PRONOUN

Welcome to this lecture headed “PRONOUN”. We will be discussing all about pronoun. Enjoy your lecture.

Pronouns substitute nouns. A pronoun typically refers to something previously talked about in a sentence or piece of writing. They are made use of instead of nouns to avoid over repetition of the noun which they replace.

A different pronoun is needed depending on two factors: the noun that is being replaced and the function that noun has in the sentence. In English, pronouns take the gender of the noun they replace in the 3rd person singular form alone. The 2nd person plural pronouns are equivalent to the 2nd person singular pronouns apart from the reflexive pronoun.

One of the most frequently used pronouns is (it) and the good thing about (it) is that’s the pronoun it is not used to represent any gender.

There are different types of pronouns as shown in the table below:

	Singular	Singular	Singular	Plural	Plural
Personal Pronoun – Subject	I	You	He/She/It	We/You	They
Personal Pronoun – Object	Me	You	Him/Her/It	Us	Them
Possessive Pronouns	Mine	Yours	his/hers/its	Ours	Theirs
Reflexive Pronouns	Myself	Yourself	Himself/herself/itself	Ourselves	Themselves

For instance (Singular):

Without a pronoun:

The bus was late, the bus had been delayed.

The above sentence as you could see sounds unpleasant. With a pronoun:

The bus was late, it had been delayed.

This second sentence sounds much better.

In this example the bus which is the noun is singular, thus the pronoun ought to be singular as well – it.

Example (Plural):

Without a pronoun:

The cars were late, the cars had been delayed. This sentence still sounds unpleasant as could be seen.

With a pronoun:

The cars were late, they had been delayed.

This second sentence without doubt looks much better.

In this example the cars are plural, thus the pronoun must be plural as well – they.

You must note however that the possessive determiner is not a pronoun.

	Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun	Possessive Adjective (Determiner)	Possessive Pronoun	Reflexive or Intensive Pronoun
1st person singular	I	Me	My	mine	Myself
2nd person singular	You	You	Your	Yours	Yourself
3rd person singular, male	He	Him	His	His	Himself
3rd person singular, female	She	Her	Her	Hers	Herself
3rd person singular, neutral	It	It	Its		Itself
1st person plural	We	Us	Our	Ours	Ourselves
2nd person plural	You	You	Your	Yours	Yourselves
3rd person plural	They	Them	Their	Theirs	Themselves

Subject Pronoun

Subject pronouns are used in place of nouns that are the subject of their clause. In the 3rd person, subject pronouns are frequently used to prevent repetition of the subject’s name.

For instance

I am 16.

You seem lost.

James is furious, and he wants Abdul to apologize.

This house is worn out. It ought to be refurbished.

We aren’t running.

They don’t like doughnuts.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are used in place of nouns that are the direct or indirect object of a clause.

For Example:

Give me the book.

Mom wants to talk to you.

Obi is hurt because Bola beat him.

Jacob got an invitation from her last week.

Mercy can’t see it.

Don’t get screwed up with us.

Tell them to be fast about it!

Possessive Adjectives (Determiners)

Possessive adjectives as mentioned earlier are not pronouns, but rather determiners. It is essential to study them side by side pronouns because they are related in form to the possessive pronouns.

Possessive adjectives work as adjectives; therefore, they come before the noun they modify. They are not use in place of a noun just like pronouns.

Examples:

Did mom find my shoes?

Mrs. Ijeoma wants to see your homework.

Can Daisy bring over his baseball cards?

Alfred will fix her bike tomorrow.

The dog broke its leg.

This is our shop.

Where is their house?

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are used in place of possessive nouns as either the subject or the object of a clause. Due to the fact that the noun being replaced doesn’t appear in the sentence, it ought to be clear from the context.

For instance:

This book is mine.

Yours is not white.

That chair looks like his.

These shirts are not hers.

That house is ours.

Theirs is placed in the garage.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Reflexive and intensive pronouns are the same set of words but they have varying functions in a sentence.

Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause due to the fact that the subject of the action is as well the direct or indirect object. Just a few types of verbs can be reflexive. You cannot remove a reflexive pronoun from a sentence due to the fact that the rest of the sentence would be grammatically incorrect.

Examples:

I told myself to have patience.

You cut yourself on this nail?

She hurt herself on the stairs.

She found herself in an unsafe part of city.

The dog threw itself under my car!

We blame ourselves for the accident.

The students can take care of themselves.

Intensive pronouns highlight the subject of a clause. They are not the object of the action. The intensive pronoun can at all times be removed from a sentence without altering the meaning drastically, even though the stress on the subject will be removed. Intensive pronouns can be put straight away after the subject of the clause, or at the end of the clause.

For instance

I made these cookies myself.

You yourself asked Jane to come.

The teacher himself pardoned Mr. Black.

My teacher didn’t know the answer himself.

The test itself wasn’t terrifying, but my teacher surely is.

We would like to complete the overhaul before Christmas ourselves.

They themselves told me the lost shoe wasn’t a problem.

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to a particular person, place, or thing. In English, there is a specific group of indefinite pronouns created with a quantifier or distributive preceded by any, some, every and no.

Indefinite pronouns refer to things or people without mentioning what or who they are.

