PRONOUNS

Definition A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns or pronouns. A pronoun’s antecedent is the word that a pronoun stands for (the noun or pronoun that our pronoun is replacing).

Practice We already know what nouns are and how to find them in sentences. Complete the “Replacing Nouns with Pronouns” worksheet to get an idea of some of the most common ways we use pronouns.

Examples My brother thought he was the best quarterback in the world. Ashley was given a necklace for her birthday but lost it less than a week later. My sister watched the movie and returned it to the store when she was finished.

Types of Pronouns There are seven categories of pronouns that we will learn. They are: Personal pronouns Reflexive pronouns Intensive pronouns Demonstrative pronouns Interrogative pronouns Relative pronouns Indefinite pronouns

Personal Pronouns A personal pronoun refers to the one speaking, the one spoken to, or the one spoken about. We will refer to these as first-person personal pronouns, second-person personal pronouns, and third-person personal pronouns.

Personal Pronouns, Inflected for Person Examples: I am talking to you about them. I is a first-person personal pronoun because it refers to the person speaking. You is a second-person personal pronoun because it refers to the person being spoken to. Them is a third-person personal pronoun because it refers to the people we are speaking about.

Practice Identify the personal pronouns in the following sentences and the antecedent of each pronoun. James was angry that he did not get to start in the basketball game. The students all remembered to turn in their homework. It is the perfect present. David told Dan that he couldn’t make it to his birthday party. The children were making too much noise, so my sister asked them to be quiet.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject and functions as a complement or an object of a preposition. I realize this makes no sense (right now), but I promise we will learn a very easy trick for picking out reflexive pronouns. An intensive pronoun emphasizes a noun or another pronoun.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns Look at the column on your chart titled “Reflexive / Intensive Pronouns.” You should notice two things: Any pronoun that can be categorized as intensive can also be categorized as reflexive (and vice-versa). All reflexive and intensive pronouns will end in –self or –selves.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns So, if we see a word that ends in –self or –selves, we know that it must be reflexive or intensive. However, we still need a way to tell the difference between the two.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns To determine if a pronoun is reflexive or intensive, omit the word from the sentence. If you omit the word and the sentence still makes sense and means the same thing, then the pronoun is intensive. If you omit the word and the sentence no longer makes sense or no longer means the same thing, then the pronoun is reflexive.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns Examples: George wrote the letter himself. If you omit “himself,” the sentence still makes sense and means the same thing, so it must be intensive. She watched herself on TV. If you omit “herself,” the sentence makes no sense, so it must be reflexive. He drove himself to the hospital. If you omit “himself,” the sentence still makes sense, but it no longer tells us the same information, so it must be reflexive.

Practice I taught myself everything I know about playing the guitar. Their parents could not help them at all, so they paid for the entire house themselves. I myself will make sure that the kids are asleep by eight o’clock. I hurt myself when I fell down the stairs. I had told myself that I would pace myself during the marathon, but I got overexcited and couldn’t help it.