Pronouns are a category of words that can replace nouns or noun phrases in a sentence. They are essential for avoiding repetition and making sentences more concise.
Example:
Instead of Emma talked to Emma's child, you might say Emma talked to her child.
Her is the pronoun. It renames the antecedent, Emma.
Morphological Perspective
Morphologically, pronouns are generally simpler forms compared to the nouns they replace. Unlike nouns, which often undergo changes through derivation (adding prefixes or suffixes to create new words), inflection (without changing its core meaning or word class, or compounding (combining words), pronouns are free morphemes referring to functional morphemes.
Syntactic Perspective
Syntactically, pronouns function similarly to nouns within a sentence, taking the place of nouns or noun phrases. They can serve as subjects, objects, possessives, or reflexive agents in sentences.
- Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things. Personal pronouns can act as subjects, objects, or possessives.
Singular: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it
Plural: we, us, you, they, them
Note:
I, you, she, he, it, we, and they are used as subjects of sentences.
me, you, her, him, it, us, and them are used as object.
For example:
She knew the grammar rules very well.
The teacher gave all of them good grades.
Tommy gave his poetry book to her.
Then, Azra gave it to me.
She is personal pronoun used as subject, and them, her and me are personal pronouns used as objects.
- Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns indicate ownership or possession.
For Example: She returned my pencil to me because it was mine.
- Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns name a receiver of an action who is identical to the doer of the action.
Singular : myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself
Plural : ourselves, yourselves, themselves
For example: Manuela congratulated herself on her good grades.
Here, Manuela is both the doer and the receiver of the action.
Q: So, who did Manuela congratulate?
A: Herself.
- Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns emphasize a noun or another pronoun.
Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself
Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves
For Example: I saw Brad Pitt himself at the mall.
Here, himself emphasizes the antecedent, Bradd Pitt.
- Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns express shared actions or feelings. They are:
Each other and One another
For Example: Yan Ko and Tai help each other with their homework.
Leon and his girlfriend dance with one another when they go clubbing.
- Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to non-specific persons and things.
All, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something
For Example: Many believe that UFO’s exist, but nobody can prove it.
No one can be sure if aliens really exist, but only few wonder if Elvis is still alive.
The underlined indefinite pronouns do not refer to any one person. They are referring to people in general.
- Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are also considered noun markers. They "point" towards nouns.
this, that, these, and those
For Example:
That woman attends Gainesville College.
That points out which woman.
The woman attends Gainesville College.
Q: Which woman? A: That woman.
- Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns introduce questions.
Who, Whom, Whose, Which, What
For Example:
Who is going on vacation? To whom will the teacher give an "A"?
What are you doing?
- Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns introduce dependent clauses and refers to a person or thing already mentioned in the sentence (i.e. the antecedent).
For Example:
The English that we learn in class will help us pass English 1101.
that we learn in class is the adjective clause that describes English. And, that is the relative pronoun.
Q: Which English?
A: The English that we learn in class—as opposed to the English we learn around our friends.
Note: Adjectives clauses modify nouns or pronouns, and usually answer one of the following questions: Which one? What kind of? They begin with a relative pronoun or a relative adverb (when or where).
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