Pronouns are words that replace nouns to help us avoid repeating the same noun over and over again in sentences.
Personal Pronouns
Personal Pronouns
Subject Complement (object)
(+Verb) (after
Verb)
I like me
You like you
He likes him
She likes
her
It likes it
We like
us
You like
you
They like them
Examples
He gave me a book and I gave him a comic book.
You bought her a gift and she thanked you.
We send them a sampler and they asked us for more.
Everybody/everyone, everything, everywhere, somebody/someone, something, somewhere, anybody/anyone, anything, anywhere, nobody/no one, nothing, nowhere
Quantifiers: All, another, any, each, both, either, (a)few, many, plenty, more, most, none, one, several, some... (see determiners)
Indefinite pronouns full lesson
mine, yours, his, her, its, ours, theirs
Adjectives Pronouns
(Before nouns) (alone)
My pen is mine
Your pen is yours
His pen is his
Her pen is hers
Its pen
is its
Our pen is ours
Your pen is
yours
Their pen
is theirs
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are ones that refer back to the subject of the sentence.
| Myself | I'm going to treat myself to a nice dinner tonight. |
| Yourself | You should be proud of yourself for all your hard work. |
| Himself | He hurt himself while playing basketball. |
| Herself | She taught herself how to play the guitar. |
| Itself | The cat cleaned itself after eating. |
| Ourselves | We are going to challenge ourselves to run a marathon next year. |
| Yourselves | You can help yourselves to some snacks in the kitchen. |
| Themselves | They need to take care of themselves before they can help others. |
Intensive pronouns are exactly the same as reflexive pronouns, but their job in the sentence is different: they’re just meant to emphasize the subject of the sentence.
| Myself | I myself cannot believe that I accomplished this goal. |
| Yourself | You yourself said that you didn't want to come. |
| Himself | He himself fixed the car's engine. |
| Herself | She herself prepared the dinner for the party. |
| Itself | The computer itself shut down because of a power outage. |
| Ourselves | We ourselves decided to take a day off. |
| Yourselves | You yourselves should be proud of the progress you've made. |
| Themselves | They themselves couldn't believe they had won the lottery. |
This (one), these (ones) (near distance)
That (one), those (ones) (far distance)
The choice of demonstrative pronoun depends on the number (singular or plural) and the relative physical or temporal distance (near or far) of the noun being modified,
Demonstrative pronouns replace a specific noun that was mentioned previously.
| Asia’s mountains are taller than those (ones). | ||
| That tree is cute, but this one offers more shade. |
I don't want to see this movie, I prefer that one.
who, whom, that, which, whose
A relative pronoun is a word that introduces a dependent (or relative) clause and connects it to an independent clause.
Who: Refers to a person (as the verb’s subject)
Whom: Refers to a person (as the verb’s object)
Which: Refers to an animal or thing
What: Refers to a nonliving thing
That: Refers to a person, animal, or thing
Whose : Refers to possession
Why : Refers to reason
How: Refers to manner
I am not sure whom this book belongs to.
Interpretative dance, which I find a bit disconcerting, is all the rage.
Is this what you were talking about?
She finally visited the coffee shop that had such great reviews.
The house whose owner is on vacation has an unsightly garden.
Your talent is the reason why they hired you and that's why you´ll be successful.
No matter how I try, I can't convince her.
That or Which
That introduces a restrictive (or defining) clause and which a nonrestrictive (or non-defining) clause
A restrictive clause is an essential part of its sentence; if it were taken out of the sentence, the sentence’s meaning would change. Nonrestrictive clauses are just the opposite.
If we were to excise the clause “that has the fur coats in it” from the sentence, the meaning of the sentence would change. We would no longer know which wardrobe leads to a magical land with talking animals, which was the intention of the sentence. This kind of clause gets a that. The word which, on the other hand, should introduce a nonessential clause that can be removed from a sentence without changing the sentence’s meaning.
Here, “which contains several fur coats” is a parenthetical remark that can be removed without materially altering the sentence. Nonrestrictive (or nonessential) clauses are set off with commas, as shown in the example above.
Who vs. that
Not every style guide agrees on whether that is an acceptable relative pronoun to use when referring to people. To some, the following sentence may sound incorrect.
The truth is, this sentence is perfectly fine. Yet you may want to consider that your readers could disagree. Go with the safer bet, who.
Compound relative pronouns
whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever, however
The term compound relative pronoun sounds complex, but it really isn’t. Simply put, compound relative pronouns apply universally to a number of people or things.
Whomever you hire will be fine with me.
Whichever train you take from here, you will end at Charing Cross station.
Carly will be successful at whatever she chooses to do in life.
However you try to explain it, I don't understand.
| Exercises 1 2 3 4 |