Singular:	another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, other, somebody, someone, something
Plural:	both, few, many, others, several
Singular or Plural	all, any, more, most, none, some

For instance:-

Somebody stole my car.

Does anybody know who she is?

Does anyone have something that could assist me with anything?

Important points to remember

Somebody, Everybody, Anybody, and Nobody

For people we use: anybody or anyone | somebody or someone | nobody or no one. For things we use: anything, something, nothing, none

	Person	Place	Thing
All	everyone, everybody	everywhere	Everything
Part (positive)	someone, somebody	somewhere	Something
Part (negative)	anyone, anybody	anywhere	Anything
None	no one nobody	nowhere	Nothing

Indefinite pronouns with some and any are used to describe indefinite and incomplete quantities in the same way that some and any are used unaided.

Indefinite pronouns are placed in an equivalent location as a noun would go in the sentence.

Affirmative

In affirmative sentences, indefinite pronouns that make use of some are used to describe an indefinite quantity, the indefinite pronouns with every are used to describe a complete quantity, and the pronouns with no are used to describe an absence. Indefinite pronouns with no are frequently used in affirmative sentences with a negative connotation, but these are however not negative sentences because they are lacking the word not.

Examples

Everyone is sleeping in my bed.

Someone is sleeping in my bed.

No one is sleeping in my bed.

I gave everything to Chika.

He saw something in the shop.

There is nothing to eat.

I looked everywhere for my shoes.

Kenneth is looking for somewhere to live.

There is nowhere as beautiful as Nigeria.

Any and the indefinite pronouns formed with it can as well be used in affirmative sentences with a meaning that is close to every: whichever person, whichever place, whichever thing, etc.

Examples

They can select anything from the list.

You may invite anybody you want to your wedding ceremony.

We can go anywhere you’d like this Christmas.

He would do anything to get into Cambridge.

Negative Questions

Indefinite pronouns with every, some, and any can be used to form negative questions. These questions can normally be answered with a “yes” or a “no”

Pronouns created with any and every are used to form true questions, whereas those with some commonly entail a question to which we already know or imagine the answer.

For Instance

Is there anything to eat?

Did you go anywhere last night?

These questions can be converted to false or rhetorical questions by making them negative. The speaker, when asking a question of this type, is expecting an answer of “no”.

Examples

Isn’t there anything to eat?

Didn’t you go anywhere last weekend?

Isn’t everyone here?

Haven’t you looked everywhere?

Some and pronouns formed with(it) is only used in questions to which we think we already know the answer, or questions which are not true questions (invitations, requests, etc.) The person asking these questions is expecting an answer of “Yes”.

For Instance

Are you looking for someone?

Have you lost something?

Are you going somewhere?

Could somebody help me, please? = request

Would you like to go somewhere this weekend? = invitation

These questions can be made even more definite if they are made negative. In this case, the speaker is absolutely certain he will receive the answer “Yes”.

Examples

Aren’t you looking for someone?

Haven’t you lost something?

Aren’t you going somewhere?

Couldn’t somebody assist me, please?

Wouldn’t you like to visit somewhere this weekend?

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronoun – Subject	I	You	he/she/it	We	They
Personal Pronoun – Object	Me	You	he/she/it	Us	Them

The personal pronoun is used to refer to someone or something previously mentioned (he, she, it etc.), to talk about the person speaking (I, me etc.), or to the person paying attention (you).

Note the following important points: 

I, me, he, she, him, her, you are used to refer to a person

you, we, us are used to refer to people 

it is used for thing 

they, them are use to refer to things or people

See a few examples below:

Tessie and I went shopping.

We bought a book.

We read it, and then I leant her book.

She read the book, and then she leant the book to him.

He read it, but they snatched away the book from him.

The police arrested them.

They returned the book to us.

Remember! You should always capitalize “I” (first person singular) when you are writing in English.

Possessive Pronouns

The possessive pronoun is used to illustrate who a particular thing being referred to belongs to or is connected with.

	I	You (singular and plural)	he/she/it	We	They
Possessive Pronouns	Mine	Yours	his/hers/its	Ours	Theirs

In English, the following pronouns alter their form to show their function.

For instance:-

Q. Whose is this tea cup?

A. It’s mine.

Q. Does Jessica own this tea cup?

A. Yes, it’s hers.

Q. Does Jessica own the house?

A. No. It’s ours.Important things to know:

my, your, his/her/its, our and their are referred to as possessive determiners. They are occasionally known as possessive adjectives.

Reflexive Pronouns

	I	He/She/It	You (singular)	You (plural)	We	They
Reflexive Pronouns	Myself	Himself/Herself/Itself	Yourself	Yourselves	Ourselves	Themselves

A reflexive pronoun illustrates when someone or something affected by an action is the same as the person or thing doing it. This form is used less in English than a few other languages.

For instance:-

I looked at myself in the mirror.

They drove themselves to the hospital.

My android tablet shut itself down.

To one person – The coffee machine is on the table. Please help yourself.

To a group of people – The coffee machine is on the table. Please help yourselves.

Thanks for reaching to this point marking the end of this lecture.

Your Lecture Master:

Mst. Ugonwanne Joshua