English Grammar/Basic Parts of Speech/Pronouns

A pronoun replaces a noun in a sentence. The noun that is replaced is called an antecedent.

Pronouns can be classified in following different ways:

Personal Pronoun
Note: The possessive forms my, your, his, her, its, our and their function as adjectives when they modify a noun.

Cases of Personal Pronouns
Example: I am beautiful.(subject) The winner is she.(predicate nominative/subjective complement) Example: We met them in Florida. (direct object) You have to award him the medal. (indirect object) Are you finally going out with her? (object of the preposition) Example: That folder is mine. These paintings are theirs.
 * 1) Nominative case - the pronoun is used as a subject or predicate nominative/subjective complement.
 * 1) Objective case - the pronoun is used as a direct object, indirect object or object of the preposition.
 * 1) Possessive case - the pronoun is used to show ownership or possession.

Compound Personal Pronouns
Compound personal pronouns are formed by adding -self or -selves to some personal pronouns.

Reflexive Pronoun
Reflexive pronoun may be used as a direct object or indirect object. It usually comes after the verb.

Intensive Pronoun
Intensive pronoun is used to emphasize that the action is done by the antecedent.

Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns like that, which, who, whom and whose are used to introduce most adjective clauses and to connect them to the main clause.
 * That refers to either a person, animal or thing.
 * Which refers to animals or things.
 * Who refers to persons. It is usually used when the noun it refers to is the doer of the action or when the noun it refers to is the subject within the clause.
 * Whom refers to persons. It is usually used when the noun or pronoun it refers to is the receiver of the action or when the noun or pronoun is used as the object within the clause.
 * Whose refers to persons, animals or things. It is used to denote possession.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns like this, that, these and those are used to point out specific persons or things.

Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. They are who, whom, whose, which and what.

Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not refer to a particular person or group of persons.

Singular or Plural Indefinite Pronouns
English/Parts of Speech/Pronouns