Pronouns

Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it
less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are - he, she, you, they, it,
etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use Personal Pronouns
These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate
the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking Tanya told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed.
Him is a Pronoun of gender.
Them is a Pronoun of number showing that there is more than one person, and it is also a
Pronoun of case as it is referring to a specific group in an objective manner.
It is also a Pronoun of gender showing the object (food).
So we can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on Gender
He went to the market. - He is used for the male gender. Other examples are - His, Him, He, etc.
She is doing the laundry. - She is used for the female gender. Other examples are - Her, Hers, etc.
It is important to them. - It is gender neutral as it shows an object, them is also gender neutral as
them can consist of both genders. Other gender neutral pronouns are - Their, They, Its, etc.
Number
Singular Pronouns - Where the pronoun is only referring to one specific noun.
That book belongs to me. - Me refers to one singular person only.
Plural Pronouns - Where the pronoun is used to refer to a number of nouns.
That is their book, not yours. - Their shows a number of people, hence its a plural personal
pronoun. Whereas the yours in this sentence is another example of singular personal pronoun.
Cases Subjective Case -

She is at work. -She is the main subject of the sentence, hence in this sentence, she is the
subjective personal pronoun. You can ask the question who/what is doing ______? to
recognize whether a pronoun is subjective or objective.
Objective Case He will meet us later. -Us is the objective personal noun as it the object of the verb meet. He
is the subject as he is the person who will be doing the action of meeting.
Possessive Case That is our clubhouse. - Our shows the possession of the object clubhouse. Possessive
pronouns can also be used to show possession over people.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far
or near in distance or time. They are only four in number - This, That, These and Those. This and
That are singular demonstrative pronouns and These and Those are plural demonstrative
pronouns. They can also be used to show an unspecified quantity in a sentence.
That is a beautiful house. - That is a demonstrative pronoun that is referring to a specific noun
(house). This is a singular pronoun as it is referring to only one house.
These were made by me. - These is showing an unspecified quantity of something that was
made by a person. This is a plural demonstrative pronoun as its referring to a number of objects.
Everyone remembers those days. - Those is showing a particular time or period of days in the
past; it is being used in place of a noun that could be - school, summer, college, etc. Here also
those is a plural demonstrative pronoun as its indicating a number of days.
This is what he is charging? - This is used as pronoun in place of a number and it is also acting
as a quantifier by referring not only to the noun but to the amount/number of the noun as well.
This is a singular demonstrative pronoun.
Interrogative Pronouns
Who, Whom, Which and What are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions
about a person or object that we do not know about. Compounds of these words are made by
attaching -ever to the words to strengthen the emphasis on the word.
Which one would you like? - Here, which is being used to ask someone to make a choice
between different things, instead of naming every single choice that is available.
What is your name? - What is used to ask a personal noun that the speaker doesnt know.

Who will be managing the buffet? - Who is used to ask about a specific person related to a task.
Whom did you tell about this? - Whom is showing/asking the person who was told something
by you.
Whoever could have done this? - Whoever is the compound of Who and it is used here to
emphasise the feeling of confusion in the sentence while still asking a question.
Whichever one will you choose? - Whichever is used here to show strong emotion while asking
a persons choice.
In the case of Who and Whom Who is always the subject of the verb. The emphasis is on the identity of the person who did the
action.
Who rang the bell? Here, we can see that the verb phrase rang the bell is secondary and the main
emphasis is on the identity of the person ringing the bell.
Whom is never the subject of the verb. It is used to show the person to or for whom the action is
being done. In other words, it is the object of the verb.
Whom were you meeting with? Here, we can see that the subject of verb or the person who was
meeting someone is you. Whom is the object of the verb or the person you were meeting.
Relative Pronouns
Relative Pronouns are used to join or relate two different clauses together by referring to the
noun in the previous clause using the pronouns - Who, Whom, Whose, Which and That.
Which and That are generally used for objects; while Who and Whom are used for people, and
Whose is used to show possession.
She will choose the colour which looks good on everyone.
Here, which is joining the two related clauses about choosing a colour and a colour which would
look good on everyone.
She is complaining to whoever she comes across nowadays.
Here, the whoever is the object of the verb complaining and it is linking the two clauses about
someone complaining and the frequency of their complaints.
There is a car in the parking lot that someone has painted a bright pink.

