6th Class English Pronouns Kinds of Pronoun

    Kinds of Pronoun

 

There are eight kinds of pronoun. They are the following:

1. Personal Pronoun

2. Demonstrative Pronoun

3. Interrogative Pronoun

4. Reflexive Pronoun

5. Possessive Pronoun

6. Distributive Pronoun

7. Indefinite Pronoun

8. Emphatic or Emphasizing Pronoun.  

 

 

        Personal Pronoun

The pronouns that are used for a person or a thing is called personal pronoun. Personal pronouns are used both as Subject and Object.

•   I am obliged to you forever.
•   We have sent him prior notice.
•   He is a nice person.
•   She was in extreme hurry.
•   It was a matter of great concern for all of us.

In the sentences given above, the words we, you, he, she, they and it are used in the place of nouns. These are personal pronouns.  

 

 

       Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun identifies and specifies a noun or a pronoun.

There are four demonstrative pronouns. They are: this, that, these, those.

"This" and "these" refer to nouns that are nearby in time or space. "That" and "those" refer to nouns that are further away in time or space. "This" and "that" refer to singular nouns; "These" and "those" refer to plural nouns.  

 

     Look at the following sentences:

• This fruit tastes delicious. (This is the subject of the sentence.)
• I don't like this. (This is the direct object of the sentence.)
• That will continue for an hour. (That is the subject of the sentence.)
• Steve remembered that. (That is the direct object of the sentence.)
• These look good. (These is the subject of the sentence.)
• I'll take these. (These is the direct object of the sentence.)
• Those belong to me. (Those is the subject of the sentence.)
• Jack brought those. (Those is the direct object of the sentence.)

Note: "This", "that", "these", and those can be used as demonstrative adjectives as well as demonstrative pronouns.  

 

 

       Interrogative Pronouns

An interrogative pronoun is a pronoun that is used in order to ask a question. Some of them refer only to people, like "who" and others refer to people and objects, like "what". They do not distinguish between singular and plural, so they have only one form.

 

 

•  What is your strength?
•  What are you doing?  

See the following interrogative pronouns:

What, Which, Who, Whose, Whom, Etc.

The word (pronoun) what can be used to ask about objects or people.

 

 

 

•  What time is it?
•  What is your name?
•  What do you want?  

The word (pronoun) which can be used to ask about objects or people.

 

 

 

•  Which book are you talking about?
•  Which game do you like?
•  Which is your book?  

The word (pronoun) who can be used to ask about people

 

 

 

•  Who are you?
•  Who has been making noise?  

The word (pronoun) whose can be used to ask about a possession relation.

 

 

 

•    Whose is this pen?
•    Whose work are you doing?  

The word (pronoun) whom can be used to ask about people. It is less usual and more formal than "who"

 

 

 

• Whom did you call?
• For whom will you vote?  

Note: Either "which" or "what" can also be used as an interrogative adjective, and "who," "whom," or "which" can also be used as a relative pronoun.       

 

 

        Reflexive Pronouns

 

Reflexive pronouns are used to indicate that the person who realizes the action of the verb is the same person who receives the action.

 

 

 

I ride the bicycle myself.

We can prepare the report ourselves.

He praises himself for meeting the deadline.  

 

       See the following reflexive pronouns:

	Subject	Reflexive
Singular	I you he she it	myself yourself himself herself itself
Plural	We You They	Ourselves Yourselves themselves

 

Note: Reflexive pronouns always act as objects not subjects, and they require an interaction between the subject and an object.

 

 

Shyam and myself are taking the responsibility.

In this sentence, "Shyam" and "myself" are the subjects. Reflexive pronouns cannot be subjects. Therefore, this is not a reflexive pronoun.  

The reflexive pronoun can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object (intensive pronoun).

 

 

 

•   I did it myself.

    I want to emphasize the fact that I did it.

•  Robin washed himself.
•  The actress looked at herself in the mirror.  

 

        Possessive Pronoun

The pronoun which shows possession is called possessive pronoun.  

See the following examples:  

The smallest gift is mine. This is yours. Here the possessive pronouns act as a subject complement.

His is on the kitchen counter. Theirs will be delivered tomorrow. Ours is the green one on the corner. Here the possessive pronouns act as the subject of the sentence.  

In the sentence given above, mine, yours, his, theirs and ours are used to show possession. So these are possessive pronouns.  

 

       Distributive Pronouns

They refer to people or things taken one at a time.  

See the following distributive pronouns:

Each, either and neither.  

Note: distributive pronoun refers to a single person or Thing at a time so they  are always singular and are followed by singular verbs.                       

 

       Each

Each refers to everyone of a group of persons/things taken separately.

• Each of you will be present.

Each of is followed by a plural noun and a singular verb.

• Each of the girls is among the toppers.  

 

       Either and Neither

Either and neither can be used only when speaking about two persons or things. Either means one or the other of two. Neither means not one nor the other of two.

•  Either answer is correct.
•  Either road will lead to the railway station.
•  Neither team could win a decisive victory.

When speaking about more than two persons or things any, no one or none should be used.

•  I don't like any of these three shirts.
•  No one offered to accompany him.
•  None but the brave deserve the fair.  

 

       Indefinite Pronoun

It refers to something that is not definite or specific or exact.

The following are some of the indefinite pronouns:

All, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, each, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody, someone.  

 

    See the following sentences where indefinite pronouns have been used:

•   All roads lead to Nehru Stadium.
•   I don't have only money.
•   Does anybody have a clue about the thief?
•   Anyone can win the game.
•   Everybody left town for the weekend.
•   Everyone enjoyed the movie.
•   Few visited that park.  

 

       Emphatic or Emphasizing Pronoun

The pronoun which is used to emphasize a noun or a pronoun is called Emphatic or Emphasizing Pronoun.

•   We served the bag to the station.
•   We served the food ourselves.
•   You solve your problem yourself.
•   Keshav planted the trees himself.
•   Sushma made coffee herself.
•   They themselves arranged the meeting.
•   The roof itself fell down on the ground.  

In the sentence given above, the words myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself, themselves, and itself have been used to emphasize either person or thing. These are Emphatic Pronouns.  

 

 

 

Personal Pronouns: The pronouns used for a person or a thing.

Demonstrative Pronouns: The pronouns used to point out the object we talk about are called Demonstrative Pronouns.

Interrogative Pronoun: The pronoun which is used to ask a question is called Interrogative Pronoun.

Reflexive Pronoun: A Reflexive pronoun is used to show the effect of the action done by the subject on itself.

Possessive Pronoun: The pronoun which shows possession is called Possessive Pronoun.

Distributive Pronoun: The pronoun which is used as distributer of a person or thing is called Distributive Pronoun.

Indefinite Pronoun: The pronoun which is used to refer to a noun in a general way is called Indefinite Pronoun.

Emphatic or Emphasizing Pronoun: The pronoun which is used to emphasize a noun or a pronoun is called Emphatic or Emphasizing Pronoun.