What are Pronouns?

Definition: Pronoun is word that substitutes the noun in a given sentence. In other words it acts as a replacement for a noun.

Classification of Pronouns:

They are classified into eight types. They are:

Personal
Possessive
Reflexive/ Intensive
Relative
Demonstrative
Indefinite
Interrogative
Reciprocal

Let us see each of them in detail.

1. Personal Pronoun:

These refer to the speaker or speakers, called first person, and include the following

I, my, mine, me, myself,

We, our, ours, us ourselves.

Those spoke to are said to be in second person and include the following

You, your, yours, yourself, yourselves

Those spoken about are said to be in the third person an include the following

He, his, him, himself,

She, her, hers, herself,

It, its, itself

They, their, theirs, them, themselves.

Impersonal Pronoun:

These substitute Nouns which are in the Neuter gender.

It, its, itself

They, their, theirs, them, themselves.

Antecedent: The noun/ Pronoun or phrase which the Pronoun is referring to is called its antecedent.

Example: The boy bought a nice flower bouquet. He gifted it to his friend. Here, boy is the antecedent for he, and flower bouquet is the antecedent for it.

2. Possessive Pronoun:

Some of the personal pronouns listed above can be categorized as Possessive as they show to whom something belongs. They are:

My, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their and theirs.

Example: The mobile is mine. Here mine denotes to whom the mobile belongs.

3. Reflexive Pronoun:

Myself, yourself, yourselves, himself, herself, itself, ourselves and themselves are compound personal pronouns formed by combining My, your, him, her, it, our, them. with self or selves. These are called reflexive pronouns.

Example: He hurt himself while hitting the dog.

4. Relative Pronoun:

These join the dependent clause to the independent clause. They are,

Who, whose, whom which and that.

Example: He found his ring that he had lost in the gathering.

5. Demonstrative Pronoun:

These are the pronouns which point out something. They are,

This, that, these and those.

These are also called Definite Pronouns.

Example: This is my book.

Indefinite Pronoun

Any, anybody,anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, others, some, somebody, someone are called Indefinite Pronouns.

6. Interrogative Pronoun:

These ask questions. They are:

Who, whom, whose, which, and what.

The compounds formed by suffixing the above pronouns with ever also belong to this category. They are: Whoever, whomever, whichever, and whatever. They can also be used as relative type and sometime they may act as adjectives as well.

Example: Whom do you wish to take with you?; Who will receive the delegates from the airport?

7. Reciprocal Pronoun:

Each other, One another are called reciprocal pronouns.

Example: They love each other.

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