Pronouns

Pronouns
Pronouns are words
we use in the place of
a full noun.

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Kinds of pronouns.
• personal pronouns
• it and there
• you and they
• possessive pronouns
• this, that, these and those
• one and ones
• questions
• reflexive pronouns
• reciprocal pronouns: each other and one another
• indefinite pronouns
• relative pronouns

Personal pronouns.
There are both subject and object pronouns:
I me
you you
he him
she her
we us
you you
they them
We use he/him to refer to men, and she/her to refer to women. When we are not sure
if we are talking about a man or a woman we use they/them.
• This is Peter. He’s my husband. I don’t think you have met him.
• This is Lucy. She’s my daughter. Have you met her before?
• Talk to a teacher. Ask them to teach you this subject.
• You could go to a nurse. They might help you.

Subject pronouns.
We use subject pronouns as subject of the verb:
• I like your bag.
• You are very kind.
• He is my enemy.
• It is snowing.
• She is at work.
• We live in Portugal.
• They come from Luanda.

Object pronouns.
We use object pronouns:
1. as the object of the verb:
• Can you call me later, please?
• I can’t hear you.
• She doesn’t expect him for dinner.
• I saw her at the beach last Sunday.
• We went past them in town yesterday, but they didn’t
see us.

Object pronouns.
We use object pronouns:
2. after prepositions:
• She is waiting for me.
• I’ll get it for you.
• Give it to him.
• Why are you looking at her?
• Don’t take it from us.
• I’ll speak to them.

It and There
English clauses always have a subject:
• Her husband has just retired. Was a judge(WRONG!).
> He was a judge.
•
I’m waiting for my mother. Is late (WRONG!) . > She is
late.
•
Look at the time! Is quarter to one (WRONG!).> It’s
quarter to one.
except for the imperative
• Go away.
• Play it again, Sam.

There
If we have no other subject we use there or it.
There
We use there as a dummy subject with part of the verb be
followed by a noun phrase.
to introduce a new topic:
• There is a farewell party at the office. It will start at seven.
• There has been an earthquake in Japan.
with numbers or quantities:
• There was a lot of noise outside last night.
• There must have been more than five displaced because of
the flood.
to say where something is:
• There used to be a playground in the park.
• There are people swimming for pearls in Japan.

There
with an indefinite pronoun or expressions of quantity and
the to-infinitive:
• There is nothing to eat in the fridge.
• There was plenty to do in town.
If we want to show the subject of the to-infinitive we
use for:
• There is nothing for us to do in the mall.
• There was plenty for us to eat in the fridge

There
an -ing verb:
• There is someone waiting to talk to you.
• There were a lot of people partying and drinking.
We use a singular verb if the noun phrase is singular:
• There is an extra class this evening
• There was a lot of snow last month.
We use a plural verb if the noun phrase is plural:
• There are more than ten people waiting to talk to you.
• There were some apples on the kitchen counter.

There
an -ing verb:
• There were a lot of people partying and drinking.
We use a singular verb if the noun phrase is singular:
• There is an extra class this evening
• There was a lot of snow last month.
We use a plural verb if the noun phrase is plural:
• There are more than ten people waiting to talk to you.
• There were some apples on the kitchen counter.

It
We use it to talk about:
times and dates:
• It’s nearly twelve o’clock.
It’s his birthday.
weather:
• It’s windy today.
It’s a beautiful day.
It was getting freezing.
to give an opinion about a place:
• It’s very nice in here.
It will be cozy when we get home.
It’s very comfortable in my new flat.

It
to give an opinion followed by to-infinitive:
• It’s nice to see you after such a long time.
• It will be great to visit your sister in Holland.
• It was interesting to meet your fiancé at last.
to give an opinion followed by an -ing verb:
• It’s great living in Portugal.
• It’s awful driving in heavy traffic.
• It can be hard work teaching young children to read
and write.

Using It to talk about people:
We use it to talk about ourselves:
on the telephone:
• Hello. It’s George.
when people cannot see us:
• [Jane knocks on door] It’s me. It’s Jane.
We use it to talk about other people:
when we point them out for the first time:
• Look. It’s Anselmo Ralph.
• Who’s that? It’s my upstairs neighbour..
when we cannot see them and we ask them for their name:
• [telephone rings, we pick it up] Hello. Who is it?
[someone knocks on door. We say:] Who is it?

