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Pronoun

In English grammar, a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, noun phrase, or noun
clause. The pronoun is one of the traditional parts of speech. Adjective: pronominal.
A pronoun can function as a subject, object, or complement in a sentence. Unlike
nouns, pronouns rarely allow modification.
Pronouns are a closed word class in English: new members rarely enter the language.
There are several different classes of pronouns:
Demonstrative Pronouns- In grammar, a demonstrative is a determiner or a pronoun that
points to a particular nounor to the noun it replaces. There are four demonstratives in English:
the "near" demonstratives this and these, and the "far"
demonstratives that and those. This and thatare singular; these and those are plural.
A demonstrative pronoun distinguishes its antecedent from similar things. (For example, "Let
me pick out the books. I want these, not those.") When a demonstrative comes before a noun,
it's

sometimes

called

a demonstrative adjective or

a demonstrative

determiner ("Son,

take this bat and hit that ball out of the park").
"All you need in this life is ignorance and confidence; then success is sure."
(Mark Twain)

Indefinite Pronouns- An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to an unspecified or


unidentified person or thing. Put another way, an indefinite pronoun doesn't have
an antecedent.
Indefinite pronouns
include quantifiers (some, any, enough, several,
many,
much); universals (all, both, every, each); andpartitives (any, anyone, anybody, either,
neither, no, nobody, some, someone). Many of the indefinite pronouns can function
as determiners.
"For many arecalled, but few are chosen."
(Bible, Matthew 22.14)

Interrogative Pronouns- A term in traditional grammar for a pronoun that introduces


a question. (Related terms include interrogative, wh-word, and question word, although these
terms are generally not defined in precisely the same way.)
In English, who, whom, whose, which, and what commonly function as interrogative
pronouns. (When immediately followed by a noun, whose, which, and what function
asdeterminers.)
"Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?"
(attributed to Clarence Darrow)
Intensive Pronouns- In English grammar, an intensive pronoun is a pronoun ending inself or -selves that serves to emphasize its antecedent. Also known as an intensive reflexive
pronoun.
Intensive pronouns often appear as appositives after nouns or other pronouns.
Intensive pronouns have the same forms as reflexive pronouns:myself, ourselves, yourself,
yourselves, himself, herself, itself, oneself, and themselves. Unlike reflexive pronouns,
intensive pronouns are not essential to the basic meaning of a sentence.
"He wondered, as he had many times wondered before, whether he himself was
a lunatic."
(George Orwell, Nineteen Eighty-Four, 1948)

Personal Pronouns- In English grammar, a personal pronoun is a pronoun that refers to a


particular person, group, or thing. Like all pronouns, personal pronouns can take the place
of nouns and noun phrases.
These are the personal pronouns in English:

First-person singular: I (subject); me (object)


First-person plural: we (subject); us (object)
Second-person singular and plural: you (subject and object)
Third-person singular: he, she, it (subject); him, her, it (object)
Third-person plural: they (subject); them (object)
Note that personal pronouns inflect for case to show whether they are serving as subjects of
clauses or as objects of verbs or prepositions.
Also note that all the personal pronouns except you have distinct forms indicating number,
eithersingular or plural. Only the third-person singular pronouns have distinct forms

indicating gender: masculine (he, him), feminine (she, her), and neuter (it). A personal
pronoun (such as they) that can refer to both masculine and feminine entities is called
a generic pronoun.
"Among naturalists, when a bird is seen well beyond its normal range, it is
called an accidental."
(E.L. Doctorow, The Waterworks. Macmillan, 1994)

Possessive Pronouns- A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that can take the place of anoun
phrase to show ownership (as in "This phone is mine").
The weak possessives (also called possessive determiners) function as determiners in front
of nouns (as in "My phone is broken"). The weak possessives are my, your, his, her, its, our,
and their.
In contrast, the strong (or absolute) possessive pronounsstand on their own: mine, yours, his,
hers, its, ours, and theirs. The strong possessive is a type of independent genitive.
"Go on, get inside the TARDIS. Oh, never given you a key? Keep that. Go on,
thats yours. Quite a big moment really!"
(The Doctor to Donna in "The Poison Sky." Doctor Who, 2005)

Reciprocal Pronouns- A pronoun that expresses mutual action or relationship. In English the
reciprocal pronouns are each other and one another.
Some usage guides insist that each other should be used to refer to two people or things,
and one another to more than two. (But see Examples and Observations, below.) As Bryan
Garner has observed, "Careful writers will doubtless continue to observe the distinction, but
no one else will notice" (Garner's Modern American Usage, 2009).
"There is no such thing as the State
And no one exists alone;
Hunger allows no choice
To the citizen or the police;
We must love one another or die."
(W.H. Auden, "September 1, 1939")

Reflexive Pronouns- In English grammar, a reflexive pronoun is a pronoun ending in self or -selves that's used as an object to refer to a previously named noun or pronoun in a
sentence. Also called simply areflexive.
Reflexive pronouns usually follow verbs or prepositions.
Reflexive pronouns have the same forms as intensive pronouns: myself, ourselves, yourself,
yourselves, himself, herself, itself, oneself, and themselves. Unlike intensive pronouns,
reflexive pronouns are essential to the meaning of a sentence.
"A woman needs to support herself before she asks anyone else to support her."
(Maya Angelou, Mom & Me & Mom. Random House, 2013)

Relative Pronouns- A pronoun that introduces an adjective clause (also called arelative
clause).
The standard relative pronouns in English are which, that, who,
whom, and whose. Who and whom refer only to people. Whichrefers to things, qualities, and
ideas--never to people. That andwhose refer to people, things, qualities, and ideas.
"In the office in which I work there are five people of whom I am afraid."
(Joseph Heller, Something Happened, 1974)

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