Pronouns allow us to make reference to other words without having to repeat ourselves. The words the pronouns refer to are known as antecedents.
John (antecedent) liked the book. He (pronoun) said it was riveting.
Types of pronouns
- Personal pronouns — as the subject of a sentence they are I, you, he, she, it, we, they. When they’re the object of a sentence, you and it stay the same, but the rest change to me, him, her, us, them.David (antecedent) caught the ball. He threw the ball to me (personal pronouns).
- Possessive pronouns — mine, yours, his, her, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs.John (antecedent) told me the red car was his.
- Reflexive pronouns — myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. You use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and object are the same person.I cut myself.
He looked at himself in the mirror. - Demonstrative pronouns — that, this, those, these. They can substitute for a noun, noun phrase or whole sentence.The red apples (antecedent) are ripe. These are too green.
- Relative pronouns — that, who, whom, whose, which. They stand for things, people or situations previously referred to.That man (antecedent), whose name I can never remember, is over there.
- Interrogative pronouns — who, whom, whose, which, what. These introduce questions:Who bought the car?
- Indefinite pronouns — everybody, nobody, someone, something.Everyone loved the performance.
- Reciprocal pronouns — each other, one another.We gave each other Christmas presents.
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