PRONOUNS

In grammar, a pronoun is defined as a word or

phrase that may be substituted for a noun or noun
phrase.

Without pronouns, we’d have to keep on repeating

nouns, and that would make our speech and writing
repetitive, not to mention cumbersome. Most
pronouns are very short words. Examples include:
 He
 She
 They
 It
 We
TYPES OF PRONOUNS

 Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more

unspecified objects, beings, or places
 Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain
person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms
that indicate singular or plural number
 Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb,
adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and
ending in –self or –selves
 Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to
something specific within a sentence
 Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or
ownership
 Relative pronouns – those which refer to nouns mentioned
previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause
 Interrogative pronouns – those which introduce a question
 Reciprocal pronouns – those expressing mutual actions or
relationship; i.e. one another
 Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that
serve to emphasize their antecedents
PRONOUN RULES
 Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences. For example:
We did a great job.
 Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject. For
example: It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii.
 Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of
standing on their own. For example: No one likes the sound of
fingernails on a chalkboard.
 Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and
objects of prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us,
them, and it. For example: David talked to her about the
mistake.
 Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not
need apostrophes. For example: The cat washed its whiskers.
More Examples

 We are going on vacation.

 Don’t tell me that you can’t go with us.
 Anybody who says it won’t be fun has no
clue what they are talking about.
 These are terribly steep stairs.
 We ran into each other at the mall.
Exercise

 I’m not sure which is worse: rain or snow.

 It is one of the nicest Italian restaurants in town.
 Richard stared at himself in the mirror.
 The laundry isn’t going to do itself.
 Someone spilled orange juice all over the
countertop!
The following exercises will help you gain greater
understanding about how pronouns work. Choose
the best answer to complete each sentence.

1. Thisis __________ speaking.

a. John
b. He
c. He john
d. Am
The following exercises will help you gain greater
understanding about how pronouns work. Choose
the best answer to complete each sentence.

2. Greg is as smart as __________ is.

I
 me
 she
 we
The following exercises will help you gain greater
understanding about how pronouns work. Choose
the best answer to complete each sentence.
3. The dog chewed on __________ favorite toy.
a. it’s
b. it is
c. its’
d. its
DEMONSTRATIVE
PRONOUNS
A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that is
used to point to something specific within a
sentence. These pronouns can indicate items
in space or time, and they can be either
singular or plural.
When used to represent a thing or things,
demonstrative pronouns can be either near or
far in distance or time:
 Near in time or distance: this, these
 Far in time or distance: that, those
RULES IN USING DEMONSTRATIVE
PRONOUNS
 Demonstrative pronouns always identify nouns, whether
those nouns are named specifically or not.

 For example: “I can’t believe this.” We have no idea what

“this” is, but it’s definitely something the writer cannot
believe. It exists, even though we don’t know what it is.
 Demonstrative pronouns are usually used to
describe animals, places, or things, however they
can be used to describe people when the person
is identified.
Example:
This sounds like Mary singing.
Examples

 This was my mother’s ring.

 That looks like the car I used to drive.
 These are nice shoes, but they look uncomfortable.
 Those look like riper than the apples on my tree.
 Such was her command over the English language.
 None of these answers are correct.
 Neither of the horses can be ridden.
Exercises

____________ was such an interesting experience.

That
These
Those
Such
Exercises

Are ___________ your shoes?

That
Them
Those
This
Exercises

You’ll have to get your own pen.

______________ is mine.

That
Those
Such
This
Exercises

Because of their bad behavior, ____________ of the

children were given allowances.

None
That
Those
Them
RELATIVE PRONOUNS
A relative pronoun is one which is used to
refer to nouns mentioned previously,
whether they are people, places, things,
animals, or ideas. Relative pronouns can be
used to join two sentences.
 There are only a few relative pronouns in the
English language. The most common are which,
that, whose, whoever, whomever,
who, and whom. In some situations, the
words what, when, and where can also function
as relative pronouns.
EXAMPLES

 The cyclist who won the race trained hard.

