Gilang's Blog

Pronouns

A pronoun usually refers to something already mentioned in a sentence or piece of text. They are used instead of nouns to prevent repetition of the noun to which they refer. One of the most common pronouns is it.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:

* number: singular (eg: I) or plural (eg: we)
* person: 1st person (eg: I), 2nd person (eg: you) or 3rd person (eg: he)
* gender: male (eg: he), female (eg: she) or neuter (eg: it)
* case: subject (eg: we) or object (eg: us)

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.

Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second an object pronoun):

* I like coffee.
* John helped me.

* Do you like coffee?
* John loves you.

* He runs fast.
* Did Ram beat him?

* She is clever.
* Does Mary know her?


Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

* near in distance or time (this, these)
* far in distance or time (that, those)

Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns, followed by an illustration:

* This tastes good.
* Have you seen this?
* These are bad times.
* Do you like these?

* That is beautiful.
* Look at that!
* Those were the days!
* Can you see those?

Possessive Pronouns

We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).

We use possessive pronouns depending on:

* number: singular (eg: mine) or plural (eg: ours)
* person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (eg: yours) or 3rd person (eg: his)
* gender: male (his), female (hers)

Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Notice that each possessive pronoun can:

* be subject or object
* refer to a singular or plural antecedent

Interrogative Pronouns

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about).

There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which.
Look at these examples:

* Whoever would want to do such a nasty thing?
* Whatever did he say to make her cry like that?
* They're all fantastic! Whichever will you choose?

Reflexive Pronouns

We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).

Look at these examples:

* I made it myself. OR I myself made it.
* Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself?
* The President himself promised to stop the war.
* She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me.

Reciprocal Pronouns
reciprocal (adj.): given or done in return; [grammar] expressing mutual action

We use reciprocal pronouns when each of two or more subjects is acting in the same way towards the other. For example, A is talking to B, and B is talking to A. So we say:

* A and B are talking to each other.

The action is "reciprocated". John talks to Mary and Mary talks to John. I give you a present and you give me a present. The dog bites the cat and the cat bites the dog.

There are only two reciprocal pronouns, and they are both two words:

* each other
* one another

When we use these reciprocal pronouns:

* there must be two or more people, things or groups involved (so we cannot use reciprocal pronouns with I, you [singular], he/she/it), and
* they must be doing the same thing

Look at these examples:

* John and Mary love each other.
* Peter and David hate each other.
* The ten prisoners were all blaming one another.

narasumber : http://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pronouns.htm