Pronouns

A pronoun is used in place of a noun. Different forms are used to show person, number, gender, and case. There are personal, interrogative, indefinite, demonstrative, and reflexive pronouns.

Apersonal pronoun是指一个或多个个人或事物。人员nal pronouns may be in the nominative, objective or possessive case.

Singular	Nominative (used in the place of a subject)	Objective (used after verbs)	Possessive (as an adjective)	Possessive (as a pronoun)
1^stperson	I	me	my	mine
2^ndperson	you	you	你的	你的s
3^rdperson masculine	he	him	his	his
3^rdperson feminine	she	her	her	hers
3^rdperson gender-neutral*	they*	them*	theirs	theirs*
3^rdperson inanimate	it	it	its	its

*see reverse side of this handout, “Pronoun/antecedent agreement”

Plural	Nominative	Objective	Possessive (as an adjective)	Possessive (as a pronoun)
1^stperson	we	us	our	ours
2^ndperson	you	you	你的	你的s
3^rdperson	they	them	their	theirs

For example:Itookmysister toherdoctor.

Shegaveusa new table forourkitchen.

Aninterrogative pronounis used to ask a question. Interrogative pronouns include:who,whom,whose,what, andwhich.

For example:Wholeft the light on?

Whichbook is yours?

Arelative pronounintroduces a relative clause, relating groups of words to nouns or other pronouns.

For example: Matt was the onewhobuilt the picnic table.

The house,whichhas a garden in bloom, is very inviting.

Anindefinite pronounrefers to a general person or thing. Singular indefinite pronouns include:one, each either, neither, everyone, no one, anybody, somebody, nobody, everybody, anyone,andsomeone. Plural indefinite pronouns include:several, both, many,andfew.

For example:No onehas a good idea for the workshop. (singular)

Manygo on vacation in August. (plural)

The indefinite pronounssome, none, all, most,andanycan be singular or plural depending on the meaning of the sentence.

For example:Someof theworkis done. (singular)

Someof themarkscome off easily. (plural)

Ademonstrative pronounidentifies or points out a noun. The demonstrative pronouns include:that, this, these, those,andsuch.

For example:Thisis more expensive thanthat.

Theseare my favorites, notthose.

Areflexive pronounrefers to a noun and provides emphasis or shows distinction from others. Reflexive pronouns are formed with the suffixes–selfand–selves.

For example: Bianca made the cake byherself.

Erin and Renee tried to occupythemselveswhen work was slow.

Pronoun and antecedent agreement

Your meanings will be clearer if your pronouns “agree” in person and number with their antecedents, which are the words that the pronouns replace or the words they refer to.

Pronoun and antecedent do not agree:Studentsshould be careful to avoid plagiarism inherwriting.

Pronoun and antecedent agree:Studentsshould be careful to avoid plagiarism intheirwriting.

In some cases, “they” functions as a singular pronoun to refer to a person whose gender you do not know or whose preferred pronouns are they/them/theirs. For example:

A studentshould be careful about checking grammar intheirwriting.

Antecedents joined by the wordandtake plural pronouns.

For example: LisaandTracy are writingtheirpapers.

Use a singular pronoun to refer to two or more singular antecedents joined by the wordsorornor.

For example: BenorJames will readhisessay.

When there is more than one type of antecedent – a singular and a plural – joined by the wordsorornor, the pronoun agrees with the closest antecedent.

For example: The teacher orthe studentswill havetheirway.

The students orthe teacherwill haveherway.

Vague pronoun reference

In conversation, the prounounsitandtheyare often used to make vague reference to people and situations. In writing, more precise identification increases clarity..

Vague: The history test was made up of multiple-choice questions.Itdisturbed us.

Precise : The history test was made up of multiple-choice questions.This failure to evaluate students’ analytic abilitiesdisturbed us.

Last updated 11/19/2020