Pronouns

Primary pronouns

Primary pronouns are small words that help us avoid repeating nouns or longer noun phrases (don’t worry we will talk about phrases soon in a coming post). Primary pronouns help us to avoid repeating words so our sentences don't sound repetitive or awkward. Also, the simple idea that a pronoun takes the place of a noun is partly true, but pronouns can do more than that – they can replace whole phrases, parts of phrases, or even stand alone.

Let’s take a look at the most common and systematic pronouns

#1. Personal

#2. Possessive

#3. Reflexive

#1. Personal pronouns

These refer to people or things and change depending on: the person – who is speaking, being spoken to, or being talked about.

-       1st person

The speaker (I / we)

-       2nd person

The person spoken to (you)

-       3rd person

Someone/something else (he, she, it, they)

-       Number 

Singular (one) or plural (more than one)

-       Case 

Whether the pronoun is the subject (doing the action) or object (receiving the action)

Example

Singular subject

Singular object

Plural subject

Plural object

1st person

I, me, we, us

2nd person

You

3rd (male)

He, him, they, them

3rd (female)

She, her, they, them

3rd (neutral)

It, they, them

Subject 

She runs fast.

Object

I saw her running fast.

#. Tip

Informal spoken English sometimes uses me as subject.

Example

"Me and my friend went…"

(very common, though formal writing prefers, "my friend and I").

Modern usage also allows they / them / their for one person when gender is unknown or irrelevant.

Example

"If anybody calls, tell them I'm out."

The singular ‘they’ is now very widely accepted (and has its own reflexive form: themself).

#2. Possessive pronouns

These show ownership. They come in two types.

Dependent 

(Used before a noun — they actually work like determiners): my, your, his, her, its, our, their

Example

“This is mybook”.

“That’s her car”.

Independent 

Independent pronouns stand alone. They replace the whole noun phrase): mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.

Example

“This book is mine”.

“That car is hers”.

#.Note

Its (no apostrophe) is the possessive of it.

Example

“The cat licked its paws”.

#3. Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive pronouns end in -self (singular) or -selves (plural): myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves (and increasingly themself for the singular “they”).

Main uses:

-      To refer back to the same person, for emphasis.

Example

“I cut myself”. (Refer back to someone)

“They did it themselves”. (refer back to someone)

“The president himself came”. (Emphasis)

”I’ll do it myself”. (Emphasis)

#. Note

They cannot normally refer to a different person.

Example

“I fell and the floor hurt myself”. (Incorrect)

“I fell and hurt myself”. (Correct)

Quick extras

One

One is a very formal generic pronoun meaning ‘a person in general’: Saying ‘one‘ instead of ‘you‘ is the very polite, formal way of speaking.

You / we 

A very common informal ways to talk generally.

Example

"You never know…".

"We really need to fix climate change".

Summary

Primary pronouns are a neat, organised system in English that help us talk about people and things efficiently while showing who is speaking, who is being spoken to, gender (sometimes), number, and sentence role.

The three big groups to remember are:

#1. Personal

I, you, he, she, it, we, they + object forms

#2. Possessive

My/mine, your/yours, etc.

#3. Reflexive

myself, yourself, etc.

Now let’s move on to other types of pronouns

Pronouns: Other types

After the main ones (personal, possessive, reflexive), English has several smaller groups of pronouns. They help ask questions, point to things, refer vaguely, show mutual actions, or stand in for numbers. Below is a simple breakdown.

#1. Wh-pronouns

These are words that start with ‘wh‘ and can also include ‘that‘. They are very useful because the same words can do different jobs depending on the sentence.

Interrogative pronouns

Used to ask questions: who, whom, whose, what, which.

Example

“Who is coming?”.

“What time is it?”. 

“Which one do you want?”.

#. Note

Whom is the object form of who. 'Whom’ is very formal; most people just say ‘who’.

Example

"Who did you see?". (Iinstead of "Whom did you see?")

Relative pronouns

Who, whom, whose, which, that.

Relative pronouns introduce extra information about a noun (a ‘relative clause’).

Example

“The boy who won the race is my cousin”.

“This is the book that I read yesterday”.

That is a common, non-wh alternative to who/which.

Nominal relative pronouns

Nominal relative pronouns relate a whole noun phrase (like a mini-sentence acting as a noun): who/whoever, whom/whomever, which/whichever, what/whatever.

Example

“Whoever broke the vase should clean it up”.

“I'll take whatever is left”.

Conditional pronouns 

Whoever, whichever, whatever.

Conditional pronouns are used for ‘no matter what/who" situations.

Examples 

“Whateverhappens, stay calm”.

“Take the red or blue one, whichever you prefer”.

Many of these can add -ever or -soever for emphasis (whoever, whosoever), but -soever sounds old-fashioned.

#2. Indefinite pronouns

These refer to people or things in a general or unspecified way — not a specific person/thing. They're super common and don't replace a particular noun most of the time.

Common ones:

-       some, any, none, all, enough, much, many, more, most, few, little, several, another

-       someone, anyone, no one, everyone, somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody

-       something, anything, nothing, everything

Example

“Someone left their phone here”.

“Nothing tastes better than fresh pizza”.

“This can happen to anyone”.

“Everything is ready!”.

They help talk about unknown or general ideas without naming specifics.

#3. Reciprocal pronouns

These show mutual actions – two or more people/things doing the same thing to each other.

Each other

Usually for two people.

One another

Often for more than two, but both are used interchangeably now.

Example

“They hugged each other”.

“The team members helped one another”.

“We talk to each other every day”.

#4. Demonstrative pronouns

These point to specific things, and their meaning depends on context (where the speaker is, what they're pointing at, or what's nearby/far away). They're ‘deictic’ — you need the situation to understand them fully.

Four main ones:

-       This (singular, near)

-       That (singular, far)

-       These (plural, near)

-       Those (plural, far)

Example

“I'd like this one”. (Pointing to something close).

“Those are too expensive”. (Pointing to things farther away).

“This is my favorite”. (Nearby).

“That is yours”. (Far away).

#5. Numeral pronouns

Cardinal: one, two, three.

Ordinal: first, second.

Fractions: a quarter, two-thirds.

Numeral pronouns are numbers acting as pronouns in order to avoid repetition or stand for a group.

Example

“I wanted a bike and my sister wanted one too”. (One = a bike).

“Seven came to the party”. (Seven = seven people).

“He made three wishes. The first was for health”. (First = the first wish)

Numbers can sometimes act like nouns too (they arrived in twos and threes), so they're a bit flexible between pronouns, nouns, and determiners.

Quick summary

Other pronouns

Expand how we refer to things without always needing a clear, specific noun.

Wh-words

Ask or connect info, indefinites keep things vague/general.

Demonstratives

Point in space/context.

Reciprocals

Show back-and-forth actions

Numbers

Substitute economically.

Pronouns cover almost every way we avoid repeating names in English so that are sentences sound cleaner and less jumbled or over-packed.