it. 10. Each of the participants (earns, earn) a certificate. Write a story using ten pronouns. Give your story to a partner and have him or her circle the pronouns. Discuss your stories and your pronoun usage. __________________________________________________________________________________

Definition Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by writers who claim something like

They say that eating beef is bad for you.

They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is unfair. Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.

Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.

The word "everyone" has no antecedent. The problem of agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent and between a pronoun and its verb is treated in another section on Pronoun-Antecedent Consistency. The quizzes on pronoun usage are also listed at the end of that section. This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.

KINDS OF PRONOUNS: Personal || Demonstrative || Indefinite || Relative || Reflexive || Intensive || Interrogative || Reciprocal Personal Pronouns Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available that shows the various Cases of the Personal Pronouns. Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the Personal Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes "me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way"). When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me." For more on this, see cases of pronouns. When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and second-person pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.

We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.

The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.

With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":

"You students are demanding too much." "We expect you students to behave like adults."

Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.

Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful. This new car is mine. Mine is newer than yours.

Demonstrative Pronouns The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners. As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw) I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience) Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:

These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious. Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better. This [book in my hand] is well written; that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:

You're going to wear these? This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence. When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.

This is my father. That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days." Relative Pronouns The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student, to the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The

pronoun which refers to things; who (and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer to the section onConsistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of who and whom at the end of that section. The expanded form of the relative pronouns whoever, whomever, whatever are known as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":

The coach will select whomever he pleases. He seemed to say whatever came to mind. Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.

What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

She will tell you what you need to know.

Indefinite Pronouns The indefinite pronouns (everybody/anybody/somebody/all/each/every/some/none/one) do not substitute for specific nouns but function themselves as nouns (Everyone is wondering if any is left.) One of the chief difficulties we have with the indefinite pronouns lies in the fact that "everybody" feels as though it refers to more than one person, but it takes a singular verb. (Everybody is accounted for.) If you think of this word as meaning "every single body," the confusion usually disappears. The indefinite pronoun none can be either singular or plural, depending on its context. None is nearly always plural (meaning "not any") except when something else in the sentence makes us regard it as a singular (meaning "not one"), as in "None of the food is fresh." Some can be singular or plural depending on whether it refers to something countable or noncountable. Refer to the section on Pronoun Consistency for help on determining the number of the indefinite pronouns (and the number [singular/plural] of the verbs that accompany them). There is a separate section on the uses of the pronoun one. There are other indefinite pronouns, words that double as Determiners: enough, few, fewer, less, little, many, much, several, more, most, all, both, every, each, any, either, neither, none, some

Few will be chosen; fewer will finish. Little is expected.

See the section on Pronoun Consistency for help in determining the number (singular/plural) characteristics of these pronouns. Intensive Pronouns The intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself, herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a personal pronoun plus self or selves and emphasize a noun. (I myself don't know the answer.) It is possible (but rather unusual) for an intensive pronoun to precede the noun it refers to. (Myself, I don't believe a word he says.) Reflexive Pronouns The reflexive pronouns (which have the same forms as the intensive pronouns) indicate that the sentence subject also receives the action of the verb. (Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurtingthemselves. You paid yourself a million dollars? She encouraged herself to do well.) What this means is that whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a sentence there must be a person to whom that pronoun can "reflect." In other words, the sentence "Please hand that book to myself" would be incorrect because there is no "I" in that sentence for the "myself" to reflect to (and we would use "me" instead of "myself"). A sentence such as "I gave that book to myself for Christmas" might be silly, but it would be correct. Be alert to a tendency to use reflexive pronoun forms (ending in -self) where they are neither appropriate nor necessary. The inappropriate reflexive form has a wonderful name: the untriggered reflexive. "Myself" tends to sound weightier, more formal, than little ol' me or I, so it has a way of sneaking into sentences where it doesn't belong.

Bob and myself I are responsible for this decision. These decisions will be made by myself me. If you have any questions, please contact myself me or Bob Jones.

When pronouns are combined, the reflexive will take either the first person

Juanita, Carlos, and I have deceived ourselves into believing in my uncle.

or, when there is no first person, the second person:

You and Carlos have deceived yourselves.

