pronoun

Pronoun

Pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. Pronoun is generally used if it is not preceded by a noun. Pronoun must agree with its preceding number, gender and person.
Kinds of pronoun.

PERSONAL PRONOUN
Person          subject           object         Adjective           Possessive            Reflexive
1ST               I, we            me, us         my, our             mine, ours          myself, ourselves
2nd               you               you             your                       yours              yourself, yourselves
3rd           he (male),      him, her,       his, her,                  his, hers,           himself, herself,    
              she (female)       it, them           its,   their               its, theirs          itself, themselves
         It (neuter), they.

Subject pronouns are used as the subject to a verb. In formal writing after ‘than’ or ‘as’ subject form of pronoun is used.
 Example: He/ she is fond of playing chess. His brother is taller than he (is).  Tina is not as good as she (is).

Object pronoun is used after verbs and prepositions.
Example: It is he who is to blame for the mistake. He likes me. The man is known to her. The teacher has divided the two books between him and you. Let us enjoy the victory of our team. Let me show you how to draw this.
After be to verbs, nominative form of pronoun is grammatically correct. It is I. it is he. It is she. But in informal conversation objective form of pronoun is also used. It is me. It was him. But in complex sentence nominative form must be used. It was he who came first.

Use of pronoun after ‘Than’ and ‘As’: He is taller than I (am). Mother likes you more than me. I love him better than her.  Her sister more intelligent than her (she is). You are not as strong as I am.

Use of pronoun after ‘Between’, ‘But’, and ‘Let’: After ‘between’ objective case is used. When ‘but’ is used as preposition objective case of pronoun is used.  After ‘let’ always objective case is used.

Possessive adjectives are used as adjectives and used with nouns.
My/ our/ your/ his/ her/ their school is big.
His/ her/ your brother is my best friend.

 Possessive pronouns denote ownership. They are used after ‘to be’ verbs or the preposition ‘of’. They are used without a noun after them.
Example: This book is mine/ ours/ yours/ his/ hers/ theirs.
These are the books of mine/ ours/ yours/ his/ hers/ theirs. But ‘his’ is used both independently and with a noun. it is his book. This book is his.

Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object are same, or the subject receives the result of the action.
Example: He killed himself. I absented myself from the school. We availed ourselves of the opportunities.
Self or selves- pronouns are also called Emphatic pronouns when used for emphasis.
Example: I myself saw the thief. He himself solved the sum. We ourselves heard the minister speak.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns point to the nouns going before them and are used instead of them. ‘This’, ‘that’, ‘such’, ‘so’, ‘the same’, ‘one’ etc. are demonstrative pronouns.

‘This, that’ indicate the noun or nouns near to the speaker. This is a history book. These are the books of Rama.
‘That, those’ indicate the noun or nouns remote from the speaker. That is a kite. Those are the singers coming to perform.
‘Such’ indicate of this kind. He is good man. Such a man admired everywhere.
‘So’ indicates a fact, thought, or saying. Who says so (a fact)? I think so (so indicates same thought).
‘The same’ indicates before said documents or situation vacant. The company has wanted typist. I am going to apply for the same (post of typist).
‘One’ indicates receding singular noun and ‘ones’ for the receding plural nouns. There are many apples but I want the fresh ones (fresh apples).
Note: if demonstrative pronouns take nouns after them, they are called demonstrative adjectives. Demonstrative pronoun Demonstrative adjective

This is a beautiful picture. This picture is beautiful.

Relative pronoun

Relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, what, that, as and but. They qualify some nouns preceding them. They also join two clauses. After the relative pronouns verb is used in accordance to the preceding nouns.

Who: (qualifies persons): I know the man who called you. The woman who lost her son     went to Buddha. The boys who are playing are very intelligent.  
Whom: (objective form of who): The boy whom you meet yesterday is my brother. But in modern English ‘Who’ is used in place of ‘Whom’.
Whose: (possessive form of who): The woman whose son died in an accident has no pleasure in life.
Which (refers to children, lower animals and things without life): The cat which………, The baby which……, The bridge which…..., The tree which……, The group which……….
What (antecedent understood): what cannot be cured must be endured. I cannot tell you what has happened there.
As (such+as, as+as, the same+as): this is the same pen as I bought yesterday. He is such a good man as all liked. He planted as many trees as he could.
But (in sense of ‘who not’, ‘which not’): There is no person but wants to be happy. There is no mother but loves her children. But wants= who does not want. But loves= who does not love.

That (instead of ‘who’, ‘whom’ or ‘which’): That is used after superlative adjective, in interrogative pronoun ‘who and which’, all, same, none, one, as and the only.
Example: he is the most intelligent boy that you have selected. Who is the boy that threw stones at the dog? All that is wanted is your help. This is the same dog that barked at me.

Omissions of Relative Pronouns: When it is the object of a verb and preposition, relative pronoun is not used.
Example: This is the man (whom) you saw. The flower vase (which) I bought yesterday is broken. This is the place we live in. But if the relative pronoun is in nominative case, it is used. I know the man who is on the stage.

Interrogative Pronoun
Interrogative pronouns are who, whose, whom, what, which.
In an interrogative sentence with ‘who’ it works as the subject. It needs no operators. No preposition is used before ‘who’. If ‘which’ and ‘what’ are placed with noun, they are called interrogative adjectives. ‘What’ works as an object of a verb. ‘Whose’ works as possessive case.  ‘Which’ refers to selective one or ones.
Examples: Who is the principal of your school? Who are the other players playing with him? Which is the house? What is your name? What is the condition of the patient? What book do you want? (Interrogative adjective) Which boy has given you this? (Interrogative adjective)

Different meanings of interrogative uses.
Who is your father? (Name/ parentage) What is your father? (Profession) Which is your farther? (Who among many).

Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to persons or tings on general. They do not qualify any particular person or thing. One, all, none, some, others, any, they, many, few, several, no one, everyone, etc. are indefinite pronouns.
Examples: Few can avoid flattery. One should not forget one’s duty. None lived in the house. Several of them came to the meeting. Many were satisfied to hear the speech. Always try to give importance to others. One of them has completed his/ her exam.
Note: when ‘One’ refers to one in number, the pronoun for it are ‘his, her, its.’ When ‘One’ refers to anyone, the pronoun for it is one’s.

Distributive Pronoun
Distributive pronouns refer to one person or thing from a group. Each, either, and neither are distributive pronouns.
Each: it is used any number and in three positions.
Each of the boys is very honest. (At the beginning of a sentence)
The boys received each a reward. (After verb)
The books cost two rupees each. (After number)
Either: it is used of two numbers only. It means one or the other of the two. Either oh the two boys has done this.
Neither: it is used of two numbers. It means not the one or the other.
Neither of the two sons is good.

Reciprocal pronoun
‘Each other’ and ‘one another’ are reciprocal pronoun. ‘Each other’ is used when two are referred to. ‘One another’ is used when more than two are referred to. The two bothers love each other. The boys love one another.