Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:
number: singular ( I) or plural (we)
person: 1st person ( I), 2nd person (you) or 3rd person ( he)
gender: male (he), female (she) or neuter (it)
case: subject (we) or object ( us)
We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.

Here are the personal pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).

We use possessive pronouns depending on:

number: singular ( mine) or plural (ours)

person: 1st person ( mine), 2nd person ( yours) or 3rd person (his)

gender: male (his), female (hers)

Below are the possessive pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrate (verb): to show; to indicate; to point to

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

Near in distance or time (this, these)

Far in distance or time (that, those)

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.

Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). Look at these examples:

Each of the players has a doctor.

I met two girls. One has given me her phone number.

Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement:

Many have expressed their views.

Meanings

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that it modifies. Here is an example:

The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.

In the above example, "who":

• Relates to "person", which it modifies
• Introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night"

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that.

Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which is for things. In non-defining relative clauses, that is used for things. In defining relative clauses (clauses that are essential to the sentence and do not simply add extra information) that can be used for things and people.

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

Interrogative Pronouns

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about).

There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which

Notice that the possessive pronoun whose can also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).

Learn more

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