The indefinite pronoun (see above) one has its own reflexive form ("One must have faith in oneself."), but the other indefinite pronouns use either himself or themselves as reflexives. (There is an entire page on the pronoun one.) It is probably better to pluralize and avoid the clumsy himself or herself construction.

No one here can blame himself or herself. The people here cannot blame themselves.

Interrogative Pronouns The interrogative pronouns (who/which/what) introduce questions. (What is that? Who will help me? Which do you prefer?) Which is generally used with more specific reference than what. If we're taking a quiz and I ask "Which questions give you the most trouble?", I am referring to specific questions on that quiz. If I ask "What questions give you most trouble"? I could be asking what kind of questions on that quiz (or what kind of question, generically, in general) gives you trouble. The interrogative pronouns also act as Determiners: It doesn't matter which beer you buy. He doesn't know whose car he hit. In this determiner role, they are sometimes called interrogative adjectives. Like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses, and like the relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns play a subject role in the clauses they introduce:

We know who is guilty of this crime. I already told the detective what I know about it.

Reciprocal Pronouns The reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another. They are convenient forms for combining ideas. If Bob gave Alicia a book for Christmas and Alicia gave Bob a book for Christmas, we can say that they gave each other books (or that they gave books to each other).

My mother and I give each other a hard time.

If more than two people are involved (let's say a whole book club), we would say that they gave one another books. This rule (if it is one) should be applied circumspectly. It's quite possible for the exchange of books within this book club, for example, to be between individuals, making "each other" just as appropriate as "one another." Reciprocal pronouns can also take possessive forms:

They borrowed each other's ideas. The scientists in this lab often use one another's equipment.

____________________________________________________________________________________ PRONOUNS Pronouns are words that substitute for nouns. Every pronoun must have a clear antecedent (the word for which the pronoun stands). KINDS OF PRONOUNS A. Personal Pronouns: SINGULAR subjective 1st person 2nd person 3rd person I you he she objective me you him her possessive my, mine your, yours his her, hers subjective we you they PLURAL objective us you them possessive our, ours your, yours their, theirs

it

it

its

Personal pronouns have the following characteristics:

1. three persons (points of view) 1st person - the one(s) speaking (I me my mine we us our ours) 2nd person - the one(s) spoken to (you your yours) 3rd person - the one(s) spoken about (he him his she her hers it its they their theirs) 2. three genders feminine (she her hers) masculine (he him his) neuter (it its they them their theirs) 3. two numbers singular (I me my mine you your yours he him his she her hers it its) plural (we us our ours you your yours they them their theirs) Examples 4. three cases subjective (I you he she it we they) possessive (my mine your yours his her hers our ours their theirs) objective (me you him her it us them) Examples - subjective case Examples - possessive case Examples - objective case NOTE: Because of pronoun case, the pronoun's form changes with its function in the sentence. Follow this link to pronoun case for more information.

B.

Demonstrative Pronouns:

Demonstrative pronouns can also be used as determiners. Hand me that hammer. (that describes the noun hammer)

Demonstrative pronouns can also be used as qualifiers: She wanted that much money? (that describes the adjective much)

C. Reflexive / Intensive Pronouns : the "self" pronoun These pronouns can be used only to reflect or intensify a word already there in the sentence Reflexive / intensive pronouns CANNOT REPLACE personal pronouns. Examples:

I saw myself in the mirror. (Myself is a reflexive pronoun, reflecting the pronoun I.)

Ill do it myself. (Myself is an intensive pronoun, intensifying the pronoun I.)

Note: The following words are substandard and should not be used: theirselves D. Indefinite Pronouns: Singular: one each (n)either someone somebody something anyone anybody anything no one nobody nothing everyone everybody everything theirself hisself ourself

Examples:

Somebody is coming to dinner. Neither of us believes a word Harry says. Plural: Examples:

Both are expected at the airport at the same time. Several have suggested canceling the meeting. Singular with non-countables / Plural with countables: Examples:

Some of the dirt has become a permanent part of the rug. Some of the trees have been weakened by the storm. Indefinite pronouns use apostrophes to indicate possessive case. Examples:

The accident is nobodys fault. How will the roadwork affect one's daily commute? Some indefinite pronouns may also be used as determiners. one, each, either, neither, some, any, one, all, both, few, several, many, most Note the differences:

Each person has a chance.

