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He, him, his and himself, for example, all refer to a male person or something
belonging to him
They, them, theirs and themselves all refer to a group or something belonging to a
group, and so on.
The truth is that there are many different types of pronouns, each serving a different
purpose in a sentence.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns can be the subject of a clause or sentence. They are: I, he, she, it, they,
we, and you. Example: They went to the store.
Personal pronouns can also be objective, where they are the object of a verb, preposition,
or infinitive phrase. They are: me, her, him, it, you, them, and us. Example: David gave the
gift to her.
Possession can be shown by personal pronouns, like: mine, his, hers, ours, yours,
its, and theirs. Example: Is this mine or yours?
Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns are often (but not always) found at the beginning of a sentence. More
precisely, the subject of a sentence is the person or thing that lives out the verb.
I owe that person $3,000. I am living out that debt. I is the subject pronoun.
He and I had a fight. This sentence has two subjects because he and I were both
involved in the fight.
He broke my kneecaps. You get the idea.
To him, I must now pay my children's college funds. If you'll notice, the verb in this
sentence the action is "pay." Although I is not at the beginning of the sentence, it is the
person living out the action and is, therefore, the subject.
Object Pronouns
By contrast, objects and object pronouns indicate the recipient of an action or motion. They
come after verbs and prepositions (to, with, for, at, on, beside, under, around, etc.).
You wouldn't say, "The police arrested he," or, "The police arrested I."
You would use "him" and "me."
So the correct sentence is, "The police arrested him and me."
Possessive pronouns, on the other hand mine, yours, ours, theirs, his, hers, its are truly
pronouns because they refer to a previously named or understood noun. They stand alone,
not followed by any other noun. For comparison's sake, look at this sentence:
Indefinite Pronouns
These pronouns do not point to any particular nouns, but refer to things or people in
general. Some of them are: few, everyone, all, some, anything, and nobody. Example:
Everyone is already here.
Relative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to connect a clause or phrase to a noun or pronoun. These
are: who, whom, which, whoever, whomever, whichever, and that. Example: The driver who
ran the stop sign was careless.
Intensive Pronouns
These pronouns are used to emphasize a noun or pronoun. These are: myself, himself,
herself, themselves, itself, yourself, yourselves, and ourselves. Example: He himself is his
worst critic.
Demonstrative Pronouns
There are five demonstrative pronouns: these, those, this, that, and such. They focus
attention on the nouns that are replacing. Examples: Such was his understanding. Those
are totally awesome.
Interrogative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to begin a question: who, whom, which, what, whoever,
whomever, whichever, and whatever. Example: Who will you bring to the party?
Reflexive Pronouns
There is one more type of pronoun, and that is the reflexive pronoun. These are the ones
that end in self or "selves." They are object pronouns that we use when the subject and
the object are the same noun.