A pronoun is a word that is used instead of a noun. The purpose of using a pronoun instead of a noun is to avoid the repetition of the noun in written as well as in verbal expressions.

e.g., he, she, they, it, his, her, him, its.

Pronouns are divided into the following types.

  1. Personal Pronouns
  2. Possessive Pronouns
  3. Demonstrative Pronouns
  4. Reflexive Pronouns
  5. Relative Pronouns
  6. Reciprocal Pronouns

A personal pronoun refers to a specific person, object, or group of things directly.

e.g.  He, she, they, you, I, it, him, her, them, me, who, whom etc.

A personal pronoun describes a person or a thing in the following ways.

• 1st Person: (the person who speaks). e.g., I, we, me, us.
• 2nd Person: (the person who is spoken to). e.g., you.
• 3rd Person: (the person who is spoken about). e.g., he, she, they, it, him, them, them.

Each personal pronoun has two forms (e.g., he & him, I & me) where one form (e.g., he, I) is used as a subject (acter of action) and the other form (e.g., him, me) is used as an object (which is acted upon by the action, or on which an action is done).

Example.

• He is disturbing me.

In the above example, ‘He’ is a subject which is doing an action and ‘me’ is an object which is acted upon by the action, or on which the action is done. 

Usage of Personal Pronoun:

	Person	Personal Pronouns
		Subject	Object
Singular	1st Person	I	Me
	2nd Person	You	You
	3rd Person	He, She, It	Him, Her, It
Plural	1st Person	We	Us
	2nd Person	You	You
	3rd Person	They	Them

Examples.

• I am eating an apple.
• He is writing a letter.
• She is singing a song.
• We are playing football.
• I am helping him.
• You are disturbing me.
• She is teaching them.
• He gave her some food.

A possessive pronoun describes a close possession of or ownership of or relationship to a noun (a person or a thing).

e.g., his, her, theirs, yours, mine, ours, etc.

	Person	Possessive Pronouns
Singular	1st Person	My, Mine
	2nd Person	Your, Yours
	3rd Person	His, Hers, Its
Plural	1st Person	Our, Ours
	2nd Person	Their, Yours
	3rd Person	Their, Theirs

Examples.

• This book is yours.
• I like your shirt.
• This laptop is mine.
• That car is hers.
• She has lost her purse.
• He is washing his car.
• This house is ours, not theirs.
• We love our country.
• Since I have lost my books, I need yours.
• This computer is mine, not yours. 

A reflexive pronoun expresses a noun when the subject’s action effects (or influences) the subject itself.

e.g., himself, herself, yourself, myself, ourselves, themselves, itself.

A reflexive pronoun always acts as an object, not as a subject, and it expresses inter-influence between a subject and an object.

	Persons	Subjects	Reflexive Pronouns
Singular	1st Person	I	Myself
	2nd Person	You	Yourself
	3rd Person	He, she, It	Himself, Herself, Itself
Plural	1st Person	We	Ourselves
	2nd Person	You	Yourselves
	3rd Person	They	Themselves

Examples.

• He hurts herself.
• She locked herself in a room.
• He introduced himself.
• He is preparing himself for the exam.
• They considered themselves as the happiest people in the world.
• The people at the party were enjoying themselves.
• You must be proud of yourself.
• She was looking to herself in the mirror.

Sometimes, the reflexive pronoun is also used to emphasize the subject.

• She repaired the car herself.
• I will speak to him myself.
• I myself was not in favour of this decision.
• He broke the cup himself.

In some cases, these pronouns may be used in a sentence both as a reflexive pronoun as well as a pronoun to emphasize the subject. See the following examples.

• While thinking about his past actions, he realized that he had done bad to himself himself.
• Sometimes we need to encourage ourselves ourselves when we are faced with problems.

A reciprocal pronoun is used when two or more nouns (subjects or objects) are reciprocating to each other or one another in some action.

Reciprocation means that two or more nouns act in the same manner towards each other or one another.

There are two reciprocal pronouns.

• Each other
• One another

• ‘Each other’ is used to describe reciprocation between two subjects (or objects).
• ‘One another’ is used to describe reciprocation among more than two subjects (or objects).

Examples.

• Two kids were pushing each other.
• Sara and John help each other in their studies.
• Two boys in the street are quarrelling with each other.
• The people in the flood were helping one another.
• Many cars collided with one another due to fog on the road.
• The people at the party greeted one another.

A relative pronoun is a word used in relation to a noun that modifies (gives more information about) the same noun.

or

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that joins a relative clause and a relative sentence. A relative clause is a group of words starting with the relative pronoun which modifies (gives more information about) the noun in the relative sentence.

e.g., who, whom, whose, which, that, etc.

Example. I saw a man who was crying.

In the above example, the word ‘who’ is a relative pronoun that modifies (gives more information about) the noun ‘man’. Here, the pronoun ‘who’ joins the relative sentence ‘I saw a man’ to the clause ‘who was crying’.

Examples.

• We met the boy who had won the competition.
• I saw the man who had helped me last year.
• It is the dog that usually barks at night.
• I saw some boys in the street who were playing football.
• This is the book which I like the most.
• They are the people who have come out for the protest.

A demonstrative pronoun is a pronoun that points to a noun (a thing or things).

e.g., this, that, those, these, none, neither etc.

• Short distance (or time): This (singular), These (plural).
• Long distance (or time): That (singular), Those (plural).

Examples.

• This is a book.
• That is a car.
• These are ducks.
• Those are birds.
• Can you see that?
• Can you bring that chair here?