 The pants that I bought yesterday are already stained.
 The four team leaders, whomever the committee selects,
will be at tomorrow’s meeting.
 Spaghetti, which we eat at least twice a week, is one of
my family’s favorite meals.
 Where did you buy the dress that you wore last week?
 EXERCISES

The festival, ______________ lasted all day, ended

with a banquet.

That
Who
Which
What
 EXERCISES

I am looking for someone __________ can watch

my dog while I go on vacation.

Which
Who
Whom
Whoever
 EXERCISES

The police needed details _____________ could

help identify the robber.

Who
Whatever
That
What
 EXERCISES

I’d like to take you to a café _______________

serves excellent coffee.

What
Whatever
Which
Whichever
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
A reflexive pronoun is a type of pronoun that
is preceded by
the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to
which it refers, so long as that antecedent is
located within the same clause.
Examples

 I was in a hurry, so I washed the car myself.

 You’re going to have to drive yourself to school today.
 He wanted to impress her, so he baked a cake himself.
 Jennifer does chores herself because she doesn’t trust
others to do them right.
 That car is in a class all by itself.
Each morning, I brush my teeth and stare at
______________ in the mirror.

Himself
Herself
Myself
Itself

 EXERCISES
Dad and I painted the trailer
_______________.

Myself
Himself
Itself
Ourselves

 EXERCISES
The children made holiday decorations by
________________.

Itself
Ourselves
Themselves
Their selves

 EXERCISES
Paul copies his friend’s homework instead of
doing it _______________.

Itself
Himself
Myself
Yourself

 EXERCISES
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS
A possessive pronoun is used to avoid
repeating information that has already been
made clear. These useful pronouns make
sentences less confusing, as you’ll see when
you read the following sentences containing
examples of possessive pronouns
EXAMPLES

 This is my cat, not your cat. (Sounds repetitive)

 This cat is mine, not yours.

I didn’t have my book so Jenny lent me her book.

(Sounds repetitive)
 I didn’t have my book, so Jenny lent me hers.

 Your car is a lot faster than my car. (Sounds

repetitive)
 Your car is a lot faster than mine.
EXERCISES

The mother cat and __________ kittens napped in

the sunshine.
His
Your
Hers
Her
I like cream cheese on _________ bagels.

My
Mine
Your
Our
________ grandfather used to take us fishing.

Mine
My
Our
Ours
Elaine bought ________ dress at the mall.

Yours
Mine
Her
Hers
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
(SUBJECT PRONOUNS AND OBJECT PROUNOUNS)
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is
associated primarily with a particular person,
in the grammatical sense.
When discussing “person” in terms of the grammatical, the
following rules apply:

•First person, as in “I”

•Second person, as in “you”
•Third person, as in “It, he, she”
In the following examples, personal
pronouns are italicized.
 You need to stop lying to me.
 We would love for you to join us.
 Come look at my cat! He has climbed to the top
of that tree.
EXERCISES

__________ often reads until late at night.

He
Alan
Mary
They
EXERCISES

__________ is running up and down the stairs.

The cat
She
My brother
You
EXERCISES

We enjoy the roses so much. __________ really liven

up the garden.

They
Its
Someone
Flowers
EXERCISES

Melissa isn’t an architect; __________ is an

engineer.

He
They
It
She
OBJECT PRONOUNS
An object pronoun is a type of personal
pronoun that is normally used as a
grammatical object, either as the direct or
indirect object of a verb, or as the object of
a preposition. These pronouns always take
the objective case, whether they are indirect
object pronouns or direct object pronouns.
The seven basic pronouns take on different
forms when used as object pronouns rather
than as subject pronouns:
 I becomes Me
 You becomes You (this rule applies for singular and plural
use)
 He becomes Him
 She becomes Her
 It becomes It
 We becomes Us
 They becomes Them
Examples

 Bob took her to work Monday.

 Will you please tell them to come in?
 He told you a lie about where he was Saturday.
 Our grandparents gave us candy and our teeth
are just fine.
Exercise

 Mary wants to talk to __________ about your

homework.

