Pronouns

Nouns vs Pronouns

Pronouns have different forms when they are working as the subject (nominative), object (objective), or possessor (genitive) case:

• subject: he
• object: him
• possessive: his

Pronouns do not take determiners:

• the
• a
• an

Pronouns do not take demontratives:

• those
• that
• these

Categories

Noun phrase

A pronoun can be a noun phrase:

• This is cool.
• That is hers.
• Ours is a long ride.
• Leave mine alone.

As determiners

A determiner is a word that introduces a noun and provides context about its reference in terms of definiteness, quantity, possession, or other aspects:

• the
• a
• an

Pronouns can function as determiners, where they refer to nouns:

• This movie is long.
• This is her book.

Personal pronouns

Here are the subject and object forms of common personal pronouns:

Possesive deteminers cannot function as noun phrases–they introduce nouns:

• That is my car.
• His dog is the smartest.

Possessive pronouns can function as a noun phrase:

• That is his.
• Hers is the smartest.

Nominative

Nominative pronouns function as subjects. They are noun phrases that perform the action of a verb:

• I ate the pizza.
• He is older than he looks.
• We slept through the alarm.
• They ran the red light.

Predicate nominative

The nominative (subject) pronoun form is referred to in the predicate of the sentence:

• The winner is he.

A predicate nominative (also called a predicate noun) is a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and renames, identifies, or provides additional information about the subject of the sentence. The linking verb connects the subject to the predicate nominative, making them equivalent in meaning. Predicate nominatives help to clarify or describe the subject further.

Key Characteristics:

• Follows a Linking Verb: A linking verb (such as “is,” “are,” “was,” “were,” “be,” “become,” “seem”) connects the subject with the predicate nominative.
• Renames or Identifies the Subject: The predicate nominative provides another name or identity for the subject.
• Equivalence: The subject and the predicate nominative refer to the same person or thing.

Objective

Objective pronouns act as the direct or indirect object of a transitive verb or the object of a perposition:

• Sara wrote him. (direct object)
• Jack talked to her. (object of preposition)
• Rex read him the riot act. (indirect object)
• That is between you and me. (object of preposition)

It

Sometimes there is no noun functioning as an antecedent of ‘it’. It is called a number of things:

• prop it: Also called the ’empty it’, when a phrase needs a subject, even though the subject is meaningless. For example:

  It is cold outside.

  The verb phrase “is cold outside” contains all the information that we need, but it cannot stand alone and needs a subject.

• cleft it: Mainly for emphasis in a cleft sentence. A cleft sentence doesn’t have a strong main clause. Instead, it uses a copular verb like is, then a relative pronoun before the verb:

  The thought counts. It is the thought that counts. (It is noun phrase relative pronoun verb phrase.)

  You can turn a regular sentence into a cleft sentence with it and a copular/linking verb:

  Steve stole my hat. (Steve stole is the main clause) It was Steve that stole my hat. (It was is the main clause, and that precedes the verb stole).

• anticipatory it: Combines it and a form of the verb be as the main clause. It generally uses the following format:

  It is description clause-being-described. For example, you can structure the sentence this way:

  That you don’t understand is embarrassing.

  And the same sentence as an anticipatory it:

  It is embarrassing (that) you don’t understand. (With an implied relative pronoun ’that’)

Existential There

There is usually an adverb, but it can be a pronoun:

There are dogs in the house.

This is the same as Dogs are in the house, but there provides an entire phrase explaining that dogs exist (“There are dogs”). After the existenial phrase, you put a verb followed by the noun phrase that would have been the grammatical subject:

Cats are in the hat. (Cats is the subject of the verb.)

There are cats in the hat. (There is the existential subject of the verb.)

Reflexive pronouns

Pronouns that refer back to the subject or add emphasis, and they end in self or selves:

• my self
• yourself
• himself
• herself
• ourselves
• themselves
• itself
• oneself

Adding emphasis:

• The promotion reflected on Ricky himself.
• I’m moving the piano myself.

Refer back to the subject. The subject of the sentence is also the object of either a verb or preposition:

• I can walk myself home.
• Steve gave himself a raise.

