PRONOUNS IN ENGLISH

MAIN INFORMATION
 PRONOUNS IN ENGLISH
Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. We often use them to avoid repeating
the nouns that they refer to. Pronouns have different forms for the different ways we use
them.
A pronoun is a part of speech that designates, but does not directly name objects, faces,
their properties and relationships, or gives their temporal and spatial characteristics. A
pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and
more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing.
Without pronouns, we’d constantly have to repeat nouns, and that would make our
speech and writing repetitive, so using pronouns helps in the flow of sentences and
makes them more interesting.
FOR EXAMPLE:
Сoffee (what? noun) becomes → it (pronoun)
Amanda (who? noun) becomes → she (pronoun)
IN A SENTENCE:
Amanda drinks a cup of coffee every afternoon could become → She drinks a cup of it
every afternoon.
Or even – she drinks it every afternoon, where the pronoun it would substitute the cup
of coffee, not just the coffee.
A personal pronoun is a short word we use as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person.
Each of the English personal pronouns shows us the grammatical person, gender, number, and case
of the noun it replaces. I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, and them are all personal
pronouns.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
2) I have more money than he
3) We will be late if you don’t hurry up.
A personal pronoun can be in one of three “persons”. A first-person pronoun refers to the speaker,
a second-person pronoun refers to the person being spoken to, and a third-person pronoun refers to
the person being spoken of. For each of these three grammatical persons, there is a plural as well.
Also pronouns can be either subjects or objects in a sentence. Subject pronouns are said to be in the
nominative case, whereas object pronouns are said to be in the objective case.
We use subject pronouns as the subject of a verb → We live in England.
We use object pronouns as the object of a verb and after prepositions →
1) Can you help me, please? / 2) Don't take it from us.
The interrogative pronouns for all three persons are the same: who (nominative) and whom
(objective).
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) Mrs. Black asked that the package be delivered to her at the office (her = third
person singular objective)
 TYPES OF PRONOUNS
We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who
or what they are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and
pronouns ending in -thing for things. The indefinite pronouns are: anybody,
anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, nothing, someone,
something, no one.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) Everybody enjoyed the concert.
2) It was a very clear day. We could see everything.
1) Also after an indefinite pronoun we use a singular verb → Everybody loves
Mary.
2) When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun, we normally use a plural
pronoun → Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.
3) As well, we can add 's to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive → They
were staying in somebody's house.
4) And we always use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to other people or
things → All the family came, but no one else.
By the way, we need to be careful (!) in negative clauses, when we use pronouns
with no-, but not pronouns with any- → Nobody came.
(NOT Anybody didn't come.)
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or
noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves. Reflexive pronouns are
used to refer back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive
pronouns includes: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves,
yourselves, themselves.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) She looked at herself in the mirror.
2) Our children walk to school by themselves.
1) We often use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of a verb
are the same → I hope you enjoy yourselves at the party tonight.
2) We can add a reflexive pronoun for emphasis when it's unusual or different →
He wants to pass his driving test so that he can drive himself to work.
3) We can use reflexive pronouns to emphasise that someone does it personally,
not anybody else → The door was definitely locked. I locked it myself.
4) We can also use a reflexive pronoun together with the noun it refers to in
order to emphasise it → Parents themselves need to take more responsibility for
their children's learning.
5) We can use by + reflexive pronoun to mean alone → Do you enjoy being by
yourself?
Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a
sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those –
but the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular, whereas
these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some crossover
with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) I prefer this
2) Did you see that?
1) While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as
demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative
pronoun replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun →
These flowers are beautiful
2) When used to represent a thing or things, demonstrative pronouns can be
either near or far in distance or time → near in time or distance: this, these and
far: that, those
3) Demonstrative pronouns always identify nouns, whether those nouns are
named specifically or not → I can’t believe this
4) Demonstrative pronouns are usually used to describe animals, places, or
things, however they can be used to describe people when the person is
identified → This sounds like Mary singing
 TYPES OF PRONOUNS
Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership. They include: mine, its,
hers, his, yours, ours, theirs, whose.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) This cat is mine
Mine is indicating possession, that the cat belongs to me. Incidentally, this in the sentence is
not a pronoun but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun cat. You will find that
possessive pronouns often follow phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.
2) Are these bananas yours?
3) This money is ours
4) Is the fault theirs or yours?
Relative pronouns –those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an
adjective (relative) clause. They will usually appear after a noun to help clarify the sentence
or give extra information. They include: who, which, that, whom, whose.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) The man who stole the car went to jail → Here the relative pronoun
who acts to refer back to the noun man. It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as
not just any man, but the one who stole the car
Interrogative pronouns – which introduce a question. We can usually identify an
interrogative pronoun by the fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question.
They include: who, whom, whose, what, which.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) Who will come to the party?
2) Which do you prefer?
3) Whose clothes are on the floor?
1) There is one problem - whom and who are often confused → Who will replace the
subject of a sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct or indirect object. A good
tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the sentence with a personal
pronoun and it will still make sense.
2) A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the sentence with
a personal pronoun and it will still make sense → Who will come to the party? I will
come to the party
Reciprocal pronouns – those expressing mutual actions or relationship. There are just
two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other. They are mainly used
to stop repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce the idea that collective and
reciprocal actions are happening to more than one person or thing.
FOR EXAMPLE: John and Mary gave each other gifts.
Intensive pronouns – they ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents. These
are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but rather than just referring back to the subject of the sentence
they work to reinforce the action. In many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the intensive
pronoun.
FOR EXAMPLE: 1) I will do it myself
2) We made this pie ourselves
3) A nation speaks for itself through elections
After the examples we can notice how the intensive pronoun is working to emphasize the statement.
The sentence would still technically be correct without the intensive pronoun, but it adds some important
context to its meaning.
 USAGE OF PRONOUNS
There are a few important rules for using pronouns:
1) Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences → We did a great job.
2) Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject → It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii
3) Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their own → No one likes the
sound of fingernails on a chalkboard
4) Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. These include: you,
me, him, her, us, them, and it → David talked to her about the mistake.
5) Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes→ The cat washed its
THANK YOU FOR YOUR
ATTENTION
BY SHEPELEVA ANASTASIA