That is joining the two sentences related to the object and its location in the first and its
appearance in the second.
She needs to know by tomorrow who will be accompanying her on the trip.
Who here stands for the unknown person and it also joins the two different clauses together.
Is there anyone here whose mobile phone has a signal?
Whose is used here to ask if anyone has possession of something that the speaker needs.
Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns are used to show unspecified objects or people, whether in plural or in singular.
They are used to indicate the entire noun or some of the noun or none of the noun. They are used
when we want to refer to group of nouns without actually specifying who or how much.
Some common indefinite nouns are - anyone, someone, none, everything, many, few, etc.
If anyone has seen my notebook please return it to me. Here, we see the pronoun anyone is
being used to refer to everyone without any specification.
A few of the members were not satisfied with the service. - Few means a small number of
people/objects. Hence, it is a plural indefinite pronoun.
Nobody was answering when I called them last. Here, we see a pronoun nobody being used to
show no one at all. It is a singular indefinite pronoun.
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns are those which are used to indicate a noun which has been used in an earlier
part of the same sentence. These pronouns are - Myself, Themselves, Yourself, Ourselves,
Herself, Himself and Itself.
Rosa was going to take it to the shop but ended up fixing it herself one afternoon. Here, we can
see that herself is being used to refer to Rosa again at the end of the sentence.
He prefers to be by himself after a game. Here, himself is used to refer to him.
Apart from ordering in, they cooked a few snack themselves. Here themselves is used to show
that they cooked something.
The horse hurt itself while trying to escape. - Since itself is a gender neutral pronoun, it is used
to show the nouns that have no definite gender. E.g. : material things or ideas, etc.; or whose
gender is unknown. E : animals.

These same words are also called Intensive Pronouns, which are used to lay emphasis on the
pronoun that comes before them in the sentence.
They themselves knew that the prank was in bad taste. - Here, the pronoun themselves is used to
emphasise they.
Avoid reporting things that you yourself havent witnessed. - Here yourself is used to emphasise
the pronoun you.
Reciprocal Pronoun
There are just two Reciprocal Pronouns - Each other and One another. They are used when two
or more nouns are doing or being the same to one another. Both of these pronouns are plural in
nature as they can only be used in situations where there is more than one noun.
Jamie and Jack always sit beside each other in break. Here, the reciprocation is between the
children as they both sit together.
They havent seen one another since last year. Here, neither of the two parties has seen each
other in some time.
The trees seem to reach towards each other in a strong wind. Here, we have an unspecified
amount of trees bending towards the others in a strong wind.

Verb
Verbs are traditionally defined as action or state of being words. In the English language, verbs
may be classified into five categories:
1. Copular
2. Intransitive
3. Transitive
4. Ditransitive
5. Ambitransitive
Copular Verbs
The first type of verb in English is the copular verb. Copular verbs are English verbs that link the
subject complement in the predicate to the grammatical subject. Some common copular verbs in
English include:

be

become

feel

seem

smell

taste

For example:

His father is a locksmith.

Your brother appears ill today.

The result of the test remains unknown.

That pumpkin pie smells delicious.

I felt sad yesterday.

Her soup tastes like burnt socks.

Some grammars refer to the copular verbs as a copula verb, copula, or linking verb.
Intransitive Verbs
The second type of verb in English is the intransitive verb. Intransitive verbs are English verbs
that cannot or do not take objects. Some common intransitive verbs in English include:

cough

die

dream

go

sit

sneeze

For example:

The baby coughed.

The old woman died.

My dog dreams about chasing rabbits.

We went to the fair.

Sit down!

The sick child sneezed in my face.

Many intransitive verbs in English are also prepositional verbs, which are verbs that required a
verb phrase complement in the form of a prepositional phrase. For example:

The patron argued about the fine on his account.

The citizens must cope with the tragedy.

I am listening to my favorite band.

My daughter insisted on wearing the striped pants with the polka dot shirt.

We should laugh about the situation.

Some people yearn for a time that never existed.

Transitive Verbs
The third type of verb in English is the transitive verb. Transitive verbs are English verbs that
take direct objects. Another name for verbs that take only a direct object is monotransitive verb.
Monotransitive verbs take only one object. Some common transitive verbs in English include:

borrow

clean

eat

kick

swallow

write

For example:

The man tore the paper.

A burglar stole my necklace.

