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Pronouns Types of Pronouns - 2022

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Pronouns Types of Pronouns - 2022

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shaikhkawish55552005
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Types of pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns
This, that, these and those are known as demonstrative pronouns.

This (singular) and these (plural) are used as pronouns:


• To talk about people or things near us:
o This is a good book
o Whose reports are these?
• To introduce people:
o This is Dr. Tarnowskyj
o These are my children Dianne and Rick
• To introduce ourselves on the phone:
o Hello, this is Jayne. Can I speak to a doctor?

That (singular) and those (plural) are used as pronouns:


• To talk about things that are not near us:
o What is that?
o That is your fault
o Those are very expensive
• We also use that to refer back to something someone said or did:
o Should we form a group? / Yes, that sounds good
o I have got a new tutor / That is great
o I am very sad / Why is that?

This, these, that and those are also used with nouns to show proximity:
• Use this or these for people/things near us:
o We’re enjoying this course
o Have you enrolled for these courses?
• Use that and those for people/things that are not near us:
o Who works in that role?
o Who are those students?

(Adapted from British Council, n.d.)

Developed by Learning Advisers 2022 1


Possessive pronouns
Yours, mine, theirs, ours, hers, his and its are known as possessive pronouns.

Subject Object Possessive Possessive


adjectives pronouns
I Me My Mine
You You Your Yours
He Him His His
She Her Her Hers
It It Its Its
We Us Our Ours
They Them Their Theirs

We can use a possessive pronoun instead of a noun phrase:


• Is that Susan’s textbook? / No, it is mine [my textbook]
• Whose notes are these? / They are yours [your notes]
(Adapted from British Council n.d.)
Reflexive pronouns
The following are reflexive pronouns:
Singular Plural
Myself Ourselves
Yourself Yourselves
Himself Themselves
Herself
Itself

Reflexive pronouns are used:


• As a direct object when the object is the same as the subject of the verb:
o I am teaching myself to touch type
o You should reward yourself when you get a good grade
• As a direct object with most transitive verbs. The following are examples:
Amuse Blame Cut
Dry Hurt Introduce
Kill Prepare Enjoy
Satisfy Help Teach
o Allow me to introduce myself
o They taught themselves to play piano

• As an indirect object when the indirect object is the same as the subject of the verb:
o Would you like to help yourself?

Developed by Learning Advisers 2022 2


o We taught ourselves how to use the library databases
• As the object of a preposition when the object refers to the subject of the clause:
o The students took the pizza for themselves
o She cooked the meal herself
• With the preposition by when we want to show that someone did something and/or without
any help:
o She worked it out by herself
o They decorated the room by themselves
• To emphasise a person or thing we are referring to:
o The Vice-Chancellor herself gave the keynote speech
• For emphasis, in which case the reflexive pronoun often goes at the end of the clause:
o I wrote it myself
o She taught it herself
(Adapted from British Council, n.d.)
Indefinite pronouns
The Indefinite Pronouns are:
-body -one -thing
Anybody Anyone Anything
Somebody Someone Something
Nobody No one Nothing
Everybody Everyone Everything

Indefinite Pronouns are used to refer to people or things without exactly saying who or what they
are.

Pronouns ending in body or one are used for people and pronouns ending in thing for everyday
objects:
• Everybody enjoyed the concert
• I went to answer the door but no one was there
• We could see everything from the back of the theatre
We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:
• Everybody enjoys his jokes
• Everything was perfect
When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun, we normally use a plural noun:
• Everybody enjoyed the performance and they applauded for five minutes when it finished

We add an apostrophe + s (‘s) to an indefinite pronoun to make it possessive:


• I found somebody's notes under the chair
• Is this anybody's concern?
We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things in addition to those already
mentioned:
• My closest friends came but no one else

Developed by Learning Advisers 2022 3


• If he cannot come, we will ask someone else
• Did she comment on anything else?
(Adapted from British Council, n.d.)

Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns such as who, which and what introduce questions:
• What is the tutor's name?
• Who can help with my assignment?
• Which courses did you enrol in?

Note: which is generally used with more specific reference than what:
• Which questions were difficult to answer? (referring to specific questions)

Interrogative pronouns also act as determiners:


• It doesn’t matter which question you answer as long as you choose just one
• I don’t know whose tutorial to attend

Like relative pronouns, the interrogative pronouns introduce noun clauses and play a subject role in
the clauses they introduce:
• We don’t know who will be allocated to that hospital for their placement
• I already told the counsellor what I know about the incident

(Adapted from Fowler et al., 1995; Quirk & Greenbaum 1993)

References
British Council. (n.d.). Pronouns. Learn English.
https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/pronouns

Fowler, H.R., Aaron, J.E., & Limburg, K. (1995). The little brown handbook (6th ed.). Harper Collins.

Quirk, R., & Greenbaum, S. (1993). A university grammar of English. Longman.

Developed by Learning Advisers 2022 4

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