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Learn Pronouns As Part of Speech For Bank & SSC Exams - English Notes in PDF
Learn Pronouns As Part of Speech For Bank & SSC Exams - English Notes in PDF
Before moving ahead with Pronouns, let’s have a look at what are parts of speech in
brief:
Parts of Speech
Parts of speech are the basic categories of words according to their function in a
sentence. It is a category to which a word is assigned in accordance with its syntactic
functions. English has eight main parts of speech, namely, Nouns, Pronouns,
Adjectives, Verbs, Adverbs, Prepositions, Conjunctions & Interjections. In grammar,
the parts of speech, also called lexical categories, grammatical categories or word
classes is a linguistic category of words.
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Pronouns as part of speech are the words which are used in place of nouns like people,
places, or things. They are used to avoid sounding unnatural by reusing the same noun
in a sentence multiple times. In the sentence Maya saw Sanjay, and she waved at him,
the pronouns she and him take the place of Maya and Sanjay, respectively. The other
examples of pronouns are I, you, she, her, it, everyone, somebody, hers, theirs, etc.
1. Personal Pronouns:
Personal pronouns are used for the first person (the speaker - I) and the second person
(the person spoken to - you). We use he, she, it and they to refer to other people and
things (third person) when it is clear from the context what we are referring to.
Example - Hina isn’t coming with us. She has to finish homework.
Like nouns, pronouns can function as subjects as well as objects. Additionally, there is a
possessive case. As the name implies, it marks possession of a personal pronoun. The
possessive case can further be divided into two as follows:
Example - My father’s house is being sold off. (My modifies father to show his relation
to the speaker.)
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We use a reflexive pronoun as object of the verb when it refers to the same thing as the
subject. Reflexive pronouns are formed by adding “-self” (singular) or “-selves” (plural)
to the end of my, your, our, him, her, it or them (as well as the indefinite pronoun one).
Example -
Pronoun Reflexive
Pronoun
He/ Her/ Himself/
It Herself/
Itself
They Themselves
I Myself
You Yourself
We Ourselves
One Oneself
*Exceptions: Transitive verbs like keep, stop, bathe, turn, rest qualify, hide, etc. do not
use reflexive pronouns.
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Incorrect - You should keep yourself away from intoxicating substances.
Correct - You should keep away from intoxicating substances.
Singular Plural
He, she, it They
Him, her, it Them
His, her, Their,
hers, it theirs
Himself, Themselves
herself,
itself
3. Demonstrative Pronouns:
They are used to indicate specific people or things and signify whether they are
singular/plural and whether they are close or far from the speaker. Some of the
demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these and those.
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These are really tasty. (Plural + close by)
4. Indefinite Pronouns:
The Indefinite Pronoun is used in place of a noun that is not being specified in the
sentence. They are used depending upon whether the nouns being represented are
person or thing and whether the noun is singular or plural. Some of the indefinite
pronouns are any, somebody, none, whatever, all & many.
Example -
5. Distributive Pronouns:
They are the pronouns in which members of a group are considered separately, rather
than collectively. Some of the distributive pronouns are each, every, neither, etc.
Example -
6. Reciprocal Pronouns:
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These pronouns are used when two or more people act as the subject of a verb and both
individually and equally receive the verb’s action. Some of the reciprocal pronouns are
each other, one another, etc.
7. Relative Pronouns:
These are used to connect relative clauses (or adjective clauses) to the main clause in a
sentence. Some of the relative pronouns are who, which, what, whose, etc.
Example -
8. Interrogative Pronouns:
The Interrogative Pronouns are used to ask questions. There are only five of these which
are Who, whose, whom, which & what.
• Use a subject pronoun, not only as the subject of a sentence but after to be
verbs (is, are, was, were, will be, maybe, may have been, etc.) when the pronoun
renames the subject. Do not use object pronouns following to be verbs.
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Examples -
1. She is my wife (She is the subject, therefore use subject pronoun after to be verb)
It is I who whispered. (Correct as ‘I’ should come after to be verb and renames the
subject ‘it’. Therefore, use subject pronoun.)
• When who refers to a personal pronoun (I, you, he, she, we, they), it takes the
verb that agrees with that pronoun.
Examples -
• Use an object pronoun when the pronoun is the direct object, the indirect object,
or the object of the preposition.
2. Maya will give him his watch back. (Watch is the direct object and him is an indirect
object.)
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3. He eats with them. (Correct: them is the object of the preposition with)
He eats with they. (Incorrect)
Example -
• Difference between 'my' & 'mine': 'My' is used before the noun and 'mine' is used
after the noun.
Example -
This is my book.
• Difference between 'your' and 'yours': 'Your' is used before the 'noun' and ‘yours'
used after the ' noun'.
Example -
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• Singular pronouns (I, he, she, everyone, everybody, anyone, anybody, no one,
nobody, someone, somebody, each, either, neither, etc.) require singular verbs.
This rule is frequently overlooked when using the pronouns each, either, and
neither, followed by of. These three pronouns always take singular verbs.
Example -
• Reflexive pronouns are used when both the subject and the object of a verb
are the same person or thing.
Example -
Now that you have read the Pronouns as Part of Speech, know more about the other five
parts of speech by clicking on the button below:
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of Speech for Bank & SSC Speech for Bank & SSC
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