By:Maryan

n Minh

PRONOUNS

RandySarah

Pronoun a word that substitutes a noun or noun phrase.

They can be a good replacement so that the nouns don't sound like a repetition.

Personal Pronouns

are pronouns used as substitutes for proper or common nouns.

The person who is talking (I, me, we, us, our, ours)I love cookies!

The person being talked to (you, yours)You are invited to the party.

The person being talked about (he, she, it, they, them, their , theirs).The police asked her for identification.

More Examples

Singular Plural

I We

Me Us

My Our

•My dog ran away •Our dog ran away • I love you•We love you

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns identifies a noun or a phrase.

They are made up of “this”, “that”, “those”, and “these”.

Demonstrative Pronouns

Near Far

Singular This That

Plural These Those

Demonstrative Pronoun Examples

This is delicious. (This is the subject of the sentence)

Tom made that. (that is the direct object)Bob took those shoes away. (those refers to the

pair of shoes)

Demonstrative pronouns can also be used as adjectives

This house needs to be fixed. (This indicates which apartment)

Relative Pronouns

• Definition: a clause that wants to hitch itself firmly to its antecedent(that, what, whatever, which, whichever, who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose).

• The spirit that men do lives after them(proper). • The spirit who man do lives after them.• People who smoke should quit now(proper). • People that smoke should quit now.

Indefinite Pronouns

• Definition: stand in for people or things, but not necessarily ones specifically named by an antecedent(all, another, any, anybody, anything, both, each, either, every, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, most, much, neither, no one, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, something, such).

• Someoneshould be responsible for this mess(proper). • Few should be responsible for this mess.• Noneof these people are my father(proper). • Nobodyof these people are my father.

Reflexive Pronouns

• Definition: reflexive pronouns allow a person or thing to be both the subject and the object of a sentence or add emphasis(myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves).

• Pierre cut himself(proper). • Pierre cut yourself.• Suzzanetortured herself(proper). • Suzzanetortured itself.

Expletive Pronouns

Expletive Pronouns are most often used to fill in for other words.

(It, there) Examples: It is snowing right now. There are two turtles in the pond.  Expletive pronouns are looked down upon for the fact that

they aren’t descriptive, or sometimes have no meaning what so ever. Although people have argued about the use of “it” and “there,” most people would agree the use of expletive Pronouns is incorrect; at least for academic and professional writing.

 

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns ask a question.(What, Which, Who, Whom, Whose)Correct examples: Which pet do you prefer, cats or dogs?Who is that?What did the teacher assign for

homework today?Incorrect example:Who did write that?

First, Second, and Third Person

Depending upon your use of Pronoun, you can change whatever story you are writing into first, second, or third person.

Examples: • First person: I went shopping at the mall today.• Second person: You are not a morning person,

yet you are awake so early in the morning.• Third person: She rushed out the door to see if

the mail man had a letter from her soldier.

Pronoun Mistakes

Pronoun disagreements with the antecedents in number, person, or gender

ExampleWhen a customer comes in a store the

employees should talk to them immediately. (“customer” is singular and “them” is plural)

The correct way would be “When a customer comes in a store the employees should talk to him or her immediately”

Other mistakes

Its vs. It’sIt’s is a contraction for “it is” or “it has”.Its is a prossessive pronoun, belonging to it

Who’s vs. WhoseWho’s is a contraction for “who is” or ”who

has”Whose is the possessive from

Cont.

Whom vs. WhoWho is used to refer to the subject while whom

is used to refer to the objectWho closed the door? (the who refers to the

subject)Whom did you see in the house? (the whom is

referring to the object)