Definition and Types of Pronoun | Parts of Speech

Definition of Pronoun

A pronoun is defined as a word that replaces a noun in a sentence, taking the place of a noun to avoid repetition and make sentences more concise and easier to understand. Let’s look at the following paragraph:

• “Jam is a boy of sixteen. Jam is studying in the 9th class. Jam has two brothers. Jam loves playing football. Jam is the captain of his team.”

In this paragraph, the name “Jam” is repeated multiple times, which sounds awkward and redundant. We can replace “Jam” with pronouns to improve the flow and readability of the text:

• “Jam is a boy of sixteen. He is studying in the 9th class and has two brothers. He loves playing football, and he is the captain of his team.”

Dictionary Definition of Pronoun

Definitions of pronouns can vary slightly depending on the dictionary. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, a pronoun is “any of a small set of words in a language that is used as a substitute for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context.”

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns are categorized into several types, each serving a unique function within a sentence. The main types of pronouns include personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, indefinite pronouns, relative pronouns, intensive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, reflexive pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, and distributive pronouns.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns refer to specific people or things and are used as substitutes for their names. They are further divided into subjective and objective pronouns.

Subjective Pronouns

Subjective pronouns replace the subject in a sentence. They include: I, we, you, he, she, it, and they.

Examples:

• I love watching TV.
• We help poor people.

Objective Pronouns

Objective pronouns replace the object in a sentence. They include: me, us, you, him, her, it, and them.

Examples:

• She gave him a present on his birthday.
• The cup was broken by me.

Common Mistakes:

• “Him went to the store.” (Incorrect)
• “He went to the store.” (Correct)
• “She gave the gift to I.” (Incorrect)
• “She gave the gift to me.” (Correct)

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns show ownership or possession. They are categorized into strong and weak possessive pronouns.

Strong Possessive Pronouns

The strong possessive pronouns refer back to a noun or noun phrase already used, replacing it to avoid repetition. “I said that pen was mine.” Here in this sentence, ‘mine’ refer back to ‘I’.

Strong possessive pronouns are sometime called absolute possessive pronoun. These pronouns stand alone and replace nouns to avoid repetition: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.

• Example: This book is mine.

Weak Possessive Pronouns

The weak possessive pronouns include your, my, her, his, its, their, our, and, your. Their function is as a determiner in front of a noun to express whom something belongs to: “I said that’s my pen.” Sometime we call them possessive adjectives.

• Example: That is my book.

Common Mistakes:

• “That is mine book.” (Incorrect)
• “That is my book.” (Correct)
• “Its a nice day.” (Incorrect)
• “It’s a nice day.” (Correct)

Indefinite Pronouns

Indefinite pronouns refer to something that in not definite in a sentence, they do not refer to a particular thing or person. We use them when an object does not need to be specifically identified. There are two main types of indefinite pronoun: Singular indefinite pronoun and plural indefinite pronoun.

Singular Indefinite Pronouns

These Indefinite pronouns refer to singular objects: someone, somebody, something, no one, nobody, nothing, everyone, everybody, everything, anyone, anybody, each, either, neither, one, much.

Example: Everyone is invited to the party.

Plural Indefinite Pronouns

Plural indefinite pronouns are used for the plural objects and not for singular. Plural indefinite pronouns include many, several, few, others, and both.

Example: Many were absent from the meeting.

Common Mistakes:

• “Everyone are happy.” (Incorrect)
• “Everyone is happy.” (Correct)
• “Each are responsible.” (Incorrect)
• “Each is responsible.” (Correct)

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that relates the relative clause to another clause within a sentence. In addition, introduces the relative clause or an adjective clause. In mostly cases it acts as a subject of the relative clause. The most commonly used relative pronouns are mentioned below.

Whom, whoever, whomever, who, that, which and whose

Examples:

• She does not know which pack of pencil you want.

“Which pack of pencil you want” is a relative clause, and the relative pronoun “which” has linked it to the main clause.

Common Mistakes:

• “The book who is on the table.” (Incorrect)
• “The book which is on the table.” (Correct) 
• “Whom is calling?” (Incorrect)
• “Who is calling?” (Correct)

Intensive Pronouns

Intensive pronouns emphasize, or intensify, nouns and pronouns and we define it as a pronoun that ends in self or selves. Intensive pronouns place emphasis on its antecedent by referring back to another noun or pronoun used earlier in the sentence. An intensive pronoun is approximately identical to a reflexive pronoun. Intensive pronouns are also sometimes called emphatic pronouns.

Intensive pronouns are himself, myself, themselves, itself, herself, yourselves, ourselves, and yourself,

Example in a sentence:

• I myself like to sing.
• Jerry herself is her worst critic.

