Pronoun are a similar to nouns because they often take the place to a subject or object.

( top 20 great grammar for great writting ) Pronouns are function words which stand in place of nouns or noun phrases. Pronouns enable us to refer to things or people succinctly, or when we do not know the referent, e.g. Mary is only 30 years old. The new Member of Parliament is only 30 years old. She is only 30 years old Pronouns are also very important in the structure of texts, especially in conversation, by helping avoid repetition. In the sentence John told Mary that John had lost Marys keys and John was sorry, the use of pronouns would enable us to avoid repetition and achieve cohesion. The various classes of pronouns include: personal pronouns I, me, you, we, us, she, him, he, her, it, they, them possessive pronouns my, your, his, her, its, their, our reflexive pronouns myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, those indefinite pronouns everyone, none, nobody, something, anyone, etc. interrogative pronouns who, what, which, whose relative pronouns that, who, which In language learning, the most difficult pronouns for learners are usually the personal, possessive and indefinite pronouns. Personal pronouns are about ten times more frequent than all the other pronouns together, especially in conversation. I, me, it and you are particularly frequent. Learning to use pronouns is usually not easy because the structure of the system is not the same in all languages, and some pronouns have more than one function in English. 169 Table 4.4 Personal, possessive and reflexive pronouns

Singular Function First Person Subject Object Possessive I me my He him his his She her her hers It it its Third Person

Singular and plural Second Person

Plural First Person Third Person They them their theirs

You you your yours

We us our ours

Independent mine Possessive Reflexive

myself himself herself itself yourself/yourselves ourselves theirselves

there can be different pronoun forms for: l Person (first, second and third) I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they l Gender (male, female, non-personal) is distinguished by means of different forms for third person singular (he, she, it) but not for third person plural (they). Gender is not distinguished at all for first or second persons, singular or plural. l Case the subject and object functions I saw the film. Tom saw me. (but only for first and third person) They saw me. I saw them. He saw me. I saw him. She saw me. I saw her. l Number (singular or plural) is distinguished by means of different forms for first person (I we) and for third person (he/she/it they), but not for second person (you you). Sometimes one form can have two functions, e.g. her can be an object pronoun for third person singular, feminine (e.g. John saw her); her can also be a possessive pronoun (e.g. John saw her car). This does not apply to the masculine, where there are two different forms: him/his. There can be potential difficulties in the use of pronouns. Compare 1 Mary saw her friend. 2 John saw her friend. In Sentence 1 her can stand for the subject, Mary, or for some other (female) person, depending on the context. In Sentence 2, her cannot

stand for the subject. Compare the referent of he in 3 John told Fred he looked sick. 4 John told Fred he felt sick. In 3, it is Fred who looks unwell, whereas in 4 he refers to John. Sometimes native speakers of English do not use the standard pronoun system, and in some varieties of English there are variations leading to sentences such as I like them apples. He took me book. John and myself went. Me and John were there. The -s ending is a feature of most of the independent possessive forms (mine, hers, yours, etc.). Children learning English as their first language sometimes overgeneralise this regularity and add -s to the exception in this group and say mines for mine. Sometimes an object pronoun like me gets used by young children for subject position (Me want it). Learners of English often avoid using reflexive pronouns, saying, for example, (You) Look in the mirror rather than Look at yourself in the mirror. Reflexive pronouns are rarely a major source of error for learners, however, even though some native speakers of English seem to have trouble using them correctly. In some varieties of English, myself is used as a first person personal pronoun, e.g. John and myself went there last year. She told John and myself about her award. Corpus analysis suggests that learners are most likely to need to use reflexive pronouns when they refer back to an identical noun phrase in the same clause in the subject position, e.g. I saw myself in the mirror. She hurt herself when she fell off her horse. Demonstrative pronouns The demonstrative pronouns this, that, these, those are used for showing that an entity is known or has been referred to, and also for showing whether the entity referred to is near or more distant from the speaker or addressee, e.g. This is the book I told you about; Those are mine; Whats wrong with these? Demonstrative pronouns can be used as determiners as well as pronouns. That is, they can occur before a noun as well as alone in place of a noun or noun phrase. Compare, e.g.

This book is a novel. (determiner) This is a novel. (pronoun) Countable Human Singular Pronoun 1. this that Determiner 2. this that Plural Pronoun 3. these those Determiner 4. these those ( Structure and meaning in Eanglish ) Indefinite pronouns Indefinite pronouns are used when the speaker or writer is not able or does not want to be more specific. There are four main groups of indefinite pronouns: 1 everybody, everyone, everything 2 somebody, someone, something 3 anybody, anyone, anything 4 nobody, no-one, nothing, none 173 Indefinite pronouns are part of the system in English for expressing quantification, which, as we noted earlier, is a major semantic category expressed in English. Indefinite pronouns can cause comprehension difficulties in listening and reading, because their meaning is sometimes vague, especially with negation, e.g. 5 There were many in the park. 6 There werent many in the park. Sentence 6 does not mean simply that many is negated. It also asserts indirectly that there were few people in the park. Interrogatives and relative pronouns Non -Human 5. this that 6. this that 7. these those 8. these those 9. this that Uncountable

Corresponding to the personal pronouns there is a system of interrogatives and relative pronouns. As Table 4.6 shows, they make no distinction Table 4.6 Interrogative and relative pronouns Interrogative Function Subject Human 1. who e.g. who told you ? Non-Human 5. What e.g. What caused the accident ? Object ( after verb and preposition ) 2. who whom e.g. who(m) did they invite ? To whom did she refer ? Determiner 3. What Which Whose e.g. What author do you recommend? 6. What e.g. What did they decide ? On what did he base his dicision? 7. What Which Whose e.g. What colour do you like ? 11. Whose 14. Whose 10. Who Whom That 13. Which That Relative Human 9. Who That Non-Human 12. Which That

Which student got Which house is the prize ? Whose father works at night ? yours ? Whose work did you ride ?

