ENGLISH GRAMMAR · LESSON 5 · BEGINNER
Pronouns in English Grammar: Types and Examples
Imagine saying, “Riya is my friend. Riya is kind. I study with Riya.” The sentence sounds repetitive. We can make it smoother: “Riya is my friend. She is kind. I study with her.” Words such as she and her are pronouns. They help us speak and write clearly without repeating the same noun again and again.
1. What is a pronoun?
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or noun phrase. The noun that a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.
Without a pronoun: Aman has a bicycle. Aman rides Aman’s bicycle every day.
Better: Aman has a bicycle. He rides his bicycle every day.
Here, he and his refer to Aman.
Use a pronoun only when the reader or listener can understand whom or what it refers to.
2. Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns refer to people, animals or things. Their form changes according to the person, number and job they do in a sentence.
| Person | Subject form | Object form | Example |
|---|---|---|---|
| First person singular | I | me | I called Neha. Neha called me. |
| Second person | you | you | You helped you is not a natural meaning; say, “I helped you.” |
| Third person singular | he, she, it | him, her, it | She thanked him. |
| First person plural | we | us | We invited them to join us. |
| Third person plural | they | them | They saw us. |
Subject pronouns usually do the action: I read. They laughed.
Object pronouns receive the action or follow a preposition: She called me. Come with us.
3. Possessive pronouns and possessive determiners
These words show ownership. Some stand alone, while others come before a noun.
| Before a noun (determiner) | Stands alone (pronoun) | Example |
|---|---|---|
| my | mine | This is my bag. The bag is mine. |
| your | yours | Is this your pen? Is it yours? |
| his | his | That is his seat. The seat is his. |
| her | hers | This is her book. The book is hers. |
| our | ours | It is our classroom. The classroom is ours. |
| their | theirs | These are their shoes. The shoes are theirs. |
Do not write an apostrophe in yours, hers, ours or theirs. “Your’s” and “her’s” are incorrect.
4. Reflexive pronouns
Reflexive pronouns end in -self or -selves. They are used when the subject and the person or thing affected are the same.
| Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|
| myself | I taught myself to cook. |
| yourself | Please take care of yourself. |
| himself / herself / itself | The cat cleaned itself. |
| ourselves | We prepared ourselves for the test. |
| yourselves | You should be proud of yourselves. |
| themselves | The children organised themselves. |
Common mistake: “My friend and myself went to school” is not standard in this meaning. Write “My friend and I went to school.”
5. Demonstrative pronouns
This, that, these and those point to people or things.
| Word | Usual use | Example |
|---|---|---|
| this | one thing nearby | This is my notebook. |
| that | one thing farther away | That is our school bus. |
| these | more than one nearby | These are fresh apples. |
| those | more than one farther away | Those are my friends. |
When these words come directly before a noun—“this notebook”, “those apples”—many grammar books call them demonstrative determiners.
6. Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions.
| Pronoun | What it asks about | Example |
|---|---|---|
| who | a person as subject | Who is at the door? |
| whom | a person as object, especially in formal English | Whom did you invite? |
| whose | ownership | Whose is this? |
| what | a thing or information | What happened? |
| which | a choice from a set | Which is yours? |
7. Relative pronouns
Relative pronouns connect extra information to a noun or pronoun. Common examples are who, whom, whose, which and that.
- The girl who won the race is my cousin.
- This is the book that I borrowed.
- I met a writer whose stories I enjoy.
- The phone, which was on the table, belongs to Dad.
Use who mainly for people and which for things. That can refer to people or things in many defining clauses.
8. Indefinite and reciprocal pronouns
Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things without naming them exactly: someone, anyone, everyone, nobody, something, many, few and several.
- Someone left a notebook here.
- Everyone is ready.
- Several were absent today.
Words such as each other and one another are reciprocal pronouns. They show that people do the same action to one another.
Example: The two friends helped each other.
9. Keep the pronoun clear
A pronoun should agree with the noun it refers to and should not leave the reader guessing.
Unclear: When Mohan spoke to Ravi, he was upset.
Who was upset—Mohan or Ravi? The sentence does not tell us clearly.
Clearer: Mohan was upset when he spoke to Ravi.
In modern English, singular they is also commonly used when a person's gender is unknown or when that is the person's pronoun: “Someone left their umbrella.”
10. Practice questions
Try these questions before opening the answers.
- Find the pronoun: “Meera said that she was ready.”
- Replace the repeated noun: “The boys are here. The boys are waiting.”
- Choose the correct word: “This pen is (my / mine).”
- Choose the correct word: “Rohan and (I / me) went to the library.”
- Fill in the blank with a reflexive pronoun: “She made the cake by ______.”
- Choose a relative pronoun: “The man ______ helped us was kind.”
- Identify the demonstrative pronoun: “Those are beautiful flowers.”
- Rewrite to make the reference clear: “When Asha met Pooja, she smiled.”
Show answers and explanations
- she — it refers to Meera.
- “The boys are here. They are waiting.”
- mine — it stands alone without a noun after it. “This is my pen” would also be correct.
- I — it is part of the subject: “Rohan and I went…”
- herself.
- who or that.
- Those.
- Possible answer: “Asha smiled when she met Pooja.” If Pooja smiled, write “Pooja smiled when Asha met her.” The intended meaning must be clear.
Quick revision
| Type | Examples | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Personal | I, you, he, she, they | Refers to people or things |
| Possessive | mine, yours, hers, ours | Shows ownership |
| Reflexive | myself, herself, themselves | Refers back to the subject |
| Demonstrative | this, that, these, those | Points something out |
| Interrogative | who, what, which | Asks a question |
| Relative | who, which, that | Connects extra information |
| Indefinite | someone, everyone, several | Refers to an unspecified person or amount |
| Reciprocal | each other, one another | Shows a mutual action |