Pronouns - introduction

"Referring to people and things without naming them: pronouns"

Collins Cobuild - English Grammar
 

What is a pronoun?

A pronoun is a word you use instead of a noun (the "name" of a person, thing, idea, etc.), when the meaning is clear both to the speaker and the listener. So instead of a long heavy sentence, you have a short easy one: "Peter Harrod's sociology professor (he) showed the sociology professor's two black cats (them), which the sociology professor had told Peter Harrod about, to Peter Harrod (him)." "He showed them to him."

Personal pronouns

These are simple, : I (me), you (you), he (him), etc. The man (he) is Indonesian The man's wife (she) is also Indonesian My sister's friends (they) met the man and his wife (them) in Sulawesi Their village (it) is situated outside Manado The man and his wife (they) invited my sister's friends (them) to the village

Possessive pronouns

"Possess", as in possessive means "own", so possessive pronouns have something to do with "ownership".   The sociology professor's (his) cats John's and my (our) plans for the summer Miranda's and Fred's (their) dogs like to chase the cats Those dogs are theirs (Miranda's and Fred's) The boat Tommy and Harry showed me is really theirs (Tommy's and Harry's) I do indeed own this house. It is my house! The house is mine! I prefer Mary's proposal. I'll vote for hers. The bikes belong to us. They are ours. It is the last four examples, theirs, mine, hers, ours that are difficult. They are used when the pronoun is not immediately joined with its noun, e.g. "my house".

Demonstrative pronouns

When you demonstrate, you want to "show" something, don't you? Demonstrate means to show, to point out. Think of these pronouns as a way of telling the difference between "this and that" and "these and those".   This and these refer to things near you That and those refer to things away from you

Relative pronouns

The word relative has to do with the verb "to relate", which basically means "to lead back to", so think of relative pronouns as words that help you refer, in a practical way, to things you have mentioned earlier in the sentence.   The man over there, sitting at the round table together with a blond woman in blue jeans and reading a newspaper, is a teacher, who works for us The teacher over there, who(m) we emplyed last September, is talking to a young woman, who is also one of our teachers The teacher over there, whose bag was just stolen by a young man, is too busy talking to his colleague to notice The teacher over there, whose bag was stolen and whose name I can't remember, has now realized that it (his bag) has disappeared The bag, which was stolen, has not been found The teacher, whose bag was stolen, can't even remember its colour The bag, whose colour the teacher can't remember, was found in a location, whose address I won't reveal The teacher, the name of whom I won't reveal and who lost his bag, the colour of which I don't know, is sitting at the table over there with a young lady, whose bag was just stolen

Interrogative pronouns

Interrogate basically means to ask questions. Think of these pronouns as question words, beginning a sentence/question. They are: who, whom, whose, what, which Where, when, why, how are also used at the beginning of similar questions, and there is no reason for you to think of them as different word classes. Think of them all as  wh question words Who are you? How are you? Where are you? Who(m) did you ask? Whose son are you? Which (one) is the biggest?

Indefinite pronouns

The term indefinite indicates the lack of clear definitions. In other words, indefinite pronouns are used about people and things (nouns) that are not cleary defined.   Somebody was here and asked for you. Who was it? A friend, the police, the neighbour? Something has happened. What? An accident? Anybody can do this. Beginners, old men, children ... can do it Anything will go with that dress. Blue shoes, black shoes, a necklace, ...