You and They:
We use you to talk about people in general including the
speaker and the hearer:
• You can buy this DVD game anywhere.
• You can’t park here.
• They don’t let you smoke in this restaurant.
We use they or them to talk about people in general:
• They serve good food here.
Ask them for a refill.

You and They:
We use you to talk about people in general especially
about the government and the authorities:
• They are going to increase the price of bread.
• They are planning a new bridge over River Thames.
• They say the temperature is going to drop again.

Possessive Pronouns:
SUBJECT PRONOUN POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
I mine
your yours
he his
she hers
it its
we ours
they theirs

We can use a possessive pronoun instead of a noun
phrase:

We can use possessive pronouns after of.
• We can say:

This, That, These and Those:
When do we use this and these?
We use this (singular) and these (plural) as pronouns:
- to talk about people or things near us:
• This is a nice beach.
• Whose books are these?
- to introduce people:
• This is my friend Phil
• These are my friends, Peter and Charles.
WARNING:
We don’t say: These are Peter and Charles.
We say: This is Peter and this is Charles.
- to introduce ourselves to begin a conversation on the
phone:
• Hello, this is Misé. Can I speak to Andy?

When do we use that and those?
We use that (singular) and those (plural):
- to talk about things that are not near us:
• What’s that?
• This is our dog, and that’s our sister’s dog by that tree.
• Those are very beautiful shoes.
We also use that to refer back to something someone said
or did:
• - Shall we go to the ballet?
- Yes, that’s a good idea.
• - I’ve got a new boyfriend.
- That’s great.
• - I’m very angry.
- Why is that?

this, these, that, those with nouns
We also use this, these, that and those with nouns to
show proximity
We use this and these for people or things near us:
• We have lived in this neighborhood for 15years.
• Have you heard all of these songs?
… and that and those for people or things that are not
near us:
• Who went in that house?
• Who are those strangers?

One and Ones:
We use one (singular) and ones (plural) to
avoid unnecessary repetition.
• See those two boys? Fred is the fat one and John is the
skinny one.
• Which is your hat, the black one or the brown one?
• My glasses are broken. I need some new ones.
• See those two ladies. Ms. Smith is the one on the right.
• Let’s look at the magazines. The ones you bought just
now.
We often use them after Which ... in questions:
• You can borrow a pen. Which one do you want?
• There are lots of CDs here. Which ones are yours?

Question Words:
Which question word to use?
We use who to ask questions about people:
• Who is that?
• Who lives in that house?
• Who did you bump into?
We use whose to ask about possession:
• Whose boat is this? [or] Whose is this boat?
• Whose books are those? [or] Whose are those books?
We use what to ask questions about things:
• What is that for?
• What do you want from me?
We use which to ask someone to choose something:
• Which came first, the chicken or the egg?
• I’ve got two bags. Which do you prefer?

Question Words:
We can also use what and which with nouns:
• What school subjects do you prefer?
• What social network do you use?
• Which newspaper do you read – the Times or the
Guardian?
• Which one is your sister’s?

Question Words:
Questions with prepositions:
Questions ending in prepositions are very common in
English. After Who, Which or What we often have a
preposition at the end of the sentence:
• Who does this bag belong to?
• What are you waiting for?
• Which primary school did you go to?
• Where do you come from?

Reflexive pronouns:
The reflexive pronouns are:

Reflexive pronouns:
When do we use reflexive pronouns?
We use them as a direct object when the object is
the same as the subject of the verb:
• I am teaching myself to speak Russian.
• Be careful with that hammer. You might hurt yourself.
We can use a reflexive pronoun as direct object with most
transitive verbs, and these are the most common:
amuse blame cut dry enjoy help
hurt introduce kill prepare satisfy teach

Reflexive pronouns:
Some verbs change their meaning slightly when they
have a reflexive pronoun as direct object:
• Would you like to help yourself to some more wine?
= Would you like to have some more wine?
• I wish they would behave themselves.
= I wish they would behave well.
• She found himself by the gate.
= She was surprised when she realised that she was by
the gate.
• I saw myself as an astronaut.
= I imagined that I was an astronaut.
• She applied herself to the job of sewing the buttons.
= She worked very hard to sew the buttons.
• He busied himself in the garage.
= He worked busily in the garage.

Reflexive pronouns:
We do not use a reflexive pronoun after verbs which
describe things people usually do for themselves, such
as wash, shave, dress:
• He washed [himself] in cold water.
• He always shaved [himself] before going out in the
evening.
• Michael dressed [himself] and got ready for the party.
We only use reflexives with these verbs for emphasis:
• He dressed himself in spite of the pain in his arms.
• She’s old enough to wash herself.

