What Are Pronouns? A Simple Guide To Pronouns In English
We throw around grammar words like pronouns without giving them much thought – but what does it actually mean?
The good news? Pronouns are one of the easiest grammar concepts to understand, and once you know their grammar rules, your writing will be clearer, smoother, and way less repetitive.
So, if you’re ready to stop repeating ‘Sarah went to Sarah’s car because Sarah left Sarah’s keys in Sarah’s office’ and start using pronouns with confidence, you’re in the right place!
Let’s break down what pronouns are, the different types, and how to use them correctly.
What Is a Pronoun?
The definition of a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Instead of saying the same name, place, or object over and over again, we use pronouns like he, she, it, and we to make our sentences flow better. Imagine how clunky your writing would be if you had to say a person’s name every single time!
For example:
Instead of saying John is going to John’s car, you say John is going to his car.
Without pronouns, language would be a lot more repetitive!
Types of Pronouns
There are several different types of pronouns, each with its own unique role in a sentence. Don’t worry; we’ll break them down one by one, with examples to make it easy to follow.
1. Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns replace the names of people, things, or animals, and they come in two forms: subject pronouns and object pronouns.
Subject Pronouns: These pronouns act as the subject of a sentence.
Examples: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
e. g She loves chocolate.
Object Pronouns: These pronouns receive the action in a sentence.
Examples: me, you, him, her, it, us
e.g John gave me the book.
2. Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns show ownership or possession. They indicate that something belongs to someone or something.
Examples: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
e.g The laptop is mine.
These pronouns replace the noun they refer to. For example, instead of saying This laptop is my laptop, you simply say This laptop is mine.
Watch Out! People often confuse possessive pronouns with possessive adjectives. Remember, possessive pronouns replace nouns, while possessive adjectives describe a noun and go before it e.g ‘This is her book’.
3. Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object of the sentence are the same. They end in ‘-self’ or ‘-selves’.
Examples: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
e.g I taught myself how to play the guitar.
Common mistake: Don’t use reflexive pronouns just to sound fancy! For example, saying John and myself went to the store is incorrect. You should just say John and I went to the store. Only use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object are the same person.
4. Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to refer to something that has already been omntioned or something obvious within the current context. e.g ‘This is my essay’, does not make much sense without
Examples: this, that, these, those
e. g This is my favourite book.
Use this and these for things that are close and that and those for things that are further away, either in distance or time.
5. Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. They help to ask for information about people or things.
Examples: who, whom, whose, which, what
e. g Whose shoes are these?
Tip! People often confuse who and whom. Use who when referring to the subject of the sentence (e.g., Who is calling?), and use whom when referring to the object (e.g., Whom did you call?).
6. Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to link one part of a sentence to another by introducing a relative clause. They provide more information about the noun mentioned earlier in the sentence.
Examples: who, whom, whose, which, that
e.g The author who wrote this book is famous.
Often in spoken English, relative pronouns are omitted when they’re not necessary for understanding the sentence. The movie [that] we watched was exciting.
Usage tip: Sometimes people misuse which and that. Use that for essential clauses and which for non-essential clauses. For example, The book that I bought is an essential clause because we need it to identify the book. But in The book, which I bought yesterday, the extra information is non-essential.
7. Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they are. These can be singular, plural, or both.
Examples: someone, anyone, everyone, nobody, many, few, all, some
Someone left their bag in the office.
Common mistake: Many indefinite pronouns are singular (e.g., everyone, someone), so they should be paired with singular verbs, even though they refer to groups of people. For example, Everyone is excited for the event (not Everyone are).
8. Reciprocal Pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns are used when two or more people perform an action on one another.
Examples: each other, one another
e.g. They always help each other with homework.
FAQs About Pronouns
1. What Is The Difference Between A Noun And A Pronoun?
Nouns are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. For example, ‘Sarah,’ ‘London,’ ‘dog,’ and ‘happiness’ are all nouns. They provide specific names for these things.
Pronouns, on the other hand, are words that replace nouns to avoid repetition. Instead of repeating a noun over and over, we can use a pronoun. For example, instead of saying ‘Sarah went to Sarah’s car because Sarah forgot Sarah’s keys,’ you would say ‘Sarah went to her car because she forgot her keys.’ Here, ‘her’ and ‘she’ are pronouns replacing ‘Sarah’.
Take a look at the below sentences:
Sarah is a sailor. – ‘Sarah’ is a noun in this sentence.
She is a sailor. – ‘She’ replaces the noun and is a pronoun.
In short, nouns name things, and pronouns stand in for those names to make sentences less repetitive and smoother.
2. Can You Explain The Difference Between ‘Who’ & ‘Whom’?
Use ‘who’ when referring to the subject of the sentence, and ‘whom’ for the object.
If you can replace the word with he or she or another subject pronoun, use who; if you can replace it with him or her or another object pronoun, use whom.
‘Who’ Sentences:
• Who is going to the park?
• The teacher, who loves literature, is giving a talk on Shakespeare.
• Do you know who won the game?
Notice how you can switch ‘who’ with him or her in these sentences.
‘Whom’ Sentences:
This is more challenging to switch him or her so let’s go through how to determine that ‘whom’ is needed.
• [Whom/who] did you invite to the wedding?
Ask yourself, did you invite him to the wedding? You would not say, Did you invite he to the wedding?’ So, whom is correct.
• With [whom/who] are you going to the concert?
Again, forget about who/whom and write out the two options without them: Are you going to the concert with her? or Are you going to the concert with she? So, whom is correct.
• Many people dislike the new leader, [who/whom] we elected.
This isn’t a question so we’ll have to follow these steps:
- What are the verbs in the sentence?
- What are their corresponding subjects?
- Is who/whom a subject (the one doing the action)? Use who!
- Is who/whom an object (the one receiving the action)? Use whom!
So, in the sentence:
Many people dislike the new leader, [who/whom] we elected.
- ‘dislike’ and ‘elected’ are the verbs
- ‘people’ corresponds to ‘dislike’ and ‘we’ corresponds to ‘elected’.
- So since we already have the subject ‘we’, this means that who/whom is an object so whom is the correct answer!
Many people dislike the new leader, whom we elected.
3. Why Do Some Possessive Pronouns Not Have Apostrophes?
Possessive pronouns like hers, its, and ours don’t have apostrophes because they already show possession. The apostrophe is only used with contractions like it’s (short for it is).
Want To Write Better? Master English Pronouns
Pronouns are small but mighty tools that help us avoid repetition, keep our writing concise, and make sentences easier to read.
Although we use them often, many writers make mistakes when using them! So, stand out from your colleagues and use pronouns properly to make your writing more effective and accurate.
