Introduction to Pronoun

What is a Pronoun? How are the pronouns different from the nouns? And what are the various kinds of pronoun? It’s good to know these answered if you don’t. So, let’s find out more about pronouns in the section below.

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What is a Pronoun?

Ever questioned and failed to understand the meaning of a pronoun? Well, a pronoun is a word which is used in place of a noun, that is, it cannot be used until the noun has been used or mentioned. In other words,

Pronoun = Pro (instead of) + Noun

Pronoun means for a noun.

For Example: Look at Akshath. Akshath is dancing. Astitva and Aman have come to see Akshath. Astitva and Aman are glad to see Akshath dancing. Akshath is also glad to meet Astitva and Aman after such a long time.

The above example can be written as – ‘Look at Akshath. He is dancing. Astitva and Aman have come to see him. They are glad to see him dancing. He is also glad to meet them after such a long time.’ The words he and him have replaced the noun Akshath. ‘They’ and ‘them’ have replaced the nouns Astitva and Aman.

There are ten different kinds of Pronouns :

Types of Pronoun	Examples
Personal Pronoun	I, we, he, she, they
Impersonal Pronoun	It
Possessive Pronoun	Mine, Ours, Yours, His, Hers, Theirs
Reflexive Pronoun and Emphatic Pronoun	Myself, ourselves, yourself, herself, themselves
Demonstrative Pronoun	This, that, these, those, it
Indefinite Pronoun	Any, one, anyone, someone, some, no one, anybody, somebody, many, everyone, all
Distributive Pronoun	Each, Either, Neither
Reciprocal Pronoun	Each, other, One, Another
Interrogative Pronoun	Who, whose, whom, which what
Relative Pronoun	Who, whose, whom, which, that

 Personal Pronoun

When a Pronoun is used instead of a person, it is referred to as a Personal Pronoun. Personal Pronouns can be used for different persons and cases. It can be used for 1st Person, 2nd Person, and even 3rd Person.

Person	SUBJECT ( Nominative )	OBJECT ( Objective )	POSSESSIVE
1st Person	I	Me	My and Mine
	We	Us	Our and Ours
2nd Person	You	You	Your and Yours
3rd Person	He	Him	His and His
	She	Her	Her and Hers
	They	Them	Their and Theirs
	It	It	Its and Its

Though basically Pronouns, my, our, your, his, her and their are Possessive Adjectives for their function.

Impersonal Pronoun

There is another type of Pronoun called Impersonal Pronoun (e.g. ‘it’). A few sentences showing the use of these pronouns:

• It is the opinion of the public.
• The dog fell and broke its arm.
• He deserves his punishment as he knew it.
• It is easy to say but hard to do.

Possessive Pronoun

A Pronoun is also called Possessive Pronoun as it denotes possession. In a wider sense, Possessive Pronouns are –

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

My and Mine

Our and Ours

Your and Yours

His and His

Her and Hers

Their and Theirs

Its and Its

Reflexive Pronouns

Singular	Plural
I – Myself	We – Ourselves
You – Yourself	You – Yourselves
He – Himself	She – Herself
It – Itself	They – Themselves

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns are used to point out the objects to which they refer. For example- These books are not as interesting as those books.

Distributive Pronouns

In order to refer to persons or things one at a time, Distributive Pronouns are used. For example- Each of the boys is healthy.

Interrogative Pronouns

For example- Whose is this book? What is a Pronoun? Whom do you like? Who do you like?

Question For You

Q1: Choose the appropriate Pronouns from the brackets and complete the sentences:

• __ went to school. (me, mine, I)
• __ am talking to __ friend.  (my, me, I, mine)
• Can you run as fast as __? (he, his, him)
• Tell __ about __ dream. (me, our, your)

Ans.

• I went to school.
• I am talking to my friend. 
• Can you run as fast as him?
• Tell me about your dream.