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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Parts of Speech in english language explain different ways words can be used in different contexts. Every word in the English Language functions as at least one Part of Speech. Some words can serve as two or more parts of speech based on the context. The same word can be a Verb in one sentence and a Noun or an Adjective in other sentence. This is an introductory article on Parts of speech.

Parts of Speech

Typically there are Eight Parts of Speech in English language.

Noun
Pronoun
Verb
Adjective
Adverb
Preposition
Conjunction
Interjection

Introduction to the Eight Parts of Speech in English Language

Noun : A Noun is a word used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and an abstract idea or a notion.

Example: Donald Trump, New York, Tiger, Book, Happiness.

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Pronoun : A Pronoun is a word that replaces a Noun or a group of words used as a Noun. In other words it acts as a substitute for a Noun.

Example: I, We, You, He, She, It, They

Verb : Verbs are the most important words in a sentence. They denote the action or indicate the state of being or existence of the subject.

Example: My brother is a doctor; The cap looks good; She is playing chess.

Adjective : An Adjective is a word that modifies the Noun or Pronoun. It describes the quality, state or action that a Noun or Pronoun refer to.

Example: Ramu is a good boy; He looks ugly in the dress

Adverb : Adverbs are used to say how/ where/ when something happens or even how often something happens. In other words, it enhances the information that we got from the adjective, or a verb or another adverb in a sentence.

Example: He played extremely well in the match.

Preposition : A preposition is a word that begins with a prepositional phrase and shows the relationship between its object and another word in the sentence.

Example: About, On, Beside, Along, For etc.

Conjunction : A Conjunction is a word that joins sentences, words and clauses.

Example: Krishna and Rama play cricket.

Interjection: An interjection is a word used to convey emotions.

Example: Alas! the ex-president is no more.

The detailed explanation on all the Parts of Speech, their classification, usage and related topics will be covered in separate articles.

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