PRONOUN

In linguistics and grammar, a 'pronoun' is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun or noun phrase with or without a determiner, such as '' and '' in English. The replaced phrase is the 'antecedent' of the pronoun. A pronoun used for the item questioned in a question is called an interrogative pronoun, such as ''.
For example, consider the sentence "John gave the coat to Alice." All three nouns in the sentence can be replaced by pronouns to give: "He gave it to her." If the coat, John, and Alice have been previously mentioned, the listener can deduce what the pronouns '', '' and '' refer to and therefore understand the meaning of the sentence.

Contents

Types of pronoun

Pronouns in English

Pronouns in other languages

See also

Types of pronoun

Common types of pronoun found in the world's languages are as follows.

★ 'Personal pronouns' stand in place of the names of people or things:

★
★ 'Subjective pronouns' are used when the person or thing is the subject of the sentence or clause. English example: '''I' like beer but 'she' doesn't.''

★
★
★ 'Formal and informal "you" pronouns'. For example, ''vous'' and ''tu'' in French. There is no distinction in modern English.

★
★
★ 'Inclusive and exclusive "we" pronouns' indicate whether or not the audience is included. There is no distinction in English.

★
★ 'Objective pronouns' are used when the person or thing is the object of the sentence or clause. English example: ''John likes 'me' but not 'her'.''

★
★
★ 'Direct and indirect object pronouns'. English uses the same forms for both; for example: ''Mary loves 'him''' (direct object); ''Mary sent 'him' a letter'' (indirect object).

★
★
★ 'Reflexive pronouns' are used when a person or thing acts on itself. English example: ''John cut 'himself'.''

★
★
★ 'Reciprocal pronouns' refer to a reciprocal relationship. English example: ''They don't like 'each other'.''

★
★ 'Prepositional pronouns' come after a preposition. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: ''Mary looked at 'him'.''

★
★ 'Disjunctive pronouns' are used in isolation, or in certain other special grammatical contexts. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: ''Who does this belong to? 'Me'.''

★ 'Possessive pronouns' are used to indicate possession or ownership. English example: ''Those clothes are 'mine'.''

★
★ 'Determinative possessive pronouns' are a somewhat confusing alternative name for possessive adjectives (also known as possessive determiners); for example, in English: ''I lost 'my' wallet.'' They are not strictly pronouns because they do not substitute for a noun or noun phrase, and as such some grammarians classify these terms in a separate lexical category called determiners.

★ 'Demonstrative pronouns' distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates. English example: ''I'll take 'these'.''

★ 'Indefinite pronouns' refer to general categories of people or things. English example: '''Anyone' can do that.''

★
★ 'Negative pronouns' indicate the non-existence of people or things. English example: '''Nobody' thinks that.''

★ 'Relative pronouns' refer back to people or things previously mentioned. English example: ''People 'who' smoke should quit now.''

★ 'Interrogative pronouns' ask which person or thing is meant. English example: '''Who' did that?''

★ 'Dummy pronouns' are used when grammatical rules require a noun (or pronoun), but none is semantically required. English example: '''It' is raining.''

★ 'Intensive pronouns' re-emphasise a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as for the reflexive pronouns; for example: ''I did it 'myself''' (contrast reflexive use ''I did it to myself'').

★ 'Distributive pronouns' are used to refer to members of a group separately, rather than collectively. English example: ''To 'each' his own.''

★ 'Weak pronouns'.

Pronouns in English

Main articles: English personal pronouns

Ordinary English has seven personal pronouns: first-person singular (''I''), first-person plural (''we''), second-person (''you''), third-person singular masculine (''he''), third-person singular feminine (''she''), third-person singular neuter (''it''), and third-person plural (''they''). Each pronoun has a number of forms: a ''subjective case'' form (''I''/''we''/etc.), used when it's the subject of a finite verb; an ''objective case'' form (''me''/''us''/etc.), used when it's the object of verb or of a preposition; two ''possessive case'' forms (''my''/''our''/etc. and ''mine''/''ours''/etc.), used when it's the possessor of another noun — one that's used as a determiner, and one that's used as a pronoun or a predicate adjective; and a ''reflexive'' form (''myself''/''ourselves''/etc.), which replaces the objective-case form in referring to the same entity as the subject. That said, the different pronouns, and the different forms of the pronouns, often have overlapping functions.

Pronouns in other languages

★ Bulgarian pronouns

★ Chinese pronouns

★ Dutch grammar: pronouns

★ Esperanto grammar: pronouns

★ French pronouns

★ German pronouns

★ Ido pronouns

★ Interlingua pronouns

★ Irish morphology: pronouns

★ Italian grammar: pronouns

★ Novial: pronouns

★ Portuguese personal pronouns and possessives

★ Spanish grammar: pronouns

★ Vietnamese pronouns

See also

★ Gender-specific pronoun

★ Gender-neutral pronoun

★ Generic antecedents

★ Deixis

★ Pro-form

★ Pronoun game

★ Morphosyntactic alignment