Rabbits destroy my garden every year.

My cat kills rabbits.

We enjoyed the performance

He closed the door.

Many phrasal verbs in English are transitive verbs.

Ditransitive Verbs
The fourth type of verb in English is the ditransitive verb. Ditransitive verbs are English verbs
that take both direct objects and indirect objects. Some common ditransitive verbs in English
include:

bring

buy

catch

give

pass

trade

For example:

Maureen gave Dan the pencil.

My husband bought me some flowers.

The police caught themselves a criminal.

Please pass me the rice.

She showed the doctor her rash.

I lent him some money.

Another type of ditransitive verb is the attributive ditransitive verb. Attributive ditransitive verbs
also take two objects: a direct object and an object complement. For example:

The committee named me the new president.

The clown got the children too excited.

We all consider her unworthy.

The guards painted the roses red.

The judge ruled her out of order.

My coworkers call Rachelle the boss.

Ambitransitive Verbs
The fifth type of verb in English is the ambitransitive verb. Ambitransitive verbs are English
verbs that may be either transitive/ditransitive or intransitive depending on the context. Some
common ambitransitive verbs in English include:

break

drink

open

pay

read

sink

For example:

The little boy broke the lamp. (transitive)

My oven broke yesterday. (intransitive)

Some man opened the window. (transitive)

The store opens early today. (intransitive)

My husband paid the mechanic. (transitive)

We already paid. (intransitive)

The majority of verbs in English are ambitransitive rather than purely intransitive, transitive, or
ditransitive.

Determiner
A determiner phrase is a phrase in which at least one determiner functions as the head of the
phrase plus any additional determiners or p-words functioning as particles. The two grammatical
forms that appear within the internal structure of English determiner phrases are:
1. Determiners
2. P-words
Determiner phrases may consist of two or more determiners plus a p-word. Determiner phrases
perform the grammatical function of determinative.
Forms of Determiner Phrases
The first form of determiner phrase is the determiner phrase consisting of two determiners. For
example:

all six astronauts (quantifier + numeral)

all the frogs (quantifier + article)

the two children (article + numeral)

these 24 sodas (demonstrative determiner + numeral)

the many obstacles (article + quantifier)

her many problems (possessive determiner + quantifier)

which four books (interrogative determiner + numeral)

whose three socks (possessive interrogative determiner + numeral)

The second form of determiner phrase is the determiner phrase consisting two determiners and a
p-word. For example:

many of the counties (quantifier + p-word + article)

all of her knitting (quantifier + p-word + possessive determiner)

two of a kind (numeral + p-word + article)

seven of his grandchildren (numeral + p-word + possessive determiner)

The third form of determiner phrase is the determiner phrase consisting of three determiners. For
example:

all her many accomplishments (quantifier + possessive determiner + quantifier)

all the many layers (quantifier + article + quantifier)

all these many difficulties (quantifier + demonstrative determiner + quantifier)

The fourth form of determiner phrase is the determiner phrase consisting of three determiners
and a p-word. For example:

all of the twenty soldier (quantifier + p-word + article + numeral)

half of her thirty-two relatives (quantifier + p-word + possessive determiner + numeral)

some of these 75 choices (quantifier + p-word + demonstrative determiner + numeral)

nine of those dozen cookies (numeral + p-word + demonstrative determiner + quantifier)

Other combinations of determiners and p-words are also possible in forming determiner phrases
in English.

Determiner phrases are phrases in which at least one determiner functions as the head of the
phrase plus any additional determiners or p-words functioning as particles.

Preposition
Traditional notional grammars define prepositions as words that link to other words, phrases,
and clauses and that express spatial or temporal relations. A Prepositional phrase is a phrase
that consists of a preposition plus another word, phrase, or clause functioning as the prepositional
complement.
In grammar, a prepositional complement is a word, phrase, or clause that directly follows a
preposition and complete the meaning of the prepositional phrase. Although nouns, pronouns,
and noun phrases most frequently perform the function, prepositional phrases sometimes,
although infrequently, function as indirect objects in English. Examples of prepositional phrases
as prepositional complements include the following:

My siblings always nose around in my bedroom.

She mused about under our beds.

The maid gawked at behind the refrigerator.

The secret agent is spying on inside the boardroom.

She is worrying about in the morning.

Prepositional phrases often function as the prepositional complement of prepositional verbs.