PRONOUN

                                                              

                  

                INDEX :- 

•  Definition
•  Kinds of Pronouns
•  Personal pronouns
•  Possessive pronouns
•  Reciprocal pronouns
•  Demonstrative pronouns
•  Reflexive pronouns
• .Relative pronouns
•  Interrogative pronouns
•  Indefinite pronouns
•  Pronouns: Number
•  Pronouns: Gender
•  Pronouns :Persons

 Definition:- 

                         Pro means 'for' or 'acting as.' 

          A pronoun is used as a substitute for a noun or a noun

phrase. In other words, it has all the characteristics of a noun: it can function as a subject/object/complement in a sentence.

A pronoun is used to avoid the repetition of nouns or noun phrases:

1. Vikram went to the market because Vikram wanted to buy a shirt.

    i.e. Vikram went to the market because he wanted to buy a shirt.

2. Walking is a form of exercise. Walking is easier than swimming.

    i.e. Walking is a form of exercise. It is easier than swimming.

  But a pronoun is different from a noun in that it cannot take a premodifying adjective nor can it take a determiner or a prefix/suffix. The form of a pronoun is fixed.

                            Kinds of Pronouns 

There are nine kinds of pronouns:

i) Personal Pronouns

ii) Possessive Pronouns

iii) Raciprocal Pronoun

iv) Demonstrative Pronouns

v) Reflexive Pronouns

vi) Relative Pronouns

vii) Interrogative Pronouns

viii) Indefinite Pronouns

 Personal pronouns:- 

                        I, we, you, he, she, it, they

      These seven pronouns are called personal pronouns. On the basis of their role in a speech act, these can be divided into three:

              First Person, Second Person, Third Person

 Possessive pronouns:-

my, our, your, his, her, their, its (determiners)

mine, ours, yours, his, hers, theirs, its (predicative use)

      They are used to express ownership/possession/relationship.

Determiners are followed by a noun.

For example:-  This is my room.

                

     The possessive pronoun in its predicative use cannot be followed by a noun.

for example:- 

        We don't say:  This is mine room.

                  we say: The room is mine.

Note: Its is always used as a determiner, never as a predicative.

This is a lock and that is its key. (not, ... that key is its.)

 Reciprocal pronouns:- 

    each other, one another

These are used to express mutual/reciprocal relationship:

for example:- They love each other/one another.

        Like any other pronoun, each other and one another have no intrinsic reference; therefore they have to have an antecedent. But unlike other pronouns, these cannot normally appear as the subject of a main clause because the antecedent should be in the sentence itself. Typically these occur as object of a verb or a preposition in a

sentence that has a plural subject.

1. No two artists approve of each other's works.

    But we cannot say:

2.    If there are two children of the same age it is always good to put them in the same class. Each other can help in doing the homework.

   But we can say:

   The children can help each other in doing the homework.

    Even though there are enough contextual clues in (2) as to the antecedent of each other the sentence is not possible.

Note: Traditional grammar makes a distinction between each other and one another. It requires that each other be used of only two people/things and one another of more than two. In current English both are used interchangeably, with a slight preference for each other.

Demonstrative pronouns:- 

                         

                       this, that, these, those

They are used to point to (demonstrate) people or things they stand for:

1. This is our new house.

2. That is the bridge built by the British.

      Demonstrative pronouns have number contrast:

this                       these

that                       those

The basic function of demonstratives is to indicate the nearness or distance of the person or object referred to, from the speaker.

Some of the uses of demonstrative pronouns are shown below:

a) When pointing:

This is my brother, Vikram.

That is his new car.

b) When a specific category is implied:

Those who apply late will not be considered.

c) When there is a reference to a previous statement or a statement that follows:

This is what I told them.

That is my opinion on the matter.

Note: Difference between it and this  

       

It is a personal pronoun, whereas this is a demonstrative pronoun. As a  demonstrative pronoun this indicates nearness and also identifies a person or thing.

The use of it does not convey these shades of meaning, so this is preferred to it for making a formal announcement or introduction:

For Example:- 

This is All India Radio giving you the news. (not, it)

Mum, this is Zoya, my friend. (not, it)

In an answer, however, it is preferred to this when a contracted form is used.

for example:- 

What's this? 

