PRONOUN

                                                                           PRONOUN

Pronoun – A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.

                Or, the word which is used in place of a noun is called pronoun.

                                e.g. – I, we, you, he, she, it, they, me, my, mine, myself, us, our, ours, ourselves, your, yours, yourself, yourselves, him, his, himself, her, hers, herself, herself, its, itself, them, their, theirs, themselves, themselves, this, that, these, those, nobody, none, no one, anybody, anyone, somebody, one, someone, everybody, everyone, nothing, anything, something, everything, both, all, some, many, each, every, either, neither, each other, one another, who, what, which, when, where, how, why, whose, whom, etc.

There are ten kinds of pronoun –   

a)      Personal pronoun

b)     Possessive pronoun

c)      Reflexive pronoun

d)     Emphatic pronoun

e)      Demonstrative pronoun

f)       Indefinite pronoun

g)      Distributive pronoun

h)     Reciprocal pronoun

i)       Relative pronoun

j)       Interrogative pronoun

Personal pronoun – The pronoun which is used for person is called personal pronoun.

Person – Person indicates the man.

                                There are three kinds of person –

a.       First person

b.       Second person

c.       Third person

First person – The speaker or the narrator or the orator is called the first person.

                                e.g. – I, we.

Second person – The listener or the audience is called the second person.

                                e.g. – you, you.

Chart

Third person – About whom it is said something is said to be the third person.

                                e.g. – he, she, it, they.

                Person                                                 Singular                                               Plural

                1^st person                                                 I                                                        we

                2^nd person                                             you                                                      you

                3^rd person                                            he, she, it                                               they

              

  Different forms of I, We, You, He, She, It and They –

                                I –           me         my         mine           myself

                                We –     us           our         ours             ourselves

                                You –    you        your      yours          yourself         yourselves

                                He –       him        his          his                himself

                                She –     her         her         hers             herself

                                It –         it             its           x                    itself

                                They -   them     their      theirs          themselves

231 Formula – In a sentence, first of all the second person is kept, then the third and the verb is in plural number.

                                e.g. – You, he and I are students.

                                                You, they and we play football.

                                                I, she and we are going to school.            (û)

                                                She and we are going to school.                (ü)

                                                They, we and you play ludo.                      (û)

                                                You, they and we play ludo.                       (ü)

Possessive pronoun – The pronoun which denotes possession or ownership is called possessive pronoun.

                                e.g. – mine, our, yours, hers, his and theirs.

                                                This book is mine. That book is yours.

                                                These are ours. Those are his.

                                                This is his car. (Adj.). This car is his. (Pro.).

Reflexive pronoun – The pronoun which is used to show that the person or thing does something to himself or itself.

                                                                Personal pronoun                           Reflexive pronoun

                                                                     I                                                              myself

                                                                     We                                                         ourselves

                                                                     You                                                        yourself

                                                                     You                                                        yourselves

                                                                      He                                                          himself

                                                                     She                                                         herself

                                                                       It                                                             itself

                                                                      They                                                     themselves

Note – Self is used with singular pronoun.

                e.g. – I – myself, he – himself, you – yourself, etc.

                      

Selves is used with plural pronoun.

                 e.g. – you – yourselves, we – ourselves, they – themselves, etc.

Ø  A reflexive pronoun is used as the object of the verb.

e.g. – she hurt herself. I enjoyed myself.

               

Emphatic pronoun or Emphasizing or Intensive pronoun – The pronoun ending in self or selves used to lay to stress on a noun or a pronoun is called emphatic pronoun.

                e.g. – I myself saw the thief.       She herself did it.

                           They themselves wanted this.       You yourselves know everything.

Demonstrative pronoun – The pronoun which is used to show the nearness or distance of a person or thing is called demonstrative pronoun.

                e.g. – this, that, these, those

Use of ‘this’ – It is used for both living and non-living things with singular countable noun to show nearness.

                e.g.- This is a fine pen.

Use of ‘that’ – It is the past form of this and it is used for singular countable noun to show distance.

                e.g. – That is a beautiful house.

                           That is a girl.

Use of ‘these’ – It is the plural form of this and it is used for plural countable noun to show nearness.

                e.g. - These are new books.         These are new balls.

Use of ‘those’ – It is the plural form of that and it is used for plural countable noun to show distance.

                e.g. – Those are new students.   Those are balls.

Indefinite pronoun – The noun which does not indicate any definite noun is called Indefinite pronoun.

                e.g. – anybody, everybody, anything, etc.

Use of indefinite pronoun –

Ø  There are some indefinite pronouns which is used in singular number only.

e.g. – anybody, everybody, somebody, someone, something, nothing, anything, one another, enough, no one, anyone, etc.

Ø  There are some indefinite pronouns which is used in plural number only.

e.g. – many, other, both, some, few, etc.

