Pronouns

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a common

noun or a proper noun. There are different kinds of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns:

The words I, you, he, she, it, we and they are called

personal pronouns. They take the place of nouns and

are used as the subject of the verb in a sentence.

My name is David. I am the youngest in the family.

This is my father. He is a teacher.

This is my mother. She is a lawyer.

I have a brother and two sisters.

They are Peter, Sharon and Jenny.

I have a dog. It is called Lucky.

Lucky, you are a good dog.

Good morning, children! You may sit down now.

My family and I live in a big city. We have an apartment.

The subject of a sentence is the person, animal,

place or thing that does the action shown by the

verb.

There are three groups of pronouns: first person,

second person and third person.

The person speaking is called the first person.

The first-person pronouns are I or me (in the singular) and

we or us (in the plural).

The person spoken to is called the second person. The

second-person pronoun is you (in both singular and plural).

The person (or animal, or thing) spoken about is called the

third person. The third-person pronouns are he or him, she or

her, and it (in the singular), and they or them (in the plural).

The word I is always spelled with a capital letter.

The pronoun he is used for men and boys, she for

women and girls, and it for things and animals.

Here is a table to help you.

Subject       Object

First person singular :                                   I               me

Second person singular:                               you           you

Third person singular :                                  he            him

                                                                      she           her

                                                                       it             it

First person plural :                                      we            us

Second person plural :                                  you          you

Third person plural :                                    they        them

Reflexive Pronouns

The words myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves are called reflexive pronouns. They refer to the person or animal that is the subject of the verb.

I made this cake myself.

Be careful with the knife. You’ll cut yourself.

Michael is looking at himself in the mirror.

Susan has hurt herself.

Our cat washes itself after each meal.

We organized the party all by ourselves.

Come in, children, and find yourselves a seat.

Baby birds are too young to look after themselves.

Interrogative Pronouns

The words who, whom, whose, what and which are called interrogative pronouns.

These pronouns are used to ask questions. Who can be used as the object of a verb as well

as the subject. Whom is used only as the object. 

For example, you can say:

Whom

Whom are you playing with?

What

Who

Who is he talking to?

Who are those people?

Whom are you playing with?

Whom is he talking to?

What is your dog’s name?

What are you talking about?

What is the time?

Which

Which of these bags is yours?

Which do you prefer?

Whose

Whose is this umbrella?

Whose are these gloves?