The Use of Pronouns:
Why do we use
pronouns?
Read
the following sentences:
Monika gets up early in
the morning. Monika, first of all,
washes her face. Then Monika goes to
a nearby park. Monika does jogging
exercises….
The
answer is clear if you have read the above sentences carefully.
You
must have seen the repetition of the word Monika.
The repetition of
the word Monika is odd in the above sentences. It is against the rules of
grammar.
This word ‘Monika’ is a noun and the word
which should be used in its place is Pronoun ‘she’
Conclusion: When the speaker does not want to repeat
the same name being used again and again, in that case, pronouns are used.
What is a Pronoun?
The
words which are used in place of nouns are called pronouns.
There
are eight kinds of pronouns:
1. Personal Pronouns: These pronouns are used in place of
persons or things.
Examples: He, she, it, I, you, etc.
2. Demonstrative Pronouns: These pronouns
are used to indicate towards the things or the persons. Examples: These are rotten mangoes. This is my friend, Amit.
3. Interrogative Pronouns: These pronouns are used to make questions.
Examples: What, who , which, etc.
· What do you want?
· Whom do you want to meet?
4. Reflexive Pronouns: These are used to lay stress on
the pronouns.
Examples: myself, yourself,
himself, etc.
· I, myself, distributed all the invitation
cards.
5. Possessive Pronouns: Such pronouns show possession.
Examples: his,
hers, yours, mine, , theirs, etc. This book is mine.
6. Indefinite pronouns: These pronouns are used in place
of nouns that are not definite or specific in number, for example, all, many,
several, etc.
The
following words are used as both indefinite pronouns and determiners.
These
are:
all, some, many, everyone, everybody, each, several, none, either, neither,
anyone, nobody, etc. Examples: All were present in the meeting. (All= pronoun),
All the boys were present in the class.
(all= determiner)
7.
Relative Pronouns: These are the
pronouns as well as conjunctions. They establish the relationship of a noun
with the one preceding it.
For
example,
· The boy who is wearing a red cap is Mr.
Khanna’s son.
Relation: The boy who (the boy) is
wearing……………………………..
The
other relative pronouns are: which,
whose, whom, that
Let us discuss all
the pronouns one by one.
1. Personal Pronouns:
See the table below:
|
Pronouns
|
Used
as a subject
|
Used
as an object
|
Used
as possessive
|
Reflexive
form
|
Remarks
|
|
First
Person
|
I
(singular)
We
(plural)
|
me
us
|
mine
ours
|
myself
ourselves
|
--------
|
|
Second
Person
Singular
Plural
|
You (singular)
You
(plural)
|
you
you
|
yours
yours
|
yourself
yourselves
|
---------
|
|
Third
Person
Singular
|
He
She
It
They(plural)
|
him
her
Its
them
|
his
hers
Its
theirs
|
himself
herself
itself
themselves
|
---------
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
