Pronouns

The kinds of Pronouns

1.  Pronouns is a word used instead of a noun.

2.  Pronouns are divided into :--

 

a)  Personal Pronouns            

b)  Interrogative Pronouns    

c)  Relative Pronouns      

Personal Pronouns

The Personal Pronouns are used to distinguish the three persons.

a. The First Person denotes the person speaking .

I                     we

me                  us

myself            ourselves

The second Person denoted the person spoken to

you               you 

yourself         yourselves

The third Person denotes the person or thing spoken of

he            she          it            they

him          her          it            them 

himself     herself     itself       themselves

 

 
Interrogative Pronouns

1. Interrogative Pronouns ask questions.

2. The interrogative pronouns are : -- who, whose, whom which and what.

a)  Who, whose, and whom refer to person.

Examples : -

Who said so ?

Whose book is this ?

Whom do you love ?

b) Which refers to persons or things

Examples :-

Which of these boys will win the prize ?

Which of these books do you like best ?

c) What refers to lower animals and things.                              

Examples :- 

Q : What have you seen in the mountain?

A :  I have seen a tiger.

Q : What did he buy ?

A :  He bought a house.                    

Note -- All interrogative pronouns have the same form for the plural as for the singular 

  

Relative Pronouns

A Relative Pronouns represents a preceding word.

This preceding word is called the Antecedent.

eg : The man  who is in the garden is my uncle.

In this sentence, the word " who " is a relative pronoun, because it represents the preceding word " man ". Therefore, " man " is the Antecedent of " who ".

The relative Pronouns are : -- who , whose, whom , which that, and what.

Who and whom refer persons.

The man who came is a doctor.

The man whom you love is kind.

 

Whose refers both to persons and things.

The lady whose box is lost is her daughter.

The book whose cover is red is mine.

 

Which refers to lower animals and thing.

 

That is often used for " who, " " whom " or " which " but  never  for ' whose. "

The boy that ( or who ) won the prize is clever.

The man that ( or whom ) you saw is my brother.

This is the house that ( or which ) Chang bought.

 

What is equal to " that which " or " the thing which " . It contains the meaning of both the relative pronoun and its antecedent.                            

I do not know what ( that which ) he bought.

I do not know what ( the thing which ) he bought.

Note : -  All relative pronouns have the singular and plural alike.   

 