Common Mistakes:

• “I myself will do it.” (Incorrect)
• “I will do it.” (Correct)
• “She bought herself a gift herself.” (Incorrect)
• “She bought herself a gift.” (Correct)

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are the nouns that take place of a noun that’s already been mentioned in a sentence. Demonstrative pronouns can be singular or plural. Five main demonstrative pronouns are: these, those, such, this, that,

Common Demonstrative Pronouns: this, that, these, those, such.

Example: These are beautiful.

Common Mistakes:

Using demonstrative pronouns without clear antecedents can cause confusion.

• “That is amazing.” (Incorrect)
• “That movie is amazing.” (correct)

Interrogative Pronouns

An interrogative pronoun often stands for something that we are not aware of yet, because we are asking about it. We use these pronouns specifically to ask questions. These pronouns are special because they all start with “Wh”, which is quite easy to remember.

Most commonly used interrogative pronouns are whose, what, whom, which, and who.

The other words, like “whichever” and “whatsoever” are the words that we use as interrogative pronouns.

Words with ‘wh’ that are not interrogative pronouns. There are many other words that start with Wh, but they are not interrogative pronouns. Because they are just words that start with ‘wh’ and are in questions!. “When” is not an interrogative pronoun, neither is “where” nor “why”. Moreover, unlike other pronouns, sometime interrogative pronouns do not have antecedents because you are not yet sure what they really are!

Example in a sentence:

• What is your nickname?
• Whose pen is this?
• Whatsoever do you suggest by that?
• Whom were you talking with last night?
• Which of these three do you like?

Sentence in which ‘wh’ words are not interrogative pronoun:

• When do you have to go to the gymnasium?
• He doesn’t know where Ali was living last week.

Common Mistakes:

Using “who” in place of “whom” is a wrong way.  

• “Who did you see?” (Incorrect)
• “Whom did you see?” (Correct)

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns and intensive pronouns are similar, but the difference between them is that intensive pronouns are not essential to a sentence’s meaning. Meanwhile, reflexive pronouns are. In addition, they are used when the subject and the object of a sentence refer to the same person or thing. Reflexive pronouns end in -selves or -self.

Reflexive pronouns are: yourself, himself, ourselves, itself, themselves, herself, myself, yourselves.

Example in a sentence:

• She told herself to spend all vacations at home.
• He bought himself a new phone.

Common Mistakes:

Using reflexive pronouns unnecessarily can cause redundancy.

• “He himself went there.” (Incorrect)
• “He went there.” (Correct)

Sometimes a mismatch between pronoun and subject can make the sentence wrong.

• “Themselves did it.” (Incorrect)
• “They did it themselves.” (Correct)

What Is The Difference Between Intensive Pronouns And Reflexive Pronouns?

Here is an easy way to differentiate an intensive pronouns and reflexive pronouns. Just remove pronoun from the sentence; if it is an intensive pronoun, the sentence will still make sense. If the sentence no longer makes sense when the pronoun is removed, it’s a reflexive pronoun.

Reciprocal Pronouns

A reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun that we use to identify a feeling or any kind of action that is reciprocated among two or more than two. That is why; it always refers to two or more than two persons. For example, Jane is laughing at Lizzy and Lizzy is laughing at Jane. So we say:

• Jane and Lizzy are laughing at each other.

Each other and One another are the two reciprocal pronouns are not individual words but they are phrases. While using them, there must be two or more things, persons, or groups involved. Moreover, they all must be acting the same action.

Some more examples are:

• Paul and Jam help each other.
• Both teams fought hard against each other.
• Why do you laugh at each other?
• All the students gave presents to one another.

Common Mistakes:

Using reciprocal pronouns with singular subjects is wrong.

• “He congratulated each other.” (Incorrect)
• “They congratulated each other.” (Correct)

Distributive Pronouns

Distributive pronoun is a pronoun that describes a member of a group separate from the group and not collectively or including in that group. It refers to a thing or a person in a group. We use this pronoun to describe all the individual members of a particular group. Distributive pronoun are commonly used with plural noun and singular verb.

Distributive pronouns that are commonly used are each, either, every, neither, none, everyone, and any.

Example in a sentence:

• Each of the boys writes a poem
• Neither of the pens is black.

Common Mistakes:

Using plural verbs with distributive pronouns – Incorrect: “Each have a book.” Correct: “Each has a book.”

Confusing distributive pronouns with indefinite pronouns – Incorrect: “Any is available.” Correct: “Anyone is available.”

Why Some Pronouns Fall in Multiple Categories?

Some pronouns can fall into multiple categories depending on their usage in sentences. For instance, “who” can be an interrogative pronoun when asking a question (“Who is coming?”) and a relative pronoun when introducing a clause (“The person who is coming is my friend”). Understanding the context and function of the pronoun within the sentence is key to identifying its correct category.