PRONOUNS

1. Definition
A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase
2. Purpose of pronouns
The purpose of pronouns is to avoid repetition and make sentences easier to
understand.
3. Kind Of Pronouns
3.1 Personal Pronouns
3.1.1 Definition
A personal pronoun is pronoun that is associated primarily with a
particular person, in the grammatical sense.The noun it refers to is called the
antecedent.
When discussing “person” in terms of the grammatical, the following
rules apply:
- First person, as in “I”
- Second person, as in “you”
- Third person, as in “It, he, she”
Personal pronouns provide us with the following information:
- The person – Who is speaking?
- The number – Is the pronoun plural or singular?
- The gender – Is the pronoun feminine or masculine?
Examples :
a. A singular pronoun is used to refer to a singular noun.
Example:
I bought a laptop. It was expensive
(The pronoun it refers to the antecedent noun laptop. as in a. sentence.)
b. I bought two laptops. They were expensive
(In this sentence, a plural pronoun is used to refer to plural noun.)
c. I like Korean drama. Do you like Korean drama too?
(Sometimes the antecedent noun is understood, not explicitly stated as in c sentence. I refers to the
speaker, and you refers to the person the speaker is talking to.)
3.1.2 Kind of Personal Pronouns
1) Subject Pronouns
Subject pronouns are pronouns that act as the subject of a sentence.
The subjective personal pronouns are:
Singular I
You
She
He
It
Plural You
They
We
The examples:
a. Merilhas a car. She drives to the campus
b. My bed is small but it is comfortable
c. Ebik and Sintya were sad. They cried loudly yesterday.
2) Object Pronouns
Object Pronouns are used as the objects of verbs.
The object pronouns are:
Singular Me
You
Her
Him
It
Plural You
Them
Us

The example:
a. Ayu works in my office. I know her well
 b. I heard that Michael was cut from the team just because Sintya doesn’t
like him.
3) Possessive Prononouns
Possessive pronouns are not followed immediately by a noun; they stand
alone.
The possessive pronouns are:
Singular My
Hers
His
Its
Plural Yours
Theirs
Ours

The example :
a. This is my phone, not your phone (sounds repetitive)
This cat is mine, not yours.
b. I didn’t havemy bookso Nana lent me her books(sounds repetitive)
I didn’t have my book so Nana lent me hers
4) Possessive Adjective Pronouns
Possessive adjectives are followed immediately by a noun they don’t stand
alone.
The possessive adjective pronouns are:
Singular Mynoun
Her noun
Hisnoun
Itsnoun
Plural Your noun
Their noun
Our noun
The examples:
 a. Her book is here
b. A bird uses its wings to fly
c. Today is her birthday
3.2 Personal Pronouns: Agreement with Generic Nouns and Indefinite Prounouns
3.2.1 Agreement with generic nouns
Generic nouns are nouns that refer to all members of a class or group. They
are often used when making generalizations or talking about universal truths.
Generic nouns can be singular or plural, and be used with or without articles.
The examples:
a. A student walked into the class. She was looking for the teacher
b. A student walked into the class. He was looking for the teacher
In a and b sentences the pronouns refer to the particular individuals whose
gender is known. The nouns are not generic.
c. A student should always do his assignments
In this sentence a student is aa generic noun, it refers to anyone who is a
student.
d. A student should always do his/her assignments
As in this sentence, with a generic noun, as singular masculine pronoun
has been used traditionally, but many English speakers now use both
masculine and feminine pronouns to refer a singular generic noun. But the
use of both masculine and feminine pronouns can create awkward-
sounding sentences.
e. Students should always do their assignments.
Problems with choosing masculine and/ or feminine pronouns can often be
avoided by using a plural rather than a singular generic noun.
3.2.2 Agreement with 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
The examples:
 In formal English.
a. Somebody left his book on the desk
b. Everyone has hisor her own ideas
In informal English.
a. Somebody left their book on the desk
b. Everyone has their own ideas
3.3 Personal Pronouns : Agreement with Collective Nouns
Pronouns have to agree in number with the words they refer to (called their
antecedents). That is, a pronoun must be singular when its antecedent is singular, and
plural when its antecedent is plural.
But when the antecedent is a singular collective noun, it can be difficult to decide
whether the pronoun should be singular or plural. A collective noun names something
that has many members or parts. Because these nouns include many members, they
may have a plural meaning even when they are singular in form.
The examples of collective nouns :
audience couple family public
class crowd government staff
committe faculty group team
committe faculty group team

