English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Pronouns
Chapter 1. Parts of Speech
Part 1 Welcome to grammarland
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or another pronoun. Pronouns help you avoid unnecessary repetition in your writing and speech. A pronoun gets its meaning from the noun it stands for. The noun is called the antecedent.
Although Seattle is damp, it is my favorite city.
antecedent
pronoun
There are different kinds of pronouns. Most of them have antecedents, but a few do not.
Quick Tip
The word antecedent comes from a Latin word meaning “to go before.” However, the noun does not have to appear before the pronoun in a sentence. It often does, though, to keep sentences clear and avoid misreadings.
1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person, place, object, or thing.
2. Possessive pronouns show ownership. The possessive pronouns are: your, yours, his, hers, its, ours, their, theirs, whose.
Is this beautiful plant yours?
Yes, it’s ours.
Quick Tip
Don’t confuse personal pronouns with contractions. Personal pronouns never have an apostrophe, while contractions always have an apostrophe. Use this chart:
3. Reflexive pronouns add information to a sentence by pointing back to a noun or pronoun near the beginning of the sentence. Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves.
Tricia bought herself a new car.
All her friends enjoyed themselves riding in the beautiful car.
4. Intensive pronouns also end in -self or -selves but just add emphasis to the noun or pronoun.
Tricia herself picked out the car.
5. Demonstrative pronouns direct attention to a specific person, place, or thing. There are only four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
This is my favorite movie.
That was a fierce rain storm.
6. Relative pronouns begin a subordinate clause. There are five relative pronouns: that, which, who, whom, those.
Jasper claimed that he could run the washing machine.
Louise was the repair person who fixed the machine after Jasper washed his sneakers.
7. Interrogative pronouns ask a question. They are: what, which, who, whom, whose.
Who would like to cook dinner?
Which side does the fork go on?
8. Indefinite pronouns refer to people, places, objects, or things without pointing to a specific one. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed in the chart on the previous page.