Pronouns

by Patrícia de O. Lucas and David Hughes

A pronoun replaces a noun. (He asked her to dance). Some

pronouns can also be adjectives when they modify a

noun (my book, that problem).

The replacement noun is called the antecedent.

John lost my bag when he took it.

In this sentence, he replaces John, and it replaces my bag

Some pronouns can be adjectives when they modify

nouns.

Wher’s my book?.

I didn’t enjoy that movie.

There are eight kinds of pronouns

Personal Pronouns I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them.

Possessive Pronouns My, mine, your, yours, her, hers, his, its, our, ours, their, theirs.

Demonstrative Pronouns This, that, these, those

Interrogative Pronouns Who, whom, whose, which, what

Relative Pronouns Who, whom, whose, which, that

Indefinite Pronouns All, another, any, anyone, anybody, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something

Reflexive Pronouns Myself, yourself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Reciprocal Pronouns Each other, one another

Personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns, and

relative pronouns change their form to show their function in

a sentence.

Subject forms are for subjects and subject complements.

She had a car accident. (subject)

Who called the police? (subject)

It was he. (subject complement)

Object forms are for objects.

Whom did you see at the party? (direct object)

The teacher wrote me a long note about my essay. (indirect

object)

A tall person sat in front of me. (object of preposition)

Possessive forms show ownership

Whose backpack is this?

This is my backpack. It’s mine.

We felt sorry for the student whose backpack was missing.

Special tip!

Be consistent in your use of noun / pronoun combinations. Don’t change from you to he to they

without a reason. Also, don’t mix singular and plural nouns

unnecessarily. In the following paragraph, the writer begins with a plural noun, atheletes, so he should

continue using plural nouns and pronouns.

Olympic athletes must be strong both physically and mentally. First of all, if you

hope to compete in na Olimpic sport, you must train hard. An athlete in some sports trains several hours a day, five or six days a week, for tem or more years. In addition to being in top shape, you

must be mentally tough. This means that athletes are totally dedicated to their sports, often giving up normal school,

family, and social life.

Special situations

Be careful to use correct pronoun forms in the following

special situations.

After than and as

To decide which pronoun to use after than or as in

comparisons, finish the comparison in your mind.

My brother is taller than I (am)

I study as hard as he (studies), but my grades aren’t as good as

his (grades are)

Note: People say He is taller than me in informal

conversation. However, I is correct and should be used in

written English.

Who or whom?

To choose between who and whom in a question, decide

wheter the question word is a subject or an object.

Direct questions

Who won the contest? (Who is the subject of won)

Whom did they give the prize to? (Whom is the object of to)

Indirect questions

I don’t know who is going to win. (Who is the subject of going to win)

Let’s decide whom to vote for. (Whom is the object of for)

To choose between who and whom in an adjective clause, decide whether the relative pronoun is a subject or an object in its own clause.

The man who wrote that book lives in London. (Who is the subject of wrote)

The man whom she married is a musician. (Whom is the object of married)

Note: People say who instead of whom in informal conversation.

It is acceptable in spoken English, but whom is preferred in written

English.

Special tip!

To test for who or whom, rewrite the question or the

adjective clause as a sentence, replacing who or whom with

the form of he, she, or they that sound correct.

(Who? whom?) ordered a pizza with mushrooms?

He ordered a pizza with mushrooms.

Who ordered a pizza with mushrooms?

Where’s the office of the adviser (who? whom?) we have an appointment with?

We have an appointment with him.

Where’s the office of the adviser whom we have an appoitment with?

Pronoun agreement

A pronoun agrees in number (singular or plural) with the

noun or nouns ir replaces, not with the word it modifies. The

replaced noun is called an antecedent.

The boy left his books in the classroom.

The boys left their books in the classroom.

A pronoun in English also agrees in gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) with its

antecedent, not with the word it modifies.

Linda called her son last night and spoke to him forn an hour.

(NOT Linda called his son last night...)

Pronoun agreement with indefinite pronouns: someone,

everybody

Singular

The following indefinite pronouns are always singular,

so any other pronoun that refers to them must also be

singular.

Anyone, anybody, each, everyone, everybody, either, someone, somebody, neither,

no one, nobody, one

Examples

Neither of my brothers has his own bedroom

Each of the students has his or her own desk

In very formal English, one is used to mean people in general. Nowadays, you

is more common.

One should be careful when buying a used car. (very formal)

You should be careful when buying a used car. (more common)

Singular or plural

All, nonem most and some can be singular or plural

depending on the noun after the word of.

Some of the soda lost its fizz.

Some of the trees lost their leaves.

Pronoun agreement with generic nouns: a student, an

employee

A generic noun represents an entire group, so it seems plural

in meaning. However, a singular generic noun requires

singular pronouns.

A student should by his or her books before the first day of

class.

A teacher has several responsibilities. First, he or she should know his or her subject

well.

Most writers feel that using he or she, him or her, and his or

her is not good style. There are two ways to avoid this

problem.

1) Make the sentence plural

Students should by their books before the first day of class.

2) Revise the sentence to eliminate the pronoun.

A student should by books before the first day of class.

Pronoun agreement with collective nouns: team, class

In American English, a collective noun such as band, committee, family, team, class, couple, crowd, and audience is singular when the group act as

a unit and plural when the members of the group act

individually. In British English, collective nouns are plural.

The band played its biggest hit at the end of the concert.

(acting as a unit)

The band packed up their instruments and left. (acting

individually)

Pronoun agreement with either...or and neither...nor

Singular subjects joined by either...or and neither...nor take singular pronouns, and plural subjects take plural pronouns.

Either John or John’s friend forgot his keys when he left the

party.

Neither the teachers nor the students remembered what they were supposed to do

during an earthquake drill.

Pronouns: unclear reference

A sentence is confusing when there is no word that a

pronoun refers to or when a pronoun refers to more than

one word.

Unclear

Charlie was upset when they failed him or her driving test. (Who failed Charlie?)

Revised

Charlie was upset when the examiner failed him on his driving test.

Make sure that every pronoun has a specific antecedent

1) Don’t use it or they to refer to unnamed things or persons.

2)Make sure that he or she refers to only one person.

3) Don’t use this or that to refer to an entire idea or action. Revise the preceding sentence to give this and that a specific antecedent (a specific person, place, or thing), or replace this and that with specific words.

Time to Practice