Independent possessive

4. Whose e.g. Whose are those ?

8. Whose Which e.g. Whose are those ? Which does he want ?

between singular and plural. Relative pronouns are discussed in more detail in Chapter 7 in association with the structure of relative clauses (Grammar for Everyone,Barbara Dykes hal : 35) The word pronoun comes from the Latin pronomen meaning for a noun. As the word implies, pronouns are the words that we use in place of nouns. Personal pronouns Share this story with your students. This (true) story could sound something like the following. Marjorie lost her false teeth. The dog had found Marjories false teeth and buried Marjories false teeth. Marjorie could not find Marjories false teeth anywhere, but Marjorie dug up Marjories false teeth two years later, while Marjorie was digging in the garden.

With the use of pronouns this would read much more smoothly, in spite of the repetition of the pronouns. Although equally important to the sense, they are less prominent. Marjorie lost her false teeth. The dog had found them and buried them. Marjorie could not find them anywhere, but she dug them up two years later, while she was digging in the garden. Without the words I and you (personal pronouns) we could become very confused. Instead of: I saw her give you the letter for me. We would have to say something like this: John saw Maureen give Michael the letter for John. [John, referring to himself!] And: I hurt myself. Would become: John hurt John. [himself or another person called John?] It becomes altogether very confusing! Most languages have pronouns, though in some languages the

pronoun is incorporated in the verb. Pronouns change in form according to the work that they do in the sentence. For example they have number: Singular I went to town with him. Plural We went to town with them. Tables can be very useful, both now and for later reference, so we suggest that students begin by entering a table of personal pronouns in their grammar exercise books. 2 Personal
1st person (the person/s speaking) 2nd person (the person/s spoken to) 3rd person (the person/s or things being spoken about )

Singular I You He , She , It

Plural We You They

Singular Me You He/she/it

Plural Us You Them

The falling brick hit me. a. Following a preposition: These will be explained in the section on prepositions and the section on object (see pages 71, 98). The brick fell on me. b. A preposition that is understood, i.e. not mentioned. It gave (to) me concussion. The following words are common pronouns for one person or thing: I you he she it me her him And for more than one person or thing: we you they us them

Demonstrative pronouns As the name suggests, demonstrative pronouns demonstrate or

point out which one of a number. There are just four obvious ones: Singular (here) (there) This That Plural These Those

Remember, as the pronoun takes the place of a noun, the noun is not mentioned. A pronoun This is scrumptious. Not a pronoun This clair is scrumptious. In the second sentence this is an adjective qualifying (telling more about) the noun clair. (See adjectives on page 53.) Note: the words one and such can also be used as pronouns taking the place of nouns. For example: One can search for gemstones. Such is life. I found one. He told me such.

(1889, eanglish grammar by Richard Morris halm : 45) Pronoun . DEFINITION. A Pronoun is a word used for a noun. A Pronoun can stand for an "equivalent to a noun," whether it be a phrase or sentence : " mattered not to him whether it were night or day."ithere stands for "whether it were night or day. There are five kinds of Pronouns : 1. Personal Pronouns. 2. Demonstrative Pronouns. 3. Interrogative Pronouns. 4. Relative Pronouns. 5. Indefinite Pronouns. Personal Pronouns. The Personal Pronouns are so called because they name the person speaking, spoken to, or spoken of. There are then three Persons :
1.

1. The First, which denotes the person speaking ; as /, we, & etc. 2. The Second, which denotes the person spoken to j as thou, ye, you, &c. 3. The Third, which relates to the person or thing spoken of; as he, she, it, that, one. The First Person Singular I Mine Me Me

Normative Possessive Objective ( direct ) Objective ( inderect )

Plural We Our , ours Us Us

Demonstrative Pronouns. The Demonstratives are used in speaking definitely of the thing named : as, "this is the book I want, but I should like that which is on yonder table,if it is not the same. I have never seen such books as these." The Demonstrative Pronouns are this, that, (with their plurals, these and those), same, such, yon, self-same. Interrogative Pronouns. The Interrogative Pronouns are used in asking questions : Who ? which ? what ? Who relates to persons ; which to things \ what always refers to things, unless it is used as an adjective,as in What book do you want ? What boy has got my book ?

Relative Pronouns. The Relative Pronoun is so called because it relates or carries us back to some noun or pronoun going before (and already stated), called the antecedent.This is the house that I have built. Happy is the man that findeth wisdom, and the man who getteth understanding. The Relative Pronouns are who, what, which,that, as. Who refers to persons; which, to animals and lifeless things ; that to person and things. Indefinite Pronouns. The Indefinite Pronouns do not point out and particularise like the Demonstratives. To this class belong one, none, any, some, each, every, either, neither, other, another (all of which may be used as adjectives) ; aught, naught, somebody,something, nothing, anything.