Pronoun and Types of Pronoun | Pronoun Definition and Examples

Table of Contents

What Is a Pronoun?

Before exploring Pronoun, Types of Pronoun and Pronoun Definition and Examples. What if I say there’s a Part of Speech with a power of Replacement in English Grammar? Pronoun! Let’s explore it and its Types. It replace the noun in content and help prevent repetition of the noun. You can use it in singular as well as in plural forms. The main advantage is to avoid repetition of nouns. Like nouns, it refer to things, concepts, people, and places.

Types of Pronoun:

After exploring Pronoun Definition, Following are types:

Personal
Demonstrative
Relative
Indefinite
Interrogative
Possessive
Reflexive
Subject
Object
Reciprocal

Types of Pronoun with Definitions and Examples:

Personal Pronoun:

It is a type of Pronoun which refers to particular person, thing, or group.It replace nouns and noun phrases and can be in Objective, Nominative or Possessive form.

Types	Form	Subject	Object
First Person	Singular	I	Me
First Person	Plural	We	Us
Second Person	Singular	You	You
Second Person	Plural	You	You
Third Person	Singular	He	Him
Third Person	Singular	She	Her
Third Person	Singular	It	It
Third Person	Plural	They	Them

Demonstrative Pronoun:

Demonstrative Pronoun Definition: It identifies or points out a particular noun or the noun it replace. These include this, that, those, such and these.

For example:

None of these answers is wrong.
This is my mother’s bracelet.

It can be either far or near in distance. These are:

Near in time or distance: this, these
Far in time or distance: that, those

Relative Pronoun:

It connects the subordinate clause to the main clause, and indicate the relationship between them. It introduce dependent (or relative) clause.

For example:

The dress which is in the wardrobe belongs to me.
He is the student who won the competition.

Indefinite Pronoun:

It refers to general person or thing. They are categorized as:

Singular indefinite
Plural indefinite

Types	Example
Singular Indefinite	one, each either, neither, everyone, no one, anybody, somebody, nobody, everybody, anyone, and someone.
Plural Indefinite	several, both, many, and few

Interrogative Pronoun:

It is a type of pronoun that interrogate about something. It asks questions and includes whom, who, whose, which and what. They are also called as pronominal interrogative. There are some terms related to interrogative, question words and “wh”-words, these include who, whose, whom, what and which.

Who lefts the lights on?
Which book is yours?
What is your favourite dish?

Interrogative Pronouns	Function
Who	Asks about people
Whom	Refers to object form while inquiring people
Whose	Shows possession
What	Specifying to things, ideas, or actions
Which	Refers with a choice
Whosever	Indicates possession
Whatever	Showing without restriction
Whichever	Indicates a group without restriction
Whosoever	Refers to anyone

Possessive Pronoun:

These indicate ownership or possession. It replace nouns and indicate ownership and possession. They don’t require apostrophe and are used as following:

Singular Possessive shows to possession by a single person or thing.
Plural Possessive shows to possession by multiple people or things.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st Person	Mine	Ours
2nd Person	Yours	Yours
3rd Person	His/Hers/Its	Theirs

Reflexive Pronoun:

It provide emphasis, refers to a noun and shows distinction from others. It forms by adding the suffixes selves and self. They are used as an object and refer to a noun or pronoun. In a sentence, they usually follow preposition or verbs. Examples include myself, yourself, himself, itself, oneself, and themselves, ourselves, yourselves, herself, are essential to the meaning of a sentence.

Person	Singular Reflexive	Plural Reflexive
1st Person	Myself	Ourselves
2nd Person	Yourself	Yourselves
3rd Person	Himself/Herself	Themselves

Subject Pronoun:

They replace the subject of a sentence. They help avoid excessive and unnecessary repetition of nouns, giving sentences a concise and clear look. Examples include I, we, you. he, she etc.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st Person	I	We
2nd Person	You	You
3rd Person	He, She or It	They

Object Pronoun:

They replace nouns as the object of a verb or preposition. They play important role to avoid repetition of nouns. Examples include, me, us, you, they etc.

Person	Singular	Plural
1st Person	Me	Us
2nd Person	You	You
3rd Person	Him/Her/It	Them

Reciprocal Pronoun Definition:

Definition shows a mutual or reciprocal relationship between subjects. It avoid repetition of nouns. Examples include ourselves, yourselves and themselves.

Person	Reciprocal Pronoun
1st Person	Ourselves
2nd Person	Yourselves
3rd Person	Themselves

Tabular Representation of Types of Pronoun:

Sr no	Types	Definition	Example
1	Personal	It is used to replace specific things, groups, or persons.	She is going to the market.
2	Demonstrative	It directs specific items or groups.	I preferred this dress over that one.
3	Relative	It connect phrases.	The person who went, came back.
4	Indefinite	It refers to nonspecific things or persons.	Everyone should bring their own lunch.
5	Interrogative	Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions.	What are you cooking for dinner?
6	Possessive	Show possession.	Is this dress his or yours?
7	Reflexive	Used when the subject and object refer to the same entity.	She cut herself while cooking.
8	Subject	Used as the subject of a sentence.	He is going to the store
9	Object	Used as the object of a verb or preposition.	She gave the rose to me.
10	Reciprocal	Indicates an action carrying out reciprocally.	They hugged themselves after the test.