(Each is a determiner describing person.)

Each has a chance.

(Each is an indefinite pronoun replacing a noun.)

Both lawyers pled their cases well.

(Both is a determiner describing lawyers.)

Both were in the room.

(Both is an indefinite pronoun replacing a noun.) E. Interrogative Pronouns: Interrogative pronouns produce information questions that require more than a yes or no answer. Examples:

What do you want?

Who is there? F. Relative Pronouns:

Relative pronouns introduce relative (adjectival) clauses

Note:

Use who, whom, and whose to refer to people. Use that and which to refer to things. _____________________________________________ Pronouns

A pronoun is used in place of a noun or nouns. Common pronouns include he, her, him, I, it, me, she, them, they, us, and we.Here are some examples: INSTEAD OF: Luma is a good athlete. She is a good athlete. (The pronoun she replaces Luma.) INSTEAD OF: The beans and tomatoes are fresh-picked. They are fresh-picked. (The pronoun they replaces the beans and tomatoes.) Often a pronoun takes the place of a particular noun. This noun is known as the antecedent. A pronoun "refers to," or directs your thoughts toward, its antecedent. Let's call Luma and ask her to join the team. (Her is a pronoun; Luma is its antecedent.)

To find a pronoun's antecedent, ask yourself what that pronoun refers to. What does her refer to in the sentence abovethat is, who is the her? The her in the sentence is Luma; therefore, Luma is the antecedent. Subjective Pronouns

A subjective pronoun acts as the subject of a sentenceit performs the action of the verb. The subjective pronouns are he, I, it, she, they, we, and you. He spends ages looking out the window. After lunch, she and I went to the planetarium. Objective Pronouns An objective pronoun acts as the object of a sentenceit receives the action of the verb. The objective pronouns are her, him, it, me, them, us, and you. Cousin Eldred gave me a trombone. Take a picture of him, not us! Possessive Pronouns A possessive pronoun tells you who owns something. The possessive pronouns are hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, and yours. The red basket is mine. Yours is on the coffee table. Demonstrative Pronouns A demonstrative pronoun points out a noun. The demonstrative pronouns are that, these, this, and those. That is a good idea. These are hilarious cartoons. A demonstrative pronoun may look like a demonstrative adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun. Interrogative Pronouns An interrogative pronoun is used in a question. It helps to ask about something. The interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and compound words ending in "ever," such as whatever, whichever, whoever, and whomever. What on earth is that? Who ate the last Fig Newton? An interrogative pronoun may look like an interrogative adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun. Indefinite Pronouns An indefinite pronoun refers to an indefinite, or general, person or thing. Indefinite pronouns include all, any, both, each, everyone, few, many, neither, none, nothing, several, some, and somebody. Something smells good. Many like salsa with their chips. An indefinite pronoun may look like an indefinite adjective, but it is used differently in a sentence: it acts as a pronoun, taking the place of a noun. Relative Pronouns A relative pronoun introduces a clause, or part of a sentence, that describes a noun. The relative pronouns are that, which, who,and whom. You should bring the book that you love most.

That introduces "you love most," which describes the book. Hector is a photographer who does great work. Who introduces "does great work," which describes Hector. Reflexive Pronouns A reflexive pronoun refers back to the subject of a sentence. The reflexive pronouns are herself, himself, itself, myself, ourselves, themselves, and yourselves. Each of these words can also act as an intensive pronoun (see below). I learned a lot about myself at summer camp. (Myself refers back to I.) They should divide the berries among themselves. (Themselves refers back to they.) Intensive Pronouns An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent (the noun that comes before it). The intensive pronouns are herself, himself, itself, myself, ourselves, themselves, and yourselves. Each of these words can also act as a reflective pronoun (see above). I myself don't like eggs. The queen herself visited our class.