Definition and 9 Types of Pronouns in English Grammar

 

Definition of pronoun?

The pronoun in the English language is the word that is used in the alternation/substitution of Noun. Its use eradicates the repetition of nouns in writing or conversation and enhances the economy of writing and speaking.

Examples of pronouns

• Sentences without pronoun;
• John is a good musician.
• John also plays football very well.
• Sentences with pronoun;
• John is a good musician.
• He also plays football very well.

9 kinds of pronoun in English language

1. Demonstrative pronoun

It is the kind of pronoun which signifies or points out objects or animals. There are four basic demonstrative pronouns in the English language.

4 demonstrative pronouns are;

This, these, that, and those.

Examples:

This is my new guitar.

These are branded products.

Demonstrative Pronoun	Use with objects or animals (singular/plural)	Conditions to use (nearness or farness of an object)
This	Singular	Near
These	Plural	Near
That	Singular	Far
Those	Plural	Far

2. Personal pronoun

This type of pronoun is associated with the person (in grammatical context). The personal pronoun may be used as ‘subject pronoun’ or ‘object pronoun’. The subject pronoun represents the subject and an object pronoun represents an object in the sentence.

Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun		Properties
I		me	Singular + First person
We		us	Plural + First person
You		you	Plural +Second person
He		him	Singular + Third-person +Masculine
She		her	Singular  +Third person + Feminine
It		It	Singular +Third person
They		Them	Plural +Third person

3. Possessive pronoun

This type of pronoun refers to possession of something. It plays a role to avoid repetitions by replacing them with nouns. 

Different possessive pronouns:

Mine, ours, his, hers, yours, theirs, its etc.

Example:

I picked the purse, considering it mine.

I like this car, is it really yours?

The pretty cats are running. Those are not theirs.

4. Reflexive pronoun

This type of pronoun is confusing for many people, but the concept of reflexive pronoun is very easy to ponder. Actually, it is used where the doer of an action and the receiver of action are the same in the sentence.

Following are examples of reflexive pronouns:

• He lives alone at home. So, he cooks the meal himself.
• He is too young to go to school.
• I was in a hurry so I washed the dishes myself.

5. Intensive pronouns

As the word indicates, intensive pronouns function as putting emphasis on its antecedent and these pronouns are not vital for any sentence. Simply, they are similar to reflexive pronouns, but their function is different as described earlier.

Example

• The teacher handed me his board marker and told me to solve the problem myself.

6. Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns are not just replaced with nouns, but it introduces a new clause which is the relative clause. Relative pronouns include who, which, that, whose, and whom.

Examples of relative pronouns

• I know the person who is selected as a manager of this company.
• He liked the seat which is near to the screen.
• You are such a lucky person that you win the race.

7. Interrogative pronouns

The type of pronoun consists of questions. It mainly contains wh question words.

 These pronouns include what, which, who, whom, whatever, whichever, whoever, and whomever.

Examples:

• Who is the owner of this company?

8. Distributive pronouns

This type of pronoun always represents the group of animals or things as a single unit. Singular verbs always come after these distributive pronouns.

Each, everyone, any, either, neither, and no one, are examples of distributive pronouns.

9. Reciprocal pronouns

The type of pronoun which shows that the two or more persons are performing the same action and they’re getting equal results simultaneously.

In English Grammar, Each other and one another are the two reciprocal pronouns.