The Meaning and Types of Pronoun


The Meaning and Types of Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that is used in place or instead of a noun to avoid repetition.
Examples
1. Emeka lives in Abuja.
        N

2. He lives in Abuja.
   pro

‘He,’ in the second example, is a pronoun because it is used instead of the noun, “Emeka.” There are different types of pronoun:
  • ·         Personal pronoun.
  • ·         Reflexive pronoun.
  • ·         Possessive pronoun.
  • ·         Relative pronoun.
  • ·         Interrogative pronoun.
  • ·         Demonstrative Pronoun.
  • ·         Indefinite pronoun.

Personal Pronoun
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated primarily with a person or persons. It may be singular or plural.
Person
Number
Subject
Object
First
Singular
I
Me
Second
Singular
You
You
Third
Singular
He/She/It
Him/Her/It




First
Plural
We
Us
Second
Plural
You
You
Third
Plural
They
Them

Types of Personal Pronoun
1. First Person
The first person is the person speaking or reporting, e.g. I, we. The object forms are: me and us respectively.

2. Second Person
The second person is the person being spoken to or being addressed, e.g. You.

3. Third Person
The third person is the person being spoken about or being addressed, e.g., he, she, it, they. The object forms are: him, her, it and them respectively.


Reflexive Pronoun
A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that refers to the noun or pronoun that precedes it in a sentence. The preceding noun or pronoun is usually the subject of the sentence.
Examples
1. Emeka slapped himself.
2. They are talking to themselves.

In the sentences above, ‘himself’ and ‘themselves’ are reflexive pronouns because they refer to ‘Emeka’ and ‘They’ respectively. Other examples of reflexive pronouns are: myself, itself, herself, yourselves, yourself, ourselves.

Possessive Pronoun
Possessive pronouns are pronouns that are used to show ownership, e.g., my, our, mine, ours, his, hers, their, theirs, your, yours.

Relative Pronoun
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that gives extra or additional information about the noun which it precedes, e.g., who, whom, which, whose, that, what.

Interrogative Pronoun
Interrogative pronouns are pronouns that are used to ask questions. They include: what, which, who, whose, why, whom, where etc.

Demonstrative Pronoun
Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point at nouns. They are four in number: this, that, these, those. Demonstrative may also be singular or plural.
Singular
Plural
This
These
That
Those
While ‘this’ is used to point at singular nouns that are closer to the speaker, ‘that’ is used to point at singular nouns that are farther from the speaker. On the other hand, whereas ‘these’ is used to point at plural nouns that are closer to the speaker, ‘those’ is used to point at plural nouns which are farther from the speaker.

Indefinite Pronoun
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to no particular person or thing. It is usually in singular form, e.g., anyone, everyone, everybody, anybody, someone, nobody, somebody, anything, nothing, everything, all, some, any, each etc.

Tamuno Reuben

Those who seek knowledge seek power because the pen is mightier than the sword.

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