It's a new electronic device. (not, this)

But when a contracted form is not used, this is okay.

for example:- 

What is this? This is a new electronic device.

Reflexive pronouns:-

  A reflexive pronoun is formed by attaching self/selves to the objective form of the pronoun:

myself, ourselves, yourself/selves, himself, herself, themselves, itself

a) A reflexive pronoun is used as a substitute for a noun in the objective case i.e.,

  as a direct object:

Vikram saw Vikram in the mirror.

Vikram saw himself in the mirror.

This is used to avoid an awkward construction 'Vikram ... Vikram' .

Madhu laughed at Madhu.

Madhu laughed at herself.

Note:  Reflexive means 'bent back', i.e. 'bending the subject back to             the subject.' 

     A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject and the object refer to the same person or thing. This can be seen from the agreement between the subject and the reflexive object:

for example:- 

I saw myself in the water.

We dressed ourselves in the dressing room.

You sent yourself a birthday card.

They wrote themselves a 'Thank you' note.

He hurt himselfwhile playing.

She taught herself the piano.

One should avail oneself of this chance.

b) It can be used as an indirect object as well:

for example:-

 Mona made herself a new dress.

Raghav gives himself airs.

Relative pronouns:-

                  who, whom, which, what, that

         A relative pronoun relates or refers back to a noun or pronoun called its antecedent.

   It also joins clauses. So it is a pronoun as well as a conjunction. Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses and noun clauses:

For example:- Those who live in glass houses shouldn't throw stones.

                       I don't know who is standing at the gate.

       Which is used also as a sentence relative pronoun to introduce the relative in a sentence:

 For Example:-  They eat scorpions, which is unusual.

Interrogative pronouns:- 

                    Who, whom, whose, which, what

The forms of relative pronouns and interrogative pronouns are identical, but their functions are different: the former join clauses, the latter ask questions.

a) Who can come as the subject or as the object in a clause. Here who refers only to persons, not to things:

For Example:- 

Who discovered America? (as subject)

Who did you invite for lunch? (as object)

Who are you talking about? (as object of the preposition)

Note:- In current English, whom is rarely used as the object; who is the preferred form.

b) Whose is the possessive form of who; it can stand for both animate and inanimate nouns in interrogative expressions.

For Example:- 

Do you know whose book won the award this year? (refers to author)

I borrowed a book from the library whose pages are all torn. (refers to book)

c) Which is used for both people and things when there is an implied choice or selection:

For Example:- 

Which card game do you like to play?

Which teacher do you like best?

d) What as subject or object is used to refer to things only:

For Example:- 

What is in your pocket?

What's wrong with you?

Note:-

 a) Who is used for asking questions about a person's name, what forseeking information about a person's profession.

For Example:- 

Who is that gentleman talking to your father? He is Mr Johnson.

What is he? He is an musician.

b) Which presupposes a set and the person is being asked about his choice.

       What, on the other hand, does not presuppose any set and there is no choice implied.

For Example:- 

Which do you want? The red one.

What do you want? Some coffee.

Indefinite pronouns :-

Indefinite pronouns constitute a heterogenous set. One can go about classifying them differently using different criteria.

A) Universal pronouns:

                       

                             each, every, all

• Each refers to two or more people or things, whereas every refers to three or more.
• each presupposes a set (supplied by the context), every does not.

For Example:- 

  Maria walked into the room and gave a sweet to everyone (not, each)

• Both each and every take of-constructions following them. So does all.
• All can occur immediately before a noun. Therefore it is more like a determiner.

At times a definite article can intervene between all and the noun.

For Example:- 

All the girls want to imitate Genelia.

Each of you should attend the function.

Everyone of them came to see him in hospital.

B) Assertive pronouns:

There are five sub-classes in this:-

a) much, many, more , most .

For Example:- 

You need more milk for this sweet.

Not much milk is lost.

Most of the students did not turn up for the function.

Many parents complained about this.

We need more number of Math Teachers.

b) little, less, least, few, fewer, fewest

Less goes with uncountable nouns and fewer with countable nouns.

Occasionally, less can be found with count nouns, too. Expressions

denoting periods of time, sums ,of money etc. take less.

For Example:- 

There is less orange juice in my glass.

