The pronoun

THE PRONOUN

A Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun or a noun equivalent. There are seven kinds of pronouns: 1) Personal, 2) Possessive, 3) Reflexive, 4) Demonstrative, 5) Interrogative, 6) Relative, and 7) Indefinite.

1. The Personal Pronoun. Personal Pronouns are used for the three persons and a different form is used for each. Strictly speaking, both Possessiveand Reflexive Pronouns are Personal Pronouns, but, for reasons of simplicity, they are considered here as separate kinds of pronouns.
Most personal pronouns have number, gender, person, and case.

Number Person Gender Nominative Accusative / Dative
1st I me
2nd you
Singular masc. he him
3rdfem. she her
neut. it

1st we us
Plural 2nd you
3rd they them

2. The Possessive Pronoun. Possessive Pronouns are forms derived from Personal Pronouns and are related to Possessive Adjectives; they are:mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, yours, theirs.
Although the Possessive Pronoun is the genitive form of the personal pronoun, it is not necessarily in the genitive case, as may be seen from the following examples:
I do not want your friends; mine are sufficient. (Nominative case)
That book is yours. (Nominative) I cannot see mine (Accusative)
Sometimes, a double genitive form isused: He is a good friend of mine.
Compare: My two brothers (I have only two brothers)
Two of my brothers (I have more than two)
Two brothers of mine (I have more than two)

3. The Reflexive Pronoun. Reflexive Pronouns are forms derived from Personal Pronouns and are also related to Possessive Adjectives (1st and 2nd persons); they are: myself, yourself, himself, herself,itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
The Reflexive pronoun is used:
a) with a verb used reflexively: He made himself king
b) to avoid ambiguity: I wash myself every morning ('I wash every morning' is ambiguous)
c) for emphasis: He bought it himself. I myself did it.
d) to mean 'alone' or 'without help' in such expressions as 'by myself,' 'by himself,'etc.:
He did the work by himself. The little girl can walk by herself.

* A Reflexive Pronoun should not be used unless its antecedent is expressed, thus, we should not say 'He told myself' (X) but 'He told me myself' ( ). The antecedent is understood when the verb is in the Imperative Mood: (You) do it yourself!
** 'Each other' (for two) and 'one another'(for more than two) are used for reciprocal actions, as:
The two boys helped each other
The three friends wrote to one another.
Compare: The two boys hurt themselves
The two boys hurt each other.

4. The Demonstrative Pronoun. A Demonstrative Pronoun points to some noun or noun equivalent going before, and is used instead of it. The noun in question is called the 'antecedent'of the demonstrative pronoun. There are two kinds of demonstratives: Definite and Indefinite.
Definite Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those, one, ones, such, the former, the latter, the same, etc.
This is more valuable than that.
You are students, and, as such, you should study
Men have big feet and women have small ones
Indefinite Demonstrative Pronounsare those pronouns that are used indefinitely, i.e. they are not substitutes for some noun or noun equivalent previously used, but for some noun or noun equivalent understood: One, You, They, We.
One / You / We should never bathe directly after eating.
They say he is rich

5. The Interrogative Pronoun. An Interrogative Pronoun is a pronoun that asks a question, as: who?, whom? what?,...