Parts of Speech: Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that is used as a substitute in place of a noun or a group of words that act as a noun. He, they, and our are all examples of commonly used pronouns. Writers often utilize pronouns to avoid repeating nouns over and over again in their writing.

Antecedents

An antecedent is the noun or noun phrase that a pronoun is representing. For example:

I know a French girl, and she is nice.

The pronoun she is taking the place of the noun girl.

Making cheesecake for dessert is quick, and it will be easy.

The pronoun it is taking the place of the noun phrase making cheesecake for dessert.

When selecting a pronoun, the antecedent of the pronoun is important and indicates which pronoun should be used. The pronoun you use will change depending on the if the antecedent is singular or plural, the case of the pronoun, and the intent of the pronoun.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns are used more often than any other type of pronoun. Personal pronouns are used when the antecedent is the noun speaking, the noun being spoken to, or the noun being spoken about.

Singular and Plural

A singular and plural antecedent will use different personal pronouns:

The singular pronouns his, him, and he are used with a masculine antecedent. For example:

Jimmy didn’t know where he was going.

The pronoun he is replacing the masculine antecedent, Jimmy.

The singular pronouns she and her are used with a feminine antecedent. For example:

Julie did know where she was going.

The pronoun she is replacing the feminine antecedent, Julie.

The singular pronouns it and its are used with an antecedent with no particular gender. For example:

The movie was not as good as it was made out to be.

The pronoun it is replacing the genderless antecedent, movie.

Case

The case of the pronoun you’re using will also determine which pronoun you need to use. Pronouns in English take one of three cases; the subjective case, the objective case, or the possessive case.

When the pronoun being used is the subject of a sentence, the pronoun must be a subjective pronoun. For example:

He walks on the sidewalk.

The pronoun he is acting as the subject of the sentence.

When the pronoun being used is the object of a sentence, the objective case is used. For example:

The dog barked at him.

The pronoun him is acting as an object in the sentence.

When the pronoun being used is showing ownership over another noun, the possessive case is used. For example:

The car lost its wheel.

The pronoun its is showing ownership for the antecedent car. Personal pronouns that show ownership do not have an apostrophe between the s and final letter.

When pronouns are part of a predicative nominative, they take the same case that they would if they were a subjective pronoun. A predicative nominative is a noun or pronoun that follows a verb, and elaborates or renames the subject. For example:

The smartest girl in the class is she.

She is a pronoun acting as a predicative. In informal English, you will often here “her” in place of she in predicative nominatives. This has become acceptable slang, but is technically grammatically incorrect.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Pronouns that end with the suffix -self or -selves are said to be reflexive or intensive. If the pronoun is adding information to the sentence by reflecting back to another noun in the beginning of the sentence, it is reflexive. If the pronoun simply adds emphasis, it is intensive.

Distinguishing between reflexive and intensive pronouns can sometimes be difficult because they’re the same words functioning in different ways. An easy way to determine if a pronoun is reflexive or intensive is to remove the pronoun for the sentence. For example:

With Pronoun: Jimmy taught himself to tie his shoes.

Without Pronoun: Jimmy taught to tie his shoes.

It can immediately be seen that in this case, the pronoun is reflexive because the sentence no longer makes sense without the pronoun. The pronoun himself added additional information to the sentence, who was taught in this case. However, in certain cases pronouns can be omitted from a sentence and still be reflexive. For example:

We purchased ourselves new shoes.

We purchased new shoes.

The sentence still makes sense without the pronoun, but the pronoun is still reflexive because it offers new information. Ourselves tells whom the shoes were purchased for.

An intensive pronoun does not add new information to a sentence, and is merely used to accent a point previously made. For example:

The team created the website themselves!

In that sentence, the pronoun themselves is not adding any new information, but emphasizing who created the website.

Demonstrative Pronouns

A pronoun that directs attention to a specific noun or noun phrase is known as a demonstrative pronoun. There are four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these and those. Demonstrative pronouns can come before or after their antecedent. For example:

That is the house I would like to own.

I received pink flowers, but those were not the flowers I ordered.

In the first example, the antecedent comes after the pronoun, while in the second it comes first.

Relative Pronouns

A pronoun that relates back to another idea in the sentence and begins a subordinate clause is known as a relative pronoun. Examples of relative pronouns include who, whom, whose, whoever, whomever, which, whichever, and that. Relative pronouns remain consistent for all genders, however the case and antecedent will determine which pronoun you use.

The subjective form of a pronoun is used when the relative pronoun acts as the subject of the subordinate clause. For example:

Croatia, which is located on the Balkan Peninsula, is warm this time of year.

In that sentence, the relative pronoun which is replacing the antecedent Croatia. The subordinate clause of that sentence is “which is located on the Balkan Peninsula.” If that was written as a complete sentence it would read, “Croatia is located on the Balkan Peninsula,” and Croatia would be the subject, which means a subjective pronoun is necessary for that clause.

The possessive form of a pronoun is used when the relative pronoun indicates possession within a subordinate clause. For example:

Jimmy, whose dog ran away, is upset.

In that sentence, the relative pronoun whose is replacing the antecedent Jimmy’s. However, this is an understood antecedent, because the word “Jimmy’s” does not actually appear in the sentence, just “Jimmy.”

The objective form of a pronoun is used when the relative pronoun acts as the object of a subordinate clause. For example:

She is the girl from whom I borrowed the pencil.

In that sentence, the pronoun whom is replacing the antecedent girl. The subordinate clause of that sentence is “from whom I borrowed the pencil .” If it was rewritten as a complete sentence, it would read “I borrowed the pencil from the girl,” and girl would be the indirect object of the sentence, which means an objective pronoun is needed.

Interrogative Pronouns

A pronoun that begins a question is known as an interrogative pronoun. The five interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom and whose. Interrogative pronouns do not always have a specific antecedent.

What is used to ask about objects or people. For example:

What is her name?

What time is it?

Which can be used to ask about objects of people. For example:

Which cat is yours?

Which one is your cousin?

Whose is used to ask about possession. For example:

Whose child is that?

Whose keys are those?

Who is specifically used to ask about people. For example:

Who is your cousin?

Who are you?

Whom is specifically used to ask about people who are objects within a sentence. Whom is also used when following a preposition For example:

For whom were the socks you bought?

Whom will you tell a story ?

Informal English rarely distinguishes between whom and who anymore and in casual conversation using who for all cases is acceptable. However, in writing that is formal, using whom is the only way to be grammatically correct in some cases.

Indefinite Pronouns

A pronoun that does not refer to a specific antecedent, excluding interrogative pronouns, is known as an indefinite pronoun. Indefinite pronouns may be plural, singular or both depending on how they are used.

When using an indefinite pronoun that can be singular or plural, it’s important to conjugate the sentence’s verb accordingly. For example:

All of the pizza was eaten.

In this case, all is a singular pronoun. Because of this, the verb “was” is needed and not “were”.

All of the pizzas were eaten.

In this case, all is a plural pronoun. Because of this, the verb “were” is needed and not “was”.

In those examples, it’s obvious if the indefinite pronoun being used is singular or plural because there is an antecedent in the sentence. This won’t always be the case. For example:

All was eaten

All were eaten.

In the first sentence, all is referring to one, singular thing. In the second, all is referring to something plural. Conjugating verbs correctly is important to conveying ideas with indefinite pronouns correctly.