Pronouns

These pronouns take the place of a person or thing, primarily to avoid repetition:

• My name is Mike. I have two brothers.
• Don’t ask Mike; he won’t know.
• Jane feels sleepy; drive her home.

Subject personal pronouns

The subject in a sentence is a person, thing, or place that is doing something.

Subject pronouns are pronouns that take the place of the subject.

• I saw Molly yesterday.
• She was too sad.

We use he to refer to a man and she to refer to a woman.

If we are not sure if the person is a man or woman, we use “he or she” and they.

• Ask your teacher; he or she will help you.
• Ask your teacher; they will help you.

We use it for singular things or most animals.

• I like this car; it is very comfortable.
• Look at that horse; it is very fast.

If the animal is a family pet, we use he (male) or she (female).

• We have a pet dog; he is very cute.

We use “she“ for ships.

• The Titanic was a great ship. She sank in April 1912.

Object personal pronouns

The object in a sentence is a person, thing, or place that receives the action.

Object pronouns are pronouns that take the place of the object.

• Jim saw me yesterday.
• I’m going to drive them there.

noun / pronoun + I / me

It’s considered more polite to put the other person first.

• • He and I had lunch together.
  • They gave the money to Jim and me.
  • You and I are of one mind on this matter.

We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things that are not definite or specific.

Singular:

• We need to find somewhere to stay.
• Anyone can see this.
• Buy two t-shirts and get another completely free.

Use no and not any in negative statements.

• ꭗ Anybody wasn’t at home.
• √ Nobody was at home.

Do not use another negative with nowhere, nothing, or nobody.

• √ There was nowhere to sit. ꭗ There wasn’t nowhere to sit.
• √ I have nothing. ꭗ I don’t have nothing.
• √ Nobody came. ꭗ nobody didn’t come.

Add ‘s to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive.

• It’s impossible to remember everyone‘s name.
• They usually stay at each other‘s houses.

Plural: both, few, fewer, many, others, several

• Daniel and Lisa are both scientists.
• Fewer people care about local history.
• Many have quit smoking.

Singular and plural: all, any, more, most, none, some

• All is fair in love and war.
• All have arrived on time.
• None have an answer.
• None have come yet.

These pronouns show ownership or relationship: 

• That pen is mine.
• This book is yours.
• That car is theirs.

As the subject of a sentence

• I don’t like your bike. Mine is better.

As the object of a sentence

• My car isn’t as new as yours.

Do not use ‘s after this type of pronouns.

• ꭗ The idea was her’s.
• √ The idea was hers.
• ꭗ A tree is known by it’s fruit.
• √ A tree is known by its fruit.

Do not use a possessive pronoun before a noun.

• ꭗ Which table is ours table?
• √ Which table is ours?
• ꭗ A Lot of ours friends are coming.
• √ A Lot of our friends are coming.

Possessive pronouns are the same for singular and plural nouns.

• Is this your house? – Yes, it’s mine.
• Whose keys are these? – Those are mine.

How to replace the possessive adjective + noun with a possessive pronoun

• If you don’t have a car, you can borrow my car.
• If you don’t have a car, you can borrow mine.
• Jim bought a new car just like your car.
• Jim bought a new car just like yours.
• My pen is black, and his pen is blue.
• My pen is black, and his is blue.
• This is my passport. Her passport is in the bag.
• This is my passport. Hers is in the bag.
• Their house is big, and our house is not so big.
• Their house is big, and ours is not so big.
• Our clock has stopped, but their clock is working.
• Our clock has stopped, but theirs is working.

These pronouns are words that we use when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same.

• Did you hurt yourself?
• I can look after myself.
• We made ourselves some coffee.

as a direct object

• I cut myself.
• Jane helped herself.
• We blame ourselves.

as an indirect object

• He bought himself a new hat.
• Pour yourself a cup of coffee.
• I made myself a sandwich.

as object of a preposition

• I looked at myself in the mirror.
• He usually talks to himself.
• We are cooking for ourselves.

by oneself (alone, without the help of anyone else)

• Jim lives in the house by himself.
• I started this company by myself.
  

