PRONOUNS by Busungu Joseph

 PRONOUNS

A pronoun is a word that stands on behalf of a noun referring to people and things. A pronoun can replace noun in a sentence. The noun that is replaced by a pronoun is called an antecedent. For example,

In a sentence I love my wife since she is a kind woman, the word she is a pronoun that replaces the noun wife.

Common types of pronouns

a)    Personal pronouns: These are pronouns used to refer to people, place and things as well as animals. The way personal pronouns used is called case. There are various cases where pronouns are used like subjective case, objective case, accusative case and dative case.

Personal pronouns are used in three persons namely; first person: I (singular), we (plural), second person: you (singular) and you (plural) as well as third person: he, she, it (singular) and they (plural).

Look at the following table

Person	Singular		Plural
	Subjective	Objective	Subjective	Objective
1st person	I	Me	We	Us
2nd person	You	You	You	You
3rd person	He	Him	They	Them
	She	Her
	It	It

 

For example,

Ø He teaches me English

Ø They cook food in the restaurant

Ø We caught them yesterday

Ø It is raining now

Ø You are students

Ø She bought him a ruler

b)   Possessive pronouns: These are pronouns which are used to show possession or ownership. Possessive pronouns include; mine, yours, ours, hers, theirs, his, and its. For example,

Ø Yours looks smart

Ø That car is mine

Ø We built a house at Buhungukila. The house is ours

Ø I want to see hers as well.

Ø The monkey has a long tail. It is its

c)     Reciprocal pronouns: These are pronouns used to express mutual relationships or actions. These are each other and one another.

Each other is used with two people while one another is used with more than two people. For example,

Ø Jacob and Jane love each other

Ø Students helped one another

Ø My friend and I greet each other every day

Ø Athletes embraced one another after the race

d)   Reflexive pronouns: These are pronouns with -self or -selves used to refer back to the subject. For example, myself, himself, herself, yourself, themselves, yourselves, themselves and ourselves. For example,

ü I witnessed it myself

ü You must value yourself

ü We went to the market ourselves

ü He apologized himself

e)    Empathetic pronouns: Reflexive pronouns are used with another subjective pronouns to show emphasis. For example,

ü He himself disrespected the parents

ü You yourself wanted to know everything

ü We ourselves prepared the bonanza

ü She herself cooked the meal

ü I myself drew this picture

f)      Demonstrative pronouns: these are pronouns used to point out people or things. These are that, those, this, these, such. For example,

ü That is a boy who runs faster

ü These are mangoes

ü This is a new book

ü Those are my best friends

ü Such was a woman I advised you to marry

g)    Indefinite pronouns: These are pronouns which do not name a specific antecedent. They are used to talk about a person or thing indefinitely. There are indefinite pronouns referring people like someone, somebody, anyone, everybody, none, no one, anybody, one, few, nobody, etc. There are also pronouns referring to things and places like nothing, something, everything, everywhere, anything, nowhere, etc. For example,

ü One must know his responsibility

ü Anyone is allowed to join us

ü Something went wrong

ü None seemed to show up to the battle field

ü He revealed everything to the police

ü No one is willing to help us

ü Someone knocked the door gently

ü Somebody escaped this evening

ü Do you remember anything about this event?

h)   Interrogative pronouns: These are pronouns used to ask questions. They include who, whom, which, whose and what. For example,

ü Who are you?

ü Who is coming now?

ü Whom do you believe in your life?

ü What is your name?

ü What can I help you?

ü Whose are these cucumbers?

ü Which is the book you bought?

ü Which is the highest mountain in Africa?

NB: Interrogative pronouns can also be used as interrogative adjectives. In order for these words to function as adjectives, they must come before a noun. Look at these examples;

Ø Which book did you buy? (adjective)

Ø Which was the book you bought? (pronoun)

Ø Whose cows are these? (adjective)

Ø Whose are these cows? (pronoun)

i)      Distributive pronouns: These are pronouns which considers members of a group separately rather than collectively. They refer to each and every person separately. They include; either, each, both, neither, everything, everyone, none, etc. For example,

ü Each of us has a right to vote

ü Every one clapped their hands

ü Either of my children is brilliant

ü Neither of my students did the exams

ü None of his stories is right

ü Any of us can play a piano

j)      Relative pronouns: These are pronouns used to combine or relate two different clauses. They include; who, whose, which, whom, what and that. For example,

ü The man who cheated you is my uncle

ü A woman whose daughter was rapped fainted on the way

ü The pastor whom you saw in the church comes from Mara.

ü The poem which I composed was interesting

ü What I appreciate from him is his kindness

ü The gift that you gave me is very nice

NB: who is used in a subjective case while whom is used in an objective case.

k)   Relative compound pronouns: These are pronouns compounded with the word ‘ever’. They include; whoever, whomever, whatever, whichever, however and whenever. For example,

Whoever means no matter who the person is.

ü Whover wins the race will be given a gift

ü Whoever played the music felt tired

ü Whoever speaks before the mass will be confident

Whatever means no matter what it is.

ü I won’t believe whatever he says

ü Whatever the challenges I will never give up

Whichever means no matter which it is.

ü I will record whichever you bring

ü They will give you whichever seems to be attractive.

Wherever means no matter where it is.

ü I will accompany you wherever you go

ü He gets rewards wherever he works

Whenever means no matter when it is.

ü Whenever I joined the secondary education, I was very courageous.

ü Whenever I meet her, I feel excited

NB: whoever is used in the subjective case whereas whomever is used in an objective case. For example,

ü Coffee can be prepared by whomever

ü He will recommend whomever you suggest

ü I shall buy gifts for whomever I choose

l)      Possessive pronouns: these are pronouns used to show possession or ownership. They include; mine, ours, yours, theirs, its, his and hers. For example,

ü This computer is mine

ü This school is ours

ü They returned my car since they bought theirs