Rules for writers, Tenth edition - Diana Hacker, Nancy Sommers 2021

Pronouns
Parts of speech
Grammar Basics

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. Usually the pronoun substitutes for a specific noun, known as its antecedent.

Although most pronouns function as substitutes for nouns, some can function as adjectives modifying nouns. Such pronouns may be called pronoun/adjectives.

Pronouns are classified in the following ways.

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns refer to specific persons or things. They always function as subsitutes for nouns.

✵ Singular: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it

✵ Plural: we, us, you, they, them

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns indicate ownership.

✵ Singular: my, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, its

✵ Plural: our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs

Some of these possessive pronouns function as adjectives modifying nouns: my, your, his, her, its, our, their.

Intensive and reflexive pronouns

Intensive pronouns emphasize a noun or another pronoun (The senator herself met us at the door). Reflexive pronouns name a receiver of an action identical with the doer of the action (Paula nominated herself).

✵ Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself

✵ Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns introduce subordinate clauses functioning as adjectives (The writer who won the award refused to accept it). The relative pronoun (in this case who) also points back to a noun or pronoun that the clause modifies (writer). (See 49e.)

✵ who, whom, whose, which, that

The pronouns whichever, whoever, whomever, what, and whatever are sometimes considered relative pronouns, but they introduce noun clauses and do not point back to a noun or pronoun. (See “Noun clauses” in 49e.)

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogative pronouns introduce questions (Who is expected to win the election?).

✵ who, whom, whose, which, what

Demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns identify or point to nouns. Frequently they function as adjectives (This chair is my favorite), but they may also function as substitutes for nouns (This is my favorite chair).

✵ this, that, these, those

Indefinite pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to nonspecific persons or things. Most are always singular (everyone, each); some are always plural (both, many); a few may be singular or plural (see 21e). Most indefinite pronouns function as substitutes for nouns (Something is burning), but some can also function as adjectives (All campers must check in at the lodge).

Reciprocal pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns refer to individual parts of a plural antecedent (By turns, the penguins fed one another).

✵ each other, one another

NOTE:See also pronoun-antecedent agreement (22), pronoun reference (23), distinguishing between pronouns such as I and me (24), and distinguishing between who and whom (25).

EXERCISE 47-2

Underline the pronouns (and pronoun/adjectives) in the following sentences. Answers appear in the back of the book.

We enjoyed the video that the fifth graders produced as their final project.

a. The governor’s loyalty was his most appealing trait.

b. In the fall, the geese that fly south for the winter pass through our town in huge numbers.

c. As Carl Sandburg once said, even he himself did not understand some of his poetry.

d. I appealed my parking ticket, but you did not get one.

e. Angela did not mind gossip as long as no one gossiped about her.