PRONOUNS

Pronouns are the words you substitute for other nouns when your reader or
listener already knows which nouns you’re referring to. For example, you might say,
“I have a dog. He’s brown and white.” There’s no need to clarify that you’re
describing your dog in the second sentence because you already mentioned him in
the first. But following up “I have a dog” with “brown and white” is grammatically
incorrect . . . so with the pronoun “he’s,” you turn the phrase “brown and white” into
a full sentence: He’s brown and white.
Pronouns do a whole lot more than turn phrases into sentences. They provide
context, make your sentences’ meanings clearer, and shape how we perceive people
and things. Read on to learn about the different ways we use pronouns and how to
use them to construct sentences.

What is a pronoun?
Pronouns are short words we swap in for other nouns to make our writing and speech
faster and more varied. They’re words like:
 They
 I
 You
 Who
 Themselves
 Each other
Pronouns make up a small subcategory of nouns. The distinguishing characteristic
of pronouns is that they can be substituted for other nouns. For instance, if you’re
telling a story about your sister Sarah, the story will begin to sound repetitive if you
keep repeating “Sarah” over and over again. For example:
 Sarah has always loved fashion. Sarah announced that Sarah wants to go to fashion
school.
You could try to mix it up by sometimes referring to Sarah as “my sister,” but then
it sounds like you’re referring to two different people:
 Sarah has always loved fashion. My sister announced that Sarah wants to go to
fashion school.
Instead, you can use the pronouns she and her to refer to Sarah:
 Sarah has always loved fashion. She announced that she wants to go to fashion
school.
 Pronouns can replace both proper and common nouns. Certain pronouns have
specific rules about when they can be used, such as how it should never be used to
refer to a human being. We explain all of the different types and their associated
rules below.

Personal pronouns
When you think of pronouns, you most likely think of personal pronouns. Personal
pronouns are pronouns that refer to specific individuals and groups. Personal
pronouns include:
 I/me
 She/her
 He/him
 They/them
 We/us
 You
Here are a few examples of personal pronouns in italics, with the nouns they’re
referring to bolded:
 The new student will arrive today. They will need a seating assignment and a name
tag.
 My family loves nachos. We make them every Friday for movie night.
In the second example sentence, notice that nachos (a noun) and them (a pronoun)
aren’t emphasized. That’s because in this sentence, them isn’t a personal pronoun
because it isn’t replacing a proper noun, but rather we is.

Antecedents
Remember how we mentioned that in order to use a pronoun, you need to introduce
the noun first? That noun has a name: an antecedent.
Antecedents are necessary because pronouns are versatile. Think about it—“it” can
refer to a bike, a tree, a car, or a city, and we just used it to refer to something else
entirely: pronouns’ versatility. Take a look at these examples to see how antecedents
and pronouns work together:
 My family tests my patience, but I love them.
 The sign was too far away for Jorge to read it.
 Danita said she is almost finished with the application.
 Antecedents aren’t necessary when the reader/listener knows who or what you’re
discussing. Generally, you don’t need an antecedent for pronouns like I, you, we,
our, and me. But because there are no absolutes in grammar, sometimes you do need
an antecedent in this kind of situation—like when you’re giving a speech where you
introduce yourself and your credentials before discussing your achievements.
There are also circumstances where you might not introduce the noun first and
instead reveal it after using only pronouns to refer to your subject. You might do this
for dramatic or poetic effect in a piece of creative writing.

Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns are another class of pronouns. They connect relative clauses to
independent clauses. Often, they introduce additional information about something
mentioned in the sentence. Relative pronouns include these words:
 that
 what
 which
 who
 whom
Traditionally, who refers to people, and which and that refer to animals or things.
Here are a few examples of relative pronouns at work:
 The woman who called earlier didn’t leave a message.
 All the dogs that got adopted today will be loved.
 My car, which is nearly twenty years old, still runs well.

Who vs. whom—subject and object pronouns

Knowing when to use who and when to use whom trips a lot of writers up. The
difference is actually pretty simple: Who is for the subject of a sentence,
and whom is for the object of a verb or preposition. Here’s a quick example:
 Who mailed this package?
 To whom was this package sent?
See the difference? Who is a subject pronoun. It’s in the same category as I, he, she,
they, and we. Whom is an object pronoun, which puts it in the same category as me,
him, her, them, and us. An easy way to determine whether you should use who or
whom in a sentence is to answer the sentence’s question by substituting another
 pronoun. With the new pronoun in place, determine if the sentence still makes sense.
For example:
 He mailed this package.
 The package was sent to him.
Figuring out when to use whom can be more difficult than knowing when to
use who because it typically comes before the sentence’s verb—notice how the
example object pronoun sentence changed more dramatically than the subject
pronoun sentence.

Demonstrative pronouns
That, this, these, and those are demonstrative pronouns. They take the place of a
noun or noun phrase that has already been mentioned or is clear through context,
either in written or verbal communication.
This is used for singular items that are nearby. These is used for multiple items that
are nearby. The distance can be physical or metaphorical. Take a look at these
examples:
 Here is a letter with no return address. Who could have sent this?
 What a fantastic idea! This is the best thing I’ve heard all day.
 If you think gardenias smell nice, try smelling these.
That is used for singular items that are far away. Those is used for multiple items
that are far away. Again, the distance can be physical or metaphorical. Here are a
few examples of these pronouns in action:
 A house like that would be a nice place to live.
 Some new flavors of soda came in last week. Why don’t you try some of those?
 Those aren’t swans, they’re geese.

Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are used when you need to refer to a person or thing that doesn’t
need to be specifically identified. Some common indefinite pronouns are one, other,
none, some, anybody, everybody, and no one.
Here are a few examples of indefinite pronouns in sentences:
 Everybody was late to work because of the traffic jam.
 It matters more to some than others.
 Nobody knows the trouble I’ve seen.
When indefinite pronouns function as subjects of a sentence or clause, they usually
take singular verbs.

Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves:
 Myself
 Yourself
 Himself
 Herself
 Itself
 Oneself
 Ourselves
 Yourselves
 Themselves
Use a reflexive pronoun when both the subject and object of a verb refer to the same
person or thing. Here are a few examples:
 She checked herself out of the hotel thirty minutes before check-out time.
 Take care of yourselves.
Using myself when you mean me is a common mistake writers and speakers make.
Reflexive pronouns are only correct when the subject and object of a sentence are
the same.

Intensive pronouns
Intensive pronouns look the same as reflexive pronouns, but their purpose is
different. Intensive pronouns add emphasis. Conceptualizing the difference between
them and reflexive pronouns can be challenging because the emphasis isn’t always
obvious. Take a look at these examples of intensive pronouns and examine how
they’re different from the examples in the previous section:
 I told them I could do it myself.
 We asked ourselves, is this business really worth saving?
If you can remove a pronoun from a sentence and it loses emphasis but its meaning
stays the same, it’s most likely an intensive pronoun. Compare these two sentences:
 I built this house.
 I built this house myself.
See how the second one emphasizes that the builder had no outside help? Intensive
pronouns can help you express pride, shock, disbelief, credulousness (or
incredulousness), or any other strong emotion. Here are a few more examples:
 They hiked the entire Appalachian Trail themselves?
 Did you, yourself, see Loretta spill the coffee?

Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns are pronouns that show possession. They include the following:
 My
 Your
 Our
 Their
 His
 Her
 Its
These can also be called possessive adjectives if they modify a noun in a sentence.
Take a look at these examples of possessive adjectives in action:
 I crashed my bike into a telephone pole.
 Your house is always decorated so nicely.
This category also includes independent versions of possessive pronouns. These
include:
 Mine
 Yours
 Ours
 His
 Hers
 Theirs
 Its
When you use an independent possessive pronoun, you drop the noun it’s referring
to. Here are a few examples:
 She forgot her jacket, so I gave her mine.
 I had no idea whose bid won the auction, then my cousins told me theirs did.
 Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used in questions. The interrogative pronouns are who,
what, which, and whose. Here are a few examples of interrogative pronouns at play:
 Who wants a bag of jelly beans?
 What is your name?
 Which movie do you want to watch?
 Whose jacket is this?

Reciprocal pronouns
There are only two reciprocal pronouns:
 Each other
 One another
These pronouns refer to two or more people who are both the subject of the sentence.
Take a look at these examples:
 Javier and Priya, the two top salespeople on our team, are competing with each
other for Salesperson of the Year.
 All my siblings are blaming one another for letting the boa constrictor out last
Thanksgiving.

Distributive pronouns
Distributive pronouns refer to people, animals, and objects as individuals within
larger groups. They enable you to single out individuals while acknowledging that
they’re part of a larger group. Distributive pronouns include the following:
 Either
 Each
 Neither
 Any
 None
Here are a few examples of distributive pronouns in sentences:
 All of my friends entered the costume contest and none of them won.
 Cookies and muffins are available for dessert. Neither is appealing to me.
Pronoun examples
As you can see, pronouns do a lot. And there are a lot of them. And to make them
even more complicated, many pronouns change forms when they’re used in different
positions within a sentence or different tenses.
Take a look at the different types of pronouns and their forms at a glance:

Example
Type Pronouns in this category
sentences

I brought all the

snacks.
I/me, they/them, he/him,
Personal  We weren’t
she/her, it, we/us, you
planning on
staying over.


My car, which is
twenty years old,
doesn’t connect to
That, what, which, who, Bluetooth.
Relative
whom  The professor
who ran the
meeting ended it
promptly

 You’ve seen clear

quartz and smoky
quartz, but have
you seen these
Demonstrative That, this, these, those
stones?
 I ordered
Hawaiian pizza. I
like that a lot.


One, other, some, none, We need cashiers
Indefinite everybody, anybody, no up front. Anybody
one, nobody, both who’s available,
 please report to
the front end.
 “Why can’t we fix
this?” I asked
nobody in
particular.

Myself,  The car began to

yourself/yourselves, swerve, then
Reflexive themself/themselves, corrected itself.

herself, himself, oneself, He made himself
itself, ourselves a sandwich.

Myself,  You did all of this

yourself/yourselves, yourself?
Intensive themself/themselves,  She did the entire
herself, himself, oneself, group project by
itself, ourselves herself.

 We’re lounging
My, your, his, her, their, our,
Possessive out by our pool.
its, whose
 His car is green.

 Whose bike is
this?
Interrogative Who, what, which, whose
 What is the
answer?

 We ran into each

other on the
subway.
Reciprocal Each other, one another  They’ve been
fighting with one
another for
decades.
  Peanut butter or
chocolate? I’m
Either, each, neither, any, good with either.
Distributive
none  There were four
cats, and none had
long hair.