Pronouns
Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. Pronouns are words like: he, you,
ours, themselves, some, each... We can use a pronoun instead of a noun. If we didn't have
pronouns, we would have to repeat a whole lot of nouns. The following pages describe
the grammar of pronouns.
What Is A Pronoun?
pronoun (noun): a word that takes the place of or represents a noun.
Pronouns are small words that take the place of a noun. We can use a pronoun instead of a noun.
Pronouns are words like: he, you, ours, themselves, some, each... If we didn't have pronouns, we
would have to repeat a lot of nouns. We would have to say things like:
Do you like the manager? I don't like the manager. The manager's not friendly.
With pronouns, we can say:
Do you like the manager? I don't like him. He's not friendly.
A pronoun is a small word with a big job. In fact, a pronoun can take the place of an entire noun
phrase. In this way, pronouns help us use fewer words and avoid repetition.
In the sentence "Please give this letter to Rosemary", we can replace "this letter" with "it"
and "Rosemary" with "her", as you see below:
Please give this letter to Rosemary.
Please give it to her.
In a conversation, the speakers normally use pronouns to address each other: I speak
to you. You speak to me. When we talk about John, we don't keep repeating John's name. We
say he or him. If we talk about a thing, we can use the pronoun it.
A pronoun represents the person or thing that we are talking about (as long as we
know which person or thing we are talking about). We don't usually start a discourse with a
pronoun. We start with a noun and then move on to use a pronoun to avoid repeating the noun.
By "noun", we really mean: noun (food), name (Tara), gerund (swimming), noun phrase (twelve
red roses). We can replace even a long noun phrase such as "the car that we saw crashing into the
bus" with the simple pronoun "it".
Here are some examples of noun phrases and the pronouns that could replace them:
noun (phrase) pronou
n
the car it
Anthony he
the big woman with black hair she
swimming it
learning English it
almost all French people they
my wife and I we
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:
number: singular (e.g: I) or plural (e.g: we)
person: 1st person (e.g: I), 2nd person (e.g: you) or 3rd person (e.g: he)
gender: male (e.g: he), female (e.g: she) or neuter (e.g: it)
case: subject (e.g: we) or object (e.g: us)
We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is
Josef but when I am talking about myself, I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am
talking directly to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another
person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.
Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:
number person gender personal
pronouns
subject object
singular 1st male/ female I me
2nd male/ female you you
3rd male he him
female she her
neuter it it
plural 1st male/ female we us
2nd male/ female you you
number person gender personal
pronouns
subject object
3rd male/ female/ neuter they them
Examples (in each pair, the first sentence shows a subject pronoun, the second an object
pronoun):
I like coffee. / John helped me.
Do you like coffee? / John loves you.
He runs fast. / Did Ram beat him?
She is clever. / Does Mary know her?
It doesn't work. / Can the man fix it?
We went home. / Anthony drove us.
Do you need a table for three? / Did John and Mary beat you at doubles?
They played doubles. / John and Mary beat them.
When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it. However, there are a few
exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her, especially if the animal is
domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are
often treated as female and referred to as she/her. Here are some examples:
This is our dog Rusty. He's an Alsatian.
The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage.
My first car was a Mini and I treated her like my wife.
Thailand has now opened her border with Cambodia.
For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she. There are several solutions
to this:
If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal.
If a teacher needs help, he should see the principal.
If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal.
We often use it to introduce a remark:
It is nice to have a holiday sometimes.
It is important to dress well.
It's difficult to find a job.
Is it normal to see them together?
It didn't take long to walk here.
We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:
It's raining.
It will probably be hot tomorrow.
Is it nine o'clock yet?
It's 50 kilometers from here to Cambridge.
Demonstrative Pronouns
demonstrate (verb): to show; to indicate; to point to
A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:
near in distance or time (this, these)
far in distance or time (that, those)
near • far
⇒
singular 📗
this that
plural 📗📗📗
these those
Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns, followed by an illustration:
This tastes good.
Have you seen this?
These are bad times.
Do you like these?
That is beautiful.
Look at that!
Those were the days!
Can you see those?
This is heavier than that.
These are bigger than those.
Do not confuse demonstrative pronouns with demonstrative adjectives. They are identical, but a
demonstrative pronoun stands alone, while a demonstrative adjective qualifies a noun.
That smells. (demonstrative pronoun)
That book is good. (demonstrative adjective + noun)
Normally we use demonstrative pronouns for things only. But we can use them for people when the
person is identified. Look at these examples:
This is Josef speaking. Is that Mary?
That sounds like John.
Reflexive Pronouns
reflexive (adj.) [grammar]: reflecting back on the subject, like a mirror.
We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause.
Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).
There are eight reflexive pronouns:
reflexive pronoun
singular myself
yourself
himself, herself, itself
plural ourselves
yourselves
themselves
Look at these examples:
non-reflexive REFLEXIVE pronouns
the underlined words are NOT the same the underlined words are the SAME
person/thing person/thing
John saw me. I saw myself in the mirror.
Why does he blame you? Why do you blame yourself?
non-reflexive REFLEXIVE pronouns
the underlined words are NOT the same the underlined words are the SAME
person/thing person/thing
David sent him a copy. John sent himself a copy.
David sent her a copy. Mary sent herself a copy.
My dog hurt the cat. My dog hurt itself.
We blame you. We blame ourselves.
Can you help my children? Can you help yourselves?
They cannot look after the babies. They cannot look after themselves.
Intensive pronouns
Notice that all the above reflexive pronouns can also act as intensive pronouns, but the function
and usage are different. An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent (the earlier word to
which it refers). Two important points:
We can remove an intensive pronoun and the sentence still makes sense. (If we remove a
reflexive pronoun, the sentence no longer makes sense.)
In most cases an intensive pronoun can go before of after the verb.
Look at these example intensive pronouns:
1. I made it myself.
I myself made it.
2. Have you yourself seen it?
Have you seen it yourself?
3. The President himself promised to stop the war.
4. She spoke to me herself.
She herself spoke to me.
5. The exam itself wasn't difficult, but the exam room was horrible.
6. Never mind. We'll do it ourselves.
7. You yourselves asked us to do it.
8. They recommend this book even though they themselves have never read it.
They recommend this book even though they have never read it themselves.
Possessive Pronouns
We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent")
belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).
We use possessive pronouns depending on:
number: singular (e.g: mine) or plural (e.g: ours)
person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (e.g: yours) or 3rd person (e.g: his)
gender: male (his), female (hers)
Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Notice that each
possessive pronoun can:
be subject or object.
refer to a singular or plural antecedent.
number person gender (of "owner") possessive pronouns
singular 1st male/ female mine
2nd male/ female yours
number person gender (of "owner") possessive pronouns
3rd male his
female hers
plural 1st male/ female ours
2nd male/ female yours
3rd male/ female/ neuter theirs
Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture)
I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers)
I looked everywhere for your key. I found John's key but I couldn't find yours. (object =
your key)
My flowers are dying. Yours are lovely. (subject = Your flowers)
All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay)
John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport)
John found his clothes, but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her clothes)
Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it. (subject = Our car)
Your photos are good. Ours are terrible. (subject = Our photos)
Each couple's books are colour-coded. Yours are red. (subject = Your books)
I don't like this family's garden, but I like yours. (object = your garden)
These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair. (subject = Their children)
John and Mary don't like your car. Do you like theirs? (object = their car)