There are fewer public holidays this year.

c) several, enough

Several occurs with plural countable nouns only. Enough can occur with both countable and uncountable nouns. Enough, unlike several, can precede or follow the head noun.

For Example:- 

Hanif and I met and spoke to several craftspersons at the fair.

Have you packed enough food for a day?

Have you packed food enough for a day?

d) one

The use of one as a pronoun is typical of British English. In American English his is used in place of one's.

For Example:- 

One should love one's neighbour.

One should not think too much of oneself.

In question tags we/you is preferred to repeating one.

For Example:- 

One cannot live all alone, can we/you? (not, one)

One/ones can substitute for a countable noun.

For Example:- 

This mirror has cracked. I need to buy a new one.

These grapes are sour. I like sweet ones.

'One' can be premodified by the, that, this and which.

For Example:- 

I have read a number of stories, but this is the one I like best.

I don't fancy this model, can I have that one?

Which one? The one in the corner?

'One/ones'  is usually left out after these/ those/ either/neither/first/ last / next.

For Example:- 

These cars are smaller than those. (not, those ones)

The last to arrive was the blind man. (not, last one)

Here are two shirts. You can take either. (not. either one)

e) someone, somebody, something

Some usually goes with positive statements/questions.

For Example:- 

Something must be done before it is too late.

Can someone help me with accounts?

I hope somebody picks up the phone.

C) Non-assertive pronouns:

a) anyone, anybody, anything

Any, unlike some, has some special occurrence properties. It does not occur with positive statements unless there is a modal element like can/will.  A negative also can licence any.

For Example:- 

The citizens will not believe anything. (not, The citizens believe anything).

I can challenge anybody.

b) either

Either as a pronoun refers to one out of a set of two. Note that either is always singular.

For Example:- 

Either you make up your mind quickly, or we leave you and go.

Either of the two proposals is acceptable to me.

D) Negative pronouns:

a) no, no one, nobody, none, nothing

No can precede a 'noun, therefore it is like a determiner.

For Example:-

 Madhuri showed no interest in the new film.

The rest of the n- series have only nominal function. These generally take an affirmative verb; they do not allow a not in the sentence.

For Example:- 

The police did nothing to control the mob.

(not, The police could not do nothing.)

There are certain varieties of non-standard English where a double negative is common.

b) neither

Neither is the negative counterpart of either. It is always used in the

singular. It can come before a noun.

For Example:- 

Neither of the allegations is true.

Neither allegation is true.

                     Pronouns: Number

Like nouns, pronouns too, have number. But the number system of pronouns is different from that of nouns because an 's' is not added to pronouns to turn them into plural. The singular and plural forms of pronouns are fixed.

Note: 

   you, all, any, some, none, who, which and that can be used in both numbers.

You are a clever fellow. All is not lost.

You are brave men. . All are well here.

(Thou, the singular second person pronoun is archaic.)

Pronouns: Gender

Gender is of four kinds:

i) Masculine

ii) Feminine

iii) Common

iv) Neuter

The gender system of pronouns is different from that of nouns because a suffix like 'ess' is not used to mark gender distinctions. The gender of pronouns is fixed.

i) Masculine pronouns

he, him, his, himself

ii) Feminine pronouns

she, her, hers, herself

iii) Common gender pronouns

(I, we, you, they) Personal Pronouns

(mine, ours, yours, theirs) Possessive Pronouns

(myself, yourself, ourselves, themselves) Reflexive Pronouns

(each other, one another )Distributive Pronouns

(each, either, neither,everybody, nobody, anybody) Indefinite Pronouns

(somebody, everyone, none,anyone, someone, one who, which, what, that )Relative Pronouns

(who? which? what? ) Interrogative Pronouns

iv) Neuter gender pronouns

it, its, itself

anything, nothing, something, everything

 

                         Pronouns :Persons

Person is a grammatical category which has three divisions:

• The first person refers to the person speaking or writing (I, we), 
• the second person  to the person addressed (you) and 
•  the third person to the person spoken or written about (he, she, they). 

            In a speech situation the first and second person are

necessarily present, the third person mayor may not be present.

i) First person

I, me, my, mine, myself,

we, us, our, ours, ourselves

ii) Second person

you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves

iii) Third Person

he, his, him, himself,

she, her, herself,

it, its, itself,

they, them, their, theirs, themselves