THE PRONOUN Definition

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THE PRONOUN

(1. Personal Pronoun, 2. Reflexive Pronoun, 3. Emphatic Pronoun, 4. Demonstrative Pronoun, 5. Relative Pronoun, 6. Interrogative Pronoun, 7. Indefinite Pronoun, 8. Distributive Pronoun)

Definition :

A pronoun is a word used instead of a common noun or a proper noun. The word pronoun means for a noun and it called a noun’s deputy.

“Pro” + “noun” typically means “in place, of, instead of” a noun or a noun phrase. Pronouns, then, replace nouns (David met Joe; he [Joe] talked for an hour) and can also refer back to nouns (David is absent, because he is ill).

CASE

Nominative Case
I	We	You
He	She	It
They

Accusative Case
Me	Us	You
Him	Her	Them
It

Instrumental Case
With me	By me
With you	By you
With him	By him
With her	By her
With it	By it
With us	By us
With you	By you
With them	By them

Dative Case
To me	To us	To you
To him	To her	To them
To it

Ablative Case
From me	From us	From you
From himFrom	From her	From them
From it

Genitive Case
My	Our	Your
His	Her	Their
It

Locative Case
in me	with me
in you	with you
in him	with him
in her	with her
in it	with it
in us	with us
in you	with you
in them	with them

What is a noun phrase?

A noun phrase includes a noun and all of its modiﬁers. These modifiers include determiners and adjectives

Noun Phrase + Verb	Pronoun + Verb
Tom eats	He reads
The little boy eats	He reads

The Noun ‘Tom’ and ‘boy’ is replaced by the Pronoun ‘he’

PRONOUN TAKES the place of a noun in a sentence when the noun repeated more than once.

e.g.

Incorrect	Call David. I must speak to David.
Correct	Call David. I must speak to him.

More Definition :

The noun represented by a pronoun is called its antecedent. The word ante means “before,” and cede means “come.” So the literal meaning of antecedent is “comes before.” Usually, the antecedent comes before the pronoun in a sentence.

Pronouns ahve masculine and feminine gender, singular and plural forms and have nominative, possessive and objectives cases

Pronouns are used as performers/subjects or as words which receive action.

e.g.

PERFORMER / SUBJECT PRONOUNS	PRONOUNS WHICH RECEIVE ACTION
I	me
we	you
you	them
he	his
she	her
it	it
they	him
who	whom

Types of Pronouns by Function

More Definition :

There are several different types of pronouns, each type serving a different function in the sentence.

1. Subject Pronouns

Definition :

Pronouns that are found to the left of the main verb are called subject pronouns because they tell us who or what the doer of the verb is, or who or what is described by the verb.

Subject Pronouns
Singular	Plural
I	we
you	you
he	they
she
it

2. Object Pronouns

Definition :

Object pronouns are another type of pronoun. These are pronouns that replace nouns or noun phrases in object position in the sentence. Object position means that the noun or noun phrase receives the action of the verb.

Phrase	Function
The boy reads	noun phrase in subject position
Boy reads	subject pronoun
The boy reads books	noun phrase in object position

1. The boy is the subject of the verb reads. The noun phrase The boy answers the question Who reads?, a question that helps tell us who (or what) the subject of the verb is.

2. Since The boy is in subject position and refers to a single male person, the subject pronoun she can replace The boy

3. Books is the object of the verb reads. The words books answers the question What does the boy (or he) read?, a question that helps tell us what (or who) the object of the verb is.

Following is a list of the most common pronouns:

Singular	Plural	Both Singular and Plural
I, me	we, us	any
she, her	they	none
he, him	them	all
it	these	most
anyone	those	more
either	some	who
each	that	which
many a	both	what
nothing	ourselves	you
one	any
another	many
everything	few
mine	several
his, hers	others
this
that