Reflexive pronouns:
We use a reflexive pronoun:
as indirect object when the indirect object is
the same as the subject of the verb:
• Would you like to pour yourself a drink.
• We’ve brought ourselves something to eat.
as the object of a preposition when the object refers to
the subject of the clause:
• They had to fend for themselves.
They were feeling very sorry for themselves.

Reflexive pronouns:
We use a reflexive pronoun...
with the preposition by when we want to show that
someone did something alone and/or without any help:
• He lived by himself in a hut in the woods.
• She walked to school by herself.
• The children got dressed by themselves.
to emphasise the person or thing we are referring to:
• Lobito itself is quite a beautiful town.
especially if we are talking about someone very famous:
• Madonna herself sang the final song.
We often put the reflexive pronoun at the end of the clause
when we are using it for emphasis:
• I cooked the whole meal myself.
• She changed the tyre herself.
•

Reciprocal pronouns each other
and one another:
We use the reciprocal pronouns each other and one
another when two or more people do the same thing.
Traditionally, each other refers to two people and one
another refers to more than two people, but this distinction
is disappearing in modern English.
• Mary and Jane helped one another.
= Mary helped Jane and Jane helped Mary.
• We sent each other holiday cards.
= We sent them a holiday card and they sent us a
holiday card.
• They didn’t listen to one another.
= She didn't listen to him and he didn't listen to her.

Reciprocal pronouns each other
and one another:
We also use the possessive forms each other’s and one
another’s:
• They helped to look after each other’s pets.
• We often used one another’s cars.

Indefinite pronouns:
The indefinite pronouns are:
somebody someone something
anybody anyone anything
nobody no one nothing
everybody everyone everything

We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things
without saying exactly who or what they are. We use
pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and
pronouns ending in -thing for things:
• Everybody sang along.
• I opened the door but there was no one outside.
• It was a very clear day. We could see everything for
miles.

We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:
• Everybody is worried about Sam.
• Everything was ready for the school trip.
When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun we normally
use a plural pronoun:
• Everybody enjoyed the talk. When it finished, they
made lots of comments.
• I will tell somebody that danger is over. They can return
to their houses.

We can add -'s to an indefinite pronoun to make a
possessive.
• They were staying in somebody’s place.
• Is this anybody’s bag?
We use indefinite pronouns with no- as
the subject in negative clauses (not pronouns with any.)
• Nobody came.
We do not use a negative verb in a clause with nobody, no
one or nothing:
• Nobody came. Nothing happened.
We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or
things in addition to the ones we already mentioned.
• All the colleagues came, but no one else.
• If Pete can’t come we’ll ask somebody else.

Relative pronouns:
These are the relative pronouns:
We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
Or we can use that for people or things.
Subject Object Possessive
who who(m) whose
which which whose
that that

Relative pronouns:
We use relative pronouns:
after a noun, to make it clear which person or thing we are
talking about:
• the house that Peter designed
• the woman who sang on the radio
• an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet
shop
to tell us more about a person or thing:
• My mother, who was born overseas, has always
enjoyed travelling.
• Mark Simpson, who was only 42, died last night.
• We had codfish cakes, which is my favourite meal.
But we do not use that as a subject in this kind of relative
clause.

Relative pronouns:
We use whose as the possessive form of who:
• This is Sally, whose brother went to University with me.
We sometimes use whom as the object of a verb or
preposition:
• This is Sally, whom you met at our house last year.
• This is Sally’s brother, with whom I went to University.
But nowadays it is OK to use who:
• This is Sally, who you met at our house last year.
• This is Sally’s brother, who I went to University with.

Relative pronouns:
When whom or which have a preposition
the preposition can come at the beginning of the clause...
• I had an aunt in Lisbon, from who[m] I inherited a dinner
set.
• We bought a hammer, with which we hung the pictures
on the wall.
… or at the end of the clause:
• I had an aunt in Lisbon who[m] I inherited a dinner
set from.
• We bought a chainsaw, which we cut all the wood
up with.
We can use that at the beginning of the clause:
• I had an uncle in Germany that I inherited a bit of
money from.
We bought a chainsaw that we cut all the wood up with.
• Adapted and abridged from: http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/english-grammar/pronouns

Pronouns

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