3.3.1 Singular Pronoun

When a collective noun refers to a single imperstonal uni, a singular
gender-neutral pronoun (it, its) is used.
Examples :
a. My family is large. It is composed of nine members.
b. The staff has achieved its goal of collecting $5,000 in the marathon.
3.3.2 Plural Pronoun
When a collective noun refers to a collection of various individuals, a
plural pronoun (they, them, their) is used.
Examples :
a. My family is loving and supportive. They are always ready to help me.
 b. The staff have submitted their reports.
3.4 Reflexive Pronouns
A reflextive pronoun is a type of pronoun that is preceded by the adverb,
adjective, pronoun, or noun to wich it refers, so long as that antecedent is located
within the same clause. a reflexive pronoun indicates that the person who is rrealizing
the action of the verdb is also the recipient of the action.
The Examples:
1. Larry was in the theater. I saw him I talked to him.
2. You’re going to have to drive yourself to school today.
3.5 Using You, One, And They As Impersonal Pronouns
Impersonal pronoun is one of the pronouns that exist in the language of grammar.
This pronoun stands against the personal pronoun. If the personal pronoun describes a
noun as specific, then the impersonal pronoun is not clear in detail who or what is
replaced with the pronoun.
Impersonal pronoun appears in a sentence to be a pronoun of noun (person, thing,
place, or animal) and is able to make the sentence reasonable and true in grammar. A
sentence that has this type of pronoun does not require clear or specific information
about who or what it replaces with the pronoun.
a. One
One is a personal pronoun that does not clearly state who is the subject of the
conversation.
The examples:
- One should always be polite
- One should stay healthy in this room
b. You
You are aimed at everyone who is in the situation.
The examples:
- How do you get to 5th Avenue from here?
- You must stay dry
c. They
 They are used as an impersonal pronoun in spoken or veryinformal English to
mean "some people or somebody
The examples:
- A : Did Ann lose her job?
B : Yes. They fired her.
- A: Did Obed get his book?
B: No. They won’t give it easily
d. Double pronouns
Notice the pronouns that may be used in the same sentence to refer back to
one.
The examples:
- One should take care of one’s health
- One should always be his health
3.6 Forms of Others

Forms of other are used as either adjectives or pronouns.

Ex:
1. The students in the class come from many countries. One of the students is
from Mexico. Anotherstudent is from Iraq. Anotheris from Japan. Other
studentsare from Brazil. Others are from Algeria.
The meaning of another: one more in addition to the
one(s) already mentioned.
 The meaning of other / others (without the): several
more in addition to the one(s) already mentioned.
2. I have three books. Two are mine. The other book is yours. (The other is
yours)
3. I have three books. One is mine. The other books are yours. (The others are
yours)
The meaning of the other(s) for example 2 and 3 : all that remains from a
given number; the rest of a specific group.
4. I will be here for another three years.
5. We drove another ten miles.

Another is used as an adjective with expressions of time,money, and distance,

even if these expressions contain plural nouns. Another means "an additional" in
theseexpressions.
3.7 Common Expressions With Other
a. Each other and one another
Each other and one another indicate a reciprocal relationship
Examples:
- I write to each other every week
- I write to one other every week
This sentence means: I write to him every week, and he writes to me every
week
b. Every other
Every other can give the idea of “alternate”.
Example:
- Please write on every other line.
This sentence means: write on the first line. Don’t write on the second
line, etc.
c. The other
The other is used in time expressions such as the other day, the other morinng, the
other week, etc., to refer to recent past.
 Example:
- Have you seen Nana recently? Yes, I saw him just the other day.
“the other day” in this sentence means a few day ago, not long ago.

d. One after the other and One after another

One after another and one after the other expresses the idea that separate actions
occur very close in time.
Examples:
- The planes arrived one after another.
- They sang one after another.
- They went out of the room one after another
- They jumped into the water one after the other.
- He broke six windows one after the other.