Pronouns Types and examples – Know more
Pronouns
Classification of pronouns-
Pronouns are generally classified into nine categories.
1) Personal Pronouns.
2) Emphatic Pronouns.
3) Reflexive Pronouns.
4) Demonstrative Pronouns.
5) Indefinite Pronouns.
6) Distributive Pronouns.
7) Relative Pronouns.
8) Interrogative Pronouns.
9) Exclamatory Pronouns.
1) Personal Pronouns.
Personal Pronouns stand for the three persons. They are First person, Second person and Third person.
A Personal pronoun has the same number, Gender and Case as its own.
A pronoun is in the nominative, objective or possessive case when used in a sentence.
Table of personal pronouns-
Remember-
| The first person – | the speaker. |
| The second person – | the one spoken to |
| The Third Person – | the one spoken about. |
Words like ‘My, our, your, her, and their’ also function as possessive adjectives.
e.g.
a) He met her. (her- pronoun)
He took her books. (her- possessive adjective)
b) This is his watch. (Possessive adjective)
This watch is his. (Possessive Pronoun)
2) Emphatic Pronouns.
Emphatic pronouns are personal pronouns used for emphasis. The suffixes- self and selves are added to various personal pronouns for emphasis.
e.g.
I did it myself.
He himself cooked the food.
They themselves go there.
We ourselves completed the task.
You yourself can come to me.
3) Reflexive Pronouns.
When the action done by the subject affects or reacts or reflects upon the subject, they are called reflexive pronouns. The addition of self and selves to the various compound personal pronouns helps to produce a new meaning, quite different emphasis.
e.g.
a) We help ourselves
b) You help yourself.
c) They help themselves.
4) Demonstrative Pronouns.
Demonstrative pronouns are used to point out a thing or things commonly used in spoken language. The words ‘this. these, that and those’ are demonstrative pronouns when they stand alone.
e.g:
a) This is the place for you to meet him.
b) That I shall never see.
c) These are my friends.
Remember-
This, that, these, those etc. are demonstrative adjectives when they are used with a noun.
e.g.:
This car is green.
Aren’t those books my friend’s?
5) Indefinite Pronouns.
Indefinite Pronouns are used to denote persons or things in a general way. Words like all, some, few, everyone, everybody, nobody, many, none etc. are used as pronouns.
e.g.
a) All came to the party.
b) Some say that it is not true.
c) Nobody was there to help her.
d) One must not praise oneself.
6) Distributive Pronouns.
Distributive pronouns are used to denote persons or things one at a time. They are always used only in the singular form and the Verb following them must also be in the singular. The words each, either and neither are used.
e.g.
a) Each of these boys has separate views.
b) Each of the students received a certificate.
c) Either of the two books will be useful for the exam.
d) Either of you can go first.
e) Neither of them has arrived yet.
f) Each of the athletes was given a medal.
Remember-
Each, Either and Neither are sometimes used as adjectives.
e.g.:
i) Neither argument was true.
ii) Each man took his luggage.
iii) On either side was a horse.
(Here argument, man and side are nouns and they are modified by neither, each and either. So they function as adjectives.)
7) Relative Pronouns.
Relative pronouns are used to join together two sentences. Relative pronouns in English are ‘who, whom, whose, which, what and that’.
e.g.:
1) The queen lost a ring. It was made of gold.
The queen lost a ring which was made of gold.
2) The police caught a thief. He was stealing gold ornaments.
The police caught the thief who was stealing gold ornaments.
3) This is my friend. I met him yesterday.
This is my friend whom I met yesterday.
4) The tiger was captured last week. It has been sent to the Zoo.
The tiger that was captured last week has been sent to the Zoo.
5) I saw a man. His head was strange.
I saw a man whose head was strange.
Remember-
1) The relative pronoun ‘who’ generally refers to human beings and ‘which’ to animals and inanimate things.
2) The relative pronoun ‘that’ is often used for ;who’, ‘whom’ or ‘which’.
e.g.
This is the cycle that (= which) she bought.
Shyamrao was the best farmer that (= who) worked hard in his life.
The girls that (=whom) the teacher praised were very much pleased.
3) ‘Whom’ is generally used in formal English but it is common to use ‘who’ in ordinary conversation.0
e.g.
The man who (=whom) they caught was a thief.
The boy who (=whom) she fell in love with was very poor.
4) The relative pronoun also can be omitted.
e.g.
a) All the money that Anil had earned had been stolen.
All the money Anil had earned had been stolen. (‘that’a is omitted)
b) The rumour which we heard proved to be incorrect.
The rumour we heard proved to be incorrect. (‘which’ is omitted_
8) Interrogative Pronouns.
The relative pronouns who, whom, whose, which and what are used to ask questions then they are called interrogative pronouns.
e.g.:
a) Who is knocking at the door?
b) Whom did you meet in the class yesterday?
3) Whose is that book?
4) What are you planning to do this weekend?
5) Which of these novels do you like best?
Remember-
The Interrogative pronouns, whose, which and what are also be used as interrogative adjectives.
e.g.
a) Whose bike is that?
b) Which book will you take?
c) What information do you want?
In the above sentences bike, book and information are qualified.
9) Exclamatory Pronouns.
An exclamatory pronoun is a pronoun used as an exclamation.
e.g.
What a tragedy that you can’t meet him!
What a shock that you already told her!
Read More-
Do Solve the online test based on Indefinite Pronouns-