Ø  There are some indefinite pronouns which is used both singular and plural number.

e.g. – all, anyone

Different indefinite pronoun in different case –

Ø  The possessive case of anybody, nobody, somebody, anyone, someone, no one, is made by apostrophe (’s) not of because it denotes person.

e.g. – No one’s mistake.                No body’s mistake.

                Somebody’s mistake.    Some one’s mistake.

Ø  The possessive case of plural number of indefinite pronouns is built by of not apostrophe s (’s).

e.g. – The shirts of both.               The books of many.

Ø  The possessive case of ‘one’ is built by one’s but not his.

e.g. – One should love one’s friend.

                  One should love one’s nation.

Ø  The form of indefinite pronoun in nominative case and objective case is same, no changes in its form.

e.g. – Mohan and Sohan are students.

                Both are intelligent. (‘Both’ is in nominative case)

                I love both. (‘Both’ is in nominative case)

Distributive pronoun – The pronoun which is used to separate person or thing from a group is called distributive pronoun.

                e.g. – each, every, either, neither

Use of ‘Each’ –

                It is used for one of two or more than two persons or things.

                e.g. – Each of the two students has own the prize.

                                Each of the five boys has won the prize.

Use of ‘Every’ –

                It is used for one of three or more than two persons or things & is always used as an adjective only.

                e.g. – Every one of the five students has won the prize.

Use of ‘Either’ –

                It is used for one of two or more than two persons or things.

                e.g. – Either of the two students won the prize.

                                Either of the two boys has beaten him.

Use of ‘Neither’ –

                It is not used for anyone of two persons or things.

                e.g. – Neither of the two boys was absent.

               

Reciprocal pronoun – Each other and one another are called reciprocal pronoun.

                e.g. – Each other & one another

Use of ‘Each other’ –

                It is used for two persons or things.

                e.g. – These two boys love each other.

Use of ‘One another’ –

                It is used for more than two persons or things.

                e.g. – They helped one another.

                                These three boys quarrel with one another.

Relative pronoun – The pronoun which shows the relation between two nouns or pronouns is called relative pronoun.

                e.g. – who, whom, whose, which, what, that, of which

Antecedent – The noun or pronoun which is used before who, which, that, whom, whose is called antecedent.

                It means – ‘samanadhikaran’.

                                Or, The noun which a relative pronouns refers to is called its antecedent.

ⓐ    The number of relative pronoun depends on antecedent.

e.g. – The student, who was playing there is my brother.

                The students, who were playing there are my friends.

                                In the first sentence, student is an antecedent, because it came before who. But in the second sentence, students is an antecedent.

ⓑ    If Antecedent denotes man, ‘who’ or ‘that’ is used with it.

e.g. – The man, who had sung a song, is my brother.

                The student that labours hard, is sure to get success.

ⓒ    If Antecedent denotes non-living things, small animals or plants, which or that is used with it.

e.g. – The watch, which is on the table, is mine.

                The watch, that is on the table, is mine.

                Nominative Case                             Objective Case                                  Possessive Case

                         who                                               whom                                                   whose        

                       which                                              which                                                  of which

                         that                                                  that                                                          X

⇒    Use of ‘who’ – It is used for mankind and in Nominative Case.

e.g. – The boy who is playing is my friend.

⇒    Use of ‘whom’ – It is used for both numbers (singular & plural numbers) & both genders (masculine gender gender) in Objective Case but it is not used in neuter gender.

e.g. – This is the man whom you helped.

                These are the men whom you helped.

                This is the woman whom you helped.

                These are the women whom you helped.

⇒    Use of ‘whose’ – It is used for both genders (singular & plural numbers) and three genders (masculine, feminine & neuter gender) in possessive case.

e.g. – This is the man whose brother helped us.

                These are the men whose brother helped us.

                This is the woman whose brother helped us.

                These are the women whose brother helped us.

                The flower, whose smell is sweet, given us pleasure.

⇒    Use of ‘which’ – It is used for birds, animals & non-living things.

e.g. – The book which is on the table is mine.

                The money which you have saved will prove useful in future.

⇒    Use of ‘of which’ – To build the possessive case of that noun which denotes non-living things.

e.g. – This is the chair of which the legs are broken.

⇒    Use of ‘that’ – It is used for both living & non-living things.

e.g. – This is the book that (which) I like most.

Interrogative Pronoun – The pronoun which is used for asking questions is called interrogative pronoun.

                                e.g. – who, which, what, whom, whose etc.

Ø  Use of ‘who’ & ‘whom’ – It is used for mankind.

e.g. – Who is weeping?                  Who are weeping?

                Whom do you teach?    Whom do you love?

Ø  Use of ‘what’ –

ⓐ    It is used for non-living things.

e.g. – What do you want?            What is that?

ⓑ    If ‘what’ is used for asking question about a person then it denotes work or profession.

e.g. – What is your brother? – He is an engineer.

               What is your father? – He is a doctor.

Ø  Use of ‘which’ –

It is used for both persons and things but select one or some things.

               e.g. – Which is your book?

                               Which is your friend?