Types of Pronouns

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. The primary purpose of using pronouns is to avoid repetition of nouns in both written and spoken language.

Examples: he, she, they, it, his, her, him, its.

Pronouns can be classified into the following types:

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

1. Personal Pronouns

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

Examples: He, she, they, you, I, it, him, her, them, me, who, whom.

A personal pronoun describes a person in the following ways:

• First Person: Refers to the speaker. e.g., I, we, me, us.
• Second Person: Refers to the person spoken to. e.g., you.
• Third Person: Refers to the person or thing spoken about. e.g., he, she, they, it, him, them.

A personal pronoun can be used as a subject as well as an object within a sentence:

• Subject form: used as the doer of an action (actor).
• Object form: used as the receiver of an action or which is acted.

Example:

• He is disturbing me.
  Here, “He” is the subject performing the action, and “me” is the object receiving the action or which is acted upon.

Usage of Personal Pronouns:

Person	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.

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

2. Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun describes ownership, possession, or a close relationship with a noun.

Examples: his, her, theirs, yours, mine, ours.

Possessive Pronouns by Person:

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

Examples:

• This book is yours.
• I like yourshirt.
• 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. 

3. Reflexive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun is used when the subject of a sentence performs an action that affects itself.

Examples: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Key Points:

• Reflexive pronouns always act as objects.
• They indicate that the subject and object are the same entity.

Person	Subject	Reflexive Pronoun
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:

• She hurts herself.
• She locked herself in a room.
• He introduced himself.
• He is preparing himselffor 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.

■ Emphatic Usage:

Reflexive pronouns are also used to emphasize the subject of the sentence.

• She repaired the car herself. (emphasis on “she” as the one who did the repair, not anyone else)
• I will speak to him myself. (emphasis on “I” performing the action personally, not delegating it)
• I myself was not in favour of this decision. (emphasis on “I” as the speaker expressing personal opinion)
• He broke the cup himself. (emphasis on “he” as the one responsible for breaking the cup, not someone else)

■ Combined Usage

Sometimes, reflexive pronouns serve both as an object and as emphasis. In such cases, the pronoun is repeated: the first occurrence functions as a normal object of the verb, and the second occurrence emphasizes the subject or the action.

• While thinking about his past actions, he realized that he had done bad to himself himself.
  (the first “himself” is the object of “had done bad to,” while the second “himself” emphasizes that he alone experienced the consequences)
• Sometimes we need to encourage ourselves ourselves when we are faced with problems.
  (the first “ourselves” is the object of “encourage,” while the second “ourselves” emphasizes that we alone must provide that encouragement)

4. Reciprocal Pronouns

A reciprocal pronoun is used when two or more nouns (subjects or objects) are reciprocating toward each other in some action. In simple words, the reciprocal pronoun is used when two or more nouns act in the same manner toward each other.

Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another.

• Each other: Used for reciprocation between two entities.
• One another: Used for reciprocation among more than two entities.

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.

5. Relative Pronouns

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

Or

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that connects a relative clause to another clause (containing a noun) and provides additional information about that noun. A relative clause is a group of words beginning with a relative pronoun that modifies the noun in the sentence.

Examples: who, whom, whose, which, that.
Example:

• Example. I saw a man who was crying.

Here, “who” modifies the noun “man.” It tells us more about the man I saw—specifically, that he was crying. The pronoun “who” also connects the relative clause “who was crying” to the another clause “I saw a man,” which contains the noun “man.”

More Examples:

• We met the boy whohad won the competition.
• I saw the man whohad 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.

6. Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun points to a specific noun or nouns.

Examples: this, that, these, those, none, neither.

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

Examples:

• Thisis a book.
• That is a car.
• Theseare ducks.
• Thoseare birds.
• Can you see that?
• Can you bring thatchair here?