Indefinite pronouns

These pronouns stand in for unspecified people or things and function as a noun phrase:

• anybody
• anyone
• everybody
• everyone
• everything
• somebody
• someone
• something
• anything
• all
• another
• each
• few
• many
• none
• one
• several
• enough

Can work as determiner (qualifier of adjectives) that precedes nouns and adds info about things like proximity, quantity, and definiteness:

Example:

• Enough is enough. (enough is the noun phrase)
• Enough people voted for him. (Enough is a determiner of the noun people)
• You can’t do it all. (all is a noun phrase)
• All students need support. (All is a determiner of students)

“of the” phrases

In the following phrases, the pronouns are part of a noun phrase that is modified by a prepositional phrase:

• All of the dogs were barking.
• Some of the men helped us.

In the following phrases, the pronouns act as determiners:

• All dogs were barking.
• Some men helped us.

Quantifiers

Indefinite pronouns address the number or quantity of things:

• There’s some pie on the counter.
• We couldn’t find any beer.
• Many people think the world is round.

Pronouns that end in -body or -one refer to people:

• Can anyone hear me?
• Anybody will do.

Pronouns that end in -thing cannot refer to people:

• Don’t you know anything?
• Something is better than nothing.

Assertives vs non-assertives

Assertive pronouns indicate that at least one or some of the thing being referenced is represented by the pronoun:

• I’ll have some pie.
• There’s something in the corner.

Non-assertive pronouns indicate that there is none or maybe none of the thing:

• None is happy with the outcome.
• Anything can happen. (doesn’t confirm that something will happen)

Generic pronouns

Some pronouns refer to unspecified people:

• you - It doesn’t matter what you do.
• we - We can’t win all the time.
• they - They say its a losing game.
• one - One cannot live on ice cream alone.

One can also function as the substitute one, where it stands in for a noun phrase that’s already understood by the speaker and the listener:

• My brother doesn’t have a birth mark, but I have one and my sister has one.

Relative pronouns

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses. Relative clauses postmodify nouns–they come after nouns and add some sort of description to them. This means that relative pronouns function adjectively:

• that
• which
• who/hom

And sometimes:

• where
• when

There are two types of relative clauses: restrictive and nonrestrictive. Restrictive clauses add information about the noun that you cannot remove, while nonrestrictive can be removed without changing the meaning of the sentence:

Examples:

• The dog that was barking was brown. (restrictive)
• The lie, which was mean, really hurt her reputation. (nonrestrictive)
• The teacher, who is great, is the reason I succeeded. (nonrestrictive)
• The lady, whom was in the car, was wearing sunglasses. (restrictive)

Relative pronouns can also be the subject of the clause:

• The person that yelled was annoying.
• The team that wins goes to the championship.

Zero relatives

A zero relative pronoun is where you can drop the pronoun from a restrictive clause:

• The food that we ate was delicious.
• The food we ate was delicious.

Nominal relative

This pronoun introduces a whole clause that functions as a noun phrase:

• what
• whatever
• whatsoever
• which
• whichever
• whichsoever
• who
• whoever
• whosoever
• whom
• whomever
• whomsoever

Examples:

• Whatever works for you, works for me.
• I don’t know what to think.
• We couldn’t tell who was singing harmony.

They can also act as a determiner:

• I’ll sing whatever song you want me to sing.

Conditional pronouns

These pronouns offer a range of choices and usually head up clauses:

• whatever
• whichever
• whoever (subject pronoun like who)
• whomever (object pronoun like whom)

Examples:

• I’ll say whatever you want.

Demonstrative pronouns

These pronouns stand in for a noun phrase. They point toward the specific thing that you’re talking about:

• this
• that
• these
• those

Example:

• I like these.

They can also function as determiners:

• I hate that movie. (determiner)
• I hate that. (demonstrative)

Reciprocal pronouns

These pronouns show you that two or more people did the same thing or had the same experience. There are two:

• each other
• one another

They are an efficient way of stating something once:

• Jack and Jill have fun with each other. = Jack has fun with Jill. Jill has fun with Jack.
• Tom and Jerry always fight with one another. = Tom always fights with Jerry. Jerry always fights with Tom.