Pronouns
From TEFL World Wiki
Pronouns can be used in place of nouns in a sentence. We replace nouns that are repeated with pronouns:
William took the ball and then William kicked the ball.
William took the ball and then he kicked it.
The reason we use pronouns is to make the sentence less clumsy.
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Types of Pronouns
The type of pronoun we use depends on the type of noun we replace.
Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns are: I, you, he, she, it, etc. Although they are called "personal" they are also used for things as well as people.
When we replace proper nouns, we use personal pronouns:
Alice looked at Alice's reflection in the mirror before washing Alice.
She looked at her reflection in the mirror before washing herself.
Possessive Pronouns
When we want to show ownership we use the following possessive pronouns:
- mine
- yours
- his
- hers
- its
- ours
- theirs
I like my hair long. She likes hers short.
Dad has his own fishing rod. I have mine.
Demonstrative Pronouns
These are used to talk about a noun or pronoun in space and time:
- this
- that
- these
- those
Have you seen those over there?
Look at this!
Interrogative Pronouns
These are used to ask questions by asking about a noun.
- who
- which
- what
- whose
Who did you speak with?
What kind of car did you buy?
Relative Pronouns
These are used to link two phrases or clauses.
- who
- that
- which
That's the man who owns the Ferrari.
Green is the colour that I like the most.
Indefinite Pronouns
These refer to unspecified people or things.
- any
- anybody
- anything
- some
- somebody
- something
- every
- everybody
- everything
- neither
- none
- each
- either
