1. Parts of Speech
Pronouns
All About

2. Pronouns
A pronoun is a part of speech that replaces a noun in a sentence.
There are many different kinds of pronouns:
Personal
Possessive
Indefinite
Relative
Reflexive
Intensive
Demonstrative
Interrogative

3. Pronouns
Before understanding pronouns, we first have to know about antecedents.
An antecedent is the word that the pronouns refers to or replaces.

4. Antecedents
Sara studied for the test, and she got an A.
The team won the game, and it will advance.
My best friend is Carlos, and he adopted his dog from the shelter.
Sara is the antecedent and she is the pronoun.
Team is the antecedent and it is the pronoun.
Friend is the antecedent and he is the pronoun.

5. Personal Pronouns
A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is used to refer to a specific person or thing.
Examples: he
she it
them

6. Personal Pronouns Singular Plural I he, she, it his, her, hers, its
him, her, it
himself, herself, itself
you we
they
their, theirs
them
Themselves
you
In this sentence, the word pronoun is the antecedent. It is singular.
A personal pronoun must grammatically match and have the same singular/plural form as its antecedent.
In this sentence, the word its is the pronoun. The pronoun must be singular to match the antecedent.

7. Personal Pronouns Examples
I asked Luis to bring the document, and he said he would.
Luis is the antecedent
He is the pronoun
In this sentence, the antecedent and the pronoun both take on the singular form.

8. Personal Pronouns Examples
The students studied for the test because they wanted to do well.
students is the antecedent
they is the pronoun
In this sentence, the antecedent and the pronoun both take on the plural form.

9. Possessive Pronouns
A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that demonstrates ownership.
Examples:
mine (1st person)
yours (2nd person)
his/hers (3rd person singular)
ours
theirs (3rd person plural)
whose

10. Possessive Pronouns
To make a personal pronoun possessive, change it to this.
change to I my
you
your or yours he
his
her
hers it
its

11. Possessive Pronouns
Examples
The dog is mine.
Whose dog is it?

12. Possessive Pronouns Examples The borrowed library books are theirs.
Who do the books belong to?
The books are theirs.
Theirs is possessive refers to who own the books.
NOTE: possessive pronouns do not have any apostrophes: whose, yours.

13. Indefinite Pronouns
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to things or people in general.
Examples:
few
everyone
all
anything
nobody
some

14. Indefinite Pronouns Everyone had a great time at the game.
Sarah told someone the secret.
Who had a great time?
Everyone had a great time.
Sarah told the secret to who?
Sarah told the secret to someone.

15. Relative Pronouns
A relative pronoun is a pronoun that is used to connect a phrase or clause to a noun or pronoun.
Examples:
who
whom
which
that

16. Relative Pronouns The person whom I texted last night was my friend.
The car that I drive is blue.
Mr. Jones, who is very strict, is my math teacher.

17. Reflexive Pronouns
A reflexive pronoun is used with another noun or pronoun when something does something to itself.
Reflexive pronouns end in “self” or “selves.”

18. Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are used to emphasize a noun or a pronoun.
Examples:
myself
himself/herself
themselves
itself
yourself/yourselves
ourselves

19. Reflexive vs. Intensive Pronouns
These kind of pronouns refer back to the subject of a sentence.
Examples:
They bought themselves plenty of pizza.
I read to myself.
These pronouns are the same words used to emphasize the subject of a sentence.
Examples:
They themselves bought plenty of pizza.
I myself read the book.
A noun will be either abstract or concrete.

20. Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns focus the attention on the nouns they are replacing.
There are only 5 demonstrative pronouns:
this
these
those
that
such

21. Demonstrative Pronouns
Those shoes are amazing.
I want to eat at that restaurant.
Which shoes are amazing?
Those shoes are amazing.
What do you want to eat?
I want to eat that.

22. Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used when you are asking a question.
HINT: Think interrogation
Examples:
who/whom
which
what
whatever

23. Interrogative Pronouns
Who is picking you up from school today?
To whom did you speak to last night?
What do you want to eat for lunch?