PronounsTypes of pronouns, their functions, and common errors involving pronouns
Introduction to Pronouns
Pronouns present a number of difficulties for English speakers. In Standard English, the rules for proper pronoun usage are quite strict, though native speakers often disregard them in everyday speech. This section of Camilla’s English Page is intended to introduce pronouns and provide explanations of the various errors in pronoun usage that English speakers tend to make.
A pronoun is a word that can be used in place of a noun or nouns; it refers to the same thing that the noun refers to. The noun (or other pronoun, in some cases) that a pronoun stands for is called its antecedent. Generally speaking, a pronoun must have a specific antecedent that is stated or implied in the pronoun’s context, because without an antecedent, a pronoun is undefined and thus lacks a clear meaning. (The usage of some pronouns, such as indefinite pronouns, is a bit more complicated, however.)
The different types of pronouns used in English are listed below. Note that some of them fall into more than one category, and many of them can also function as other parts of speech, such as conjunctions or adjectives.
Personal pronouns are used to refer to specific people or things: I, me, you, she, her, he, him, it, we, us, they, them.
Most personal pronouns have three characteristics: number, person, and case. Many of their derivatives below also have the characteristics of number and person.
Number simply means whether the pronoun is singular (e.g., he or she) or plural (e.g., they).
A pronoun’s person reflects the relationship between the speaker and the pronoun.
First-person pronouns refer to the speaker or a group that includes the speaker (e.g., I or we).
The second-person pronoun you¹ refers to the person or persons the speaker is directly addressing.
Third-person pronouns (e.g., she or them) refer to other people whom the speaker is talking about but not speaking directly to.
Case depends on the function of the pronoun in context. See the Pronoun Cases page and handout [currently under construction] for more information on this complex topic, which causes a lot of difficulty for native speakers.
The nominative case is the form used as a subject or a predicate nominative (e.g., she). These pronouns are called subject pronouns, and the nominative case is also called the subjective case.
The objective case is the form used as an object of a verb or an object of a preposition (e.g., her). These pronouns are called object pronouns.
Possessive forms of personal pronouns fall into the third category of possessive case (or genitive case²), but for the sake of simplicity and clarity I will discuss possessive forms separately.
Some personal pronouns and their derivatives also indicate gender: masculine (he, him) and feminine (she, her). Those that do not are referred to as “gender neutral” or “neuter.”
¹ The second-person pronoun you does not have separate forms to distinguish between singular and plural or between nominative and objective. Informally, native speakers use expressions like you guys or you all (y’all) to express plurality, but these forms are not recognized in Standard English.
² Though there is a technical distinction between the two, for our purposes these terms are interchangeable.
Nominative: she, he, it
Objective: her, him, it
Possessive pronouns are used to show possession, ownership, or close relationship: mine, my, yours, your, hers, her, his, its, ours, our, theirs, their, whose.
Those words above that modify nouns instead of acting as true pronouns (e.g., my versus mine) are technically classified as possessive determiners or possessive adjectives. (His, its, and whose can function either way.)
My platypus is named Scroopy Noopers.
My modifies platypus, so it is a possessive determiner.
Hers is named Shrimply Pibbles.
Hers functions as the subject and is a pronoun.
Note that possessive pronouns do not contain an apostrophe. Pronoun errors involving apostrophes (e.g., the confusion of it’s and its) are very common among native speakers.
The possessive pronoun and determiner whose is a special case; it is ambiguous in person and number, and it is also categorized as an interrogative pronoun and a relative pronoun (see below).
Pronouns | Determiners
mine | my
yours | your
hers, his, its | her, his, its
Pronoun | Determiner
ours | our
yours | your
theirs | their
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are pronouns that end in -self or -selves. They are used to indicate that an action is done by the subject to itself.
Shrimply Pibbles accidentally bit himself.
They can also be used to indicate that a state of being is directed by a thing to itself. Thus they can also be used with linking verbs and predicate adjectives as well as action verbs.
Shrimply was angry at himself.
These pronouns are called intensive pronouns when they are used to emphasize the identity of their antecedent. They often, but not always, come directly after their antecedent.
Only Shrimply himself was to blame for his pain.
Since intensive pronouns are only used for emphasis, they are not essential to the meaning of a sentence. They can be removed from the sentence without changing its basic meaning. However, if you remove a reflexive pronoun from a sentence, the sentence no longer makes sense or its meaning is fundamentally different. The meaning of the third example sentence above is basically unchanged when the word himself is removed (“Only Shrimply was to blame”), but the first two examples no longer make sense.
herself, himself, itself
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions. The five main interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and whose. (Other question words like why and how generally function as adverbs, not pronouns.)
These same pronouns with the suffixes -ever and -soever can also function as interrogative pronouns, but they are rarely used this way: whatever, whichever, whoever, whomever, whosever, whatsoever, etc.
Note that these pronouns can also function as relative pronouns.
Relative pronouns (that, which, what, who, whom, whose) are used to initiate a special kind of dependent clause called a relative clause. These clauses are often used to modify a noun or pronoun.
The snack that Scroopy and Shrimply prefer is wasabi peas.
In the sentence above, the clause “that Scroopy and Shrimply prefer” modifies the noun snack.
For more information on relative clauses and how they function, see the Sentence Analysis page.
As with their interrogative forms, these pronouns with the -ever and -soever suffixes added can also function as relative pronouns: whatever, whichever, whoever, whomever, whosever, etc.
Demonstrative pronouns (this, that, these, those) are used to indicate something specific. Often we use them to distinguish between things that are closer or further away in space or time.
This is Scroopy. He’s very friendly. That is Shrimply. He is filled with unquenchable hatred for everything.
Note that we often use these words not as pronouns, but as demonstrative adjectives that modify the following noun.
This platypus likes to cuddle. That platypus will put you in the hospital.
Indefinite pronouns refer to things that are not specifically or individually identified.
Note that all pronouns ending in –one or –body are considered singular even though they may seem to be plural. Some indefinite pronouns like all may be singular or plural, depending on the context. See the Subject-Verb Agreement page for more information on this topic.
all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, enough, everybody, everyone, everything, few, fewer, less, little, many, most, much, neither, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, someone
Reciprocal pronouns (each other, one another) are compound pronouns used to indicate reciprocality, a situation in which a mutual action or state exists between two or more things. Compound pronouns are so called because they consist of more than one word.
Scroopy and Shrimply don’t like each other.
Some grammar authorities say that each other should be used for two things and one another should be used for three or more, but this rule is arbitrary and rarely taught by English teachers today. To most contemporary English speakers, one another sounds too formal for everyday use.
The Existential There
In most situations, there is considered an adverb, but it can also be used as a pronoun. One common pronomial use is to introduce the existence or presence of something. It is also a pronoun when it functions as an object meaning “that place” or “that point.”
There are several restraining orders on Shrimply Pibbles.
The subject of the sentence above is restraining orders; the expression there are is used to introduce the existence of the orders. There used in this way is called the existential there. See the Sentence Analysis and Subject-Verb Agreement pages for more information on the grammatical characteristics of this kind of expression.