When we remove reflexive pronouns, the sentence doesn’t make much sense.

• Jane helped herself. – Jane helped –.
• Pour yourself a cup of coffee. – Pour – a cup of coffee.
• We are cooking for ourselves. We are cooking for –.

Reflexive pronouns are used after certain verbs.

amuse, ask, behave, burn, buy, dry, encourage, enjoy, get, help, hurt, introduce, look after, make, see, take care of, talk to, teach, tell, wash, watch.

In common actions, we usually drop the pronoun.

• I dressed.
• He shaved.
• She showered.

These pronouns are words that we use to emphasize the subject in a sentence.

• Did you yourself make this coffee?
• I myself must solve the problem.
• We will go there ourselves.
• You yourselves can do this.

When we remove the intensive pronoun from a sentence, the sentence still makes sense.

• He will do the job himself. – He will do the job.
• That itself is the problem. – That is the problem.
• We organized the party ourselves. – We organized the party.

The position of the intensive pronoun is either after the subject or at the end of the sentence.

• I always clean my room myself.
• She herself has never been here.

These pronouns are used in complex sentences and refer to nouns in the main clauses. We use them to introduce subordinate clauses or noun clauses.

who/whoever (modify the subject or object and refer only to people)

• Jacob is the man who owns the house.
• I like people who make me laugh.
• Whoever wants this pen may have it.
• I’ll take whoever wants to go with us.

whom/whomever (modify the object, refer to people, and are only common in formal styles)

• The person whom I met in China.
• You can bring whomever you like.

which/whichever (modify both subject and object and refer to things, qualities, and ideas)

• My new car, which I bought last week, runs on unleaded gasoline.
• The man kept laughing loudly, which annoyed me very much.
• Whichever you choose, we’ll accept it.
• You can take whichever you like.

.

that modifies subject and object and refers to people, things, qualities, and ideas to specify a person or thing.

• The man that I saw was Mike.
• There are lots of things that I need to buy.

whose / whosever (show possession and refer to people, things, qualities, and ideas)

• Jack was shouting at a driver whose car was blocking the street.
• Whosever car you use, you should take care of it.

In informal or spoken English, it is common to drop a relative pronoun if it functions as ‘object’ and it’s in identifying clauses.

• The person who I saw yesterday is at the door.
• The person I saw yesterday is at the door.
• The food that I ate was very spicy.
• The food I ate was very spicy.

We use demonstrative pronouns to point something out and replace nouns or noun phrases.

• This is a book.
• That is a table.
• These are my books.
• Those are my shoes.

We use ‘this’ and ‘these’ to introduce people.

• Hi Daniel, this is Lucas. Lucas, this is Daniel.
• Hey Dad, these are my friends.

We use singular to introduce people by their names.

• Hey, Dad, this is Daniel, and this is Lucas.

We use ‘this’ and ‘that’ to introduce someone when they are speaking on the phone.

• This is Gabriel speaking. Is that James?

When an action is near or far in time

• This is a delicious meal. (while eating)
• That is beautiful. (while looking at something in the distance)
• That tastes really good.
• Those were very tasty cookies. (eaten)

When we are answering a question, it is not necessary to repeat the pronoun. Instead, we can use ‘it’ for singular and ‘they’ for plural.

• What’s this? – This is an umbrella. Or it’s an umbrella.
• Is that a cellphone? – No, that’s not, or it is not a cellphone.
• Are these your kids? – Yes, they are, or these are my kids.
• What are those? – They are my shoes. Or those are my shoes.

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions about someone or something that we do not know about.

Who and whom

“Whom” is becoming less and less common, and “who” is taking the place of “whom” as an object pronoun.

• Who did you invite?
• Who are you looking at?
• To who did you send the letter?

What vs. which

We use “what” when options or possibilities are large or unknown.

• What do you want to eat?
• What color do you like?

We use “which” when we have options to choose from.

• Which do you want to drink, tea or coffee?
• Which color do you like, blue or green?