All of us use pronouns every day! You may not realize it, but you do. I have just used pronouns in the past two sentences and in this sentence as well.
Pronouns
Pronouns we usually swap in with other nouns to make our writing and speaking much more varied and sometimes faster, depending on the context the pronouns are used in. Pronouns are a subcategory of nouns.
Sample list of pronouns:
They
I
You
Who
To make this much clearer, let’s use sentences that have absolutely no pronouns.
Sentences with no pronouns:
Mirabel has always loved art. Mirabel announced that Mirabel wants to go to art school.
This sentence gets boring, and you want it to flow more easily. So here is where pronouns can be helpful. Let’s look at the above sentence but this time we will use pronouns.
Sentences with pronouns:
Mirabel has always loved art. She announced that she wants to go to art school.
Pronouns can be used to replace both proper and common nouns. Just never use the pronoun “it” to describe a person. That’s rude and uncalled for.
Subject or Object Pronouns
Pronouns can be subjects or objects in sentences.
Subject pronouns are pronouns that perform an action in a sentence.
Object pronouns are pronouns that receive the action in a sentence.
Sentences with Subject and Object Pronouns:
Here are some examples of subject pronouns complete with sentences:
He (He is a subject pronoun) has studied art for years.
The history of art is intriguing to him (Him is an object pronoun).
Let’s use another example:
When her village was attacked by bandits no one would fight them (Them is an object pronoun.).
She (She is a subject pronoun.) was the only one brave enough.
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns refer to the subject of a sentence.
Examples of Singular Reflexive Pronouns are as follows:
Myself
Himself
Yourself
Herself
Itself
Examples of Plural Reflexive Pronouns are as follows:
Themselves
Yourselves
Ourselves
Let’s look at two sentences that can help illustrate the above lists.
A sentence using singular reflexive pronouns:
“Mirabel, buy yourself (The word “yourself” is a singular reflexive pronoun.) a book of short stories before the trip,” said her aunt.
A sentence using plural reflexive pronouns:
“If you study the culture of Spain, we will all enjoy ourselves (Ourselves is a plural reflexive noun.) more,” She continued.
See if you can find the singular reflexive pronoun and the plural reflexive pronoun in the following sentences.
I will help myself enjoy this trip.
My brother and I will be treating ourselves to a vacation.
Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns show ownership. Possessive pronouns can come before a noun or stand alone.
Examples of possessive pronouns:
Her
His
Their
My
Your
Note: Please understand the use and definitions of the following commonly confused words.
Their — It is their toy. It belongs to them. That is their ball. The ball is theirs. Don’t touch their food! Don’t touch their toys!
There- I’m going over there. I will be there tonight.
The members of the Pahrump book club wanted to send their club to the national reading finals.
(In the above sentence, the word “their” is a possessive pronoun that comes before a noun. In this case the noun is the word “club.”)
They knew that, at the end of the finals, the rewards would be theirs. (The word “theirs” is a possessive pronoun that stands alone and doesn’t come before a noun.)
(Please keep in mind that I have no idea about any clubs or reading finals. I was just using this to illustrate these points.)
Agreement of Pronouns
Pronouns are words that take the place of one or more nouns. They show number and gender. Numbers tell whether a pronoun is singular or plural. Gender tells whether the pronoun is masculine, feminine, or neutral. Antecedents of pronouns are the noun or nouns to which a pronoun refers. Pronouns must agree with its antecedent in number and gender.
In other words, pronouns must mean the same thing as the previous noun or nouns. The noun must have already been mentioned and then a pronoun can take its place.
Here is an example:
Ms. Lamia did an experiment with rocks. She investigated with water.
In the above first sentence, Ms. Lamia is the noun. In the second sentence, the word “she” is the pronoun.
Suggested Readings
https://www.grammarly.com/blog/the-basics-on-subject-and-object-pronouns-b/