Him
Her
You
Them
Exercise

 The plate shattered when John dropped

__________ on the floor.

Him
Her
Them
It
Exercise

 Be careful; he lied to __________ before and he

may do it again.

Us
It
We
They
Exercise

Where are Jill and Cherie? Didn’t you invite

__________?

Us
Them
They
Her
SUBJECT PRONOUNS
What is a Subject Pronoun?
A subject pronoun is exactly what it sounds
like: a pronoun that takes the place of
a noun as the subject of a sentence.
Remember, a sentence’s subject is the person
or thing that performs the action of a verb.
When you take an even closer look, you’ll see
that a subject pronoun is used as the subject
of a verb, while an object pronoun is usually
used as a grammatical object.
EXAMPLES

 We gave them a head start in the race.

 You told Jerry that his score was among the best;
that made him feel better.
 She lost weight by cutting out junk food.
 They drank water from a spring that ran right out
of the mountainside.
EXERCISES

__________ kicked the ball so hard that his shoe

came off.

She
They
He
It
__________ prefer hiking to movies.

She
He
We
It
You can have ice cream after __________ finish your
dinner.

We
You
It
She
INDEFINITE PRONOUNS
Indefinite pronouns are those referring to one
or more unspecified objects, beings, or
places. They are called “indefinite” simply
because they do not indicate the exact
object, being, or place to which they refer.
EXAMPLES

 Many are called, but few are chosen.

 Somebody ate my sandwich!
 Everyone says she is beautiful inside and out.
 No one wants to hear about my health problems.
 Either choice has its advantages.
EXERCISES

__________________ is making my computer act up.

Anyone
Something
Each
Everyone
EXERCISES

Does _______________ know what’s happening

tonight?

 Anybody
 Anyone
 Someone
 A, B, and C
____________ happens for a reason.

Anybody
Everything
Some
Somebody
RECIPROCAL PRONOUNS
A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun which is
used to indicate that two or more people are
carrying out or have carried out an action of
some type, with both receiving the benefits
or consequences of that action
simultaneously. Any time something is done
or given in return, reciprocal pronouns are
used. The same is true any time mutual
action is expressed.
There are only two reciprocal pronouns. Both of
them allow you to make sentences simpler. They are
especially useful when you need to express the
same general idea more than once.

 Each other
 One another
EXAMPLES

 Maria and Juan gave each other gold rings on

their wedding day.
 The students congratulated one another after
giving practice speeches.
INTENSIVE PRONOUN
An intensive pronoun is almost identical to
a reflexive pronoun. It is defined as
a pronoun that ends in self or selves and
places emphasis on its antecedent by
referring back to another noun or pronoun
used earlier in the sentence. For this reason,
intensive pronouns are sometimes called
emphatic pronouns.
REFLEXIVE VS INTENSIVE

 You can tell the difference between a reflexive

pronoun and an intensive pronoun easily:
Intensive pronouns aren’t essential to a
sentence’s basic meaning
EXAMPLE

REFLEXIVE
Jim made himself coffee.

Without the reflexive pronoun himself, it would be

impossible for the reader to know who Jim made
coffee for.
EXAMPLE

INTENSIVE
Jim made coffee for the king himself.

Here, himself refers to the king rather than to Jim.

The reader is meant to be impressed that Jim made
coffee for the king.
EXAMPLES

 Jesse wondered aloud whether he himself was the only

one seeing what was happening.
 Maria knew that she herself could make a positive impact
on the world, if only she put her mind to it.
 You yourself can easily transform your body: All it takes is
a proper diet and plenty of exercise.
EXERCISES

We built a garden shed by ______________.

 Myself
 Ourselves
 Themselves
 Himself
I’m a little nervous about walking by _____________
after dark.

Myself
Ourselves
Themselves
Herself
 The twins are growing up fast; they’re already
walking by _____________.

Myself
Ourselves
Himself
Themselves