This document defines and provides examples of the different types of pronouns in English, including personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns, possessive pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns, and exclamatory pronouns. It discusses the forms and functions of each pronoun type, distinguishing subjects from objects and different usage. Examples are provided to illustrate typical contexts for each pronoun category.

1. Some pronouns
Pro nomen= instead of name

2. Pronoun categories
 Personal pronouns : eg. she, they, us
 Reflexive pronouns: eg. myself, themselves
 Possessive pronouns: eg. this, those
 Demonstrative pronouns: e.g. this, those
 Interrogative pronouns (used in questions): e.g who, whose
 Relative pronouns: e.g. who, what
 Exclamatory pronouns: what and such
 Quantifying (or indefinite) pronouns: all, every, some

3. Personal pronouns
 A personal pronoun refers to a noun phrase that is expected to be familiar
to the speaker/listener, either because it has been mentioned before or
because it is obvious from the context who or what we are talking about.
 There are eight English personal pronouns in the subject form.
 I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they
 She saw a tree.
 There are eight English personal pronouns in the object form:
 Me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them
 I saw her standing there.
NOTE! When the pronoun functions as a subject, the object form is not
generally accepted!

4. Reflexive pronouns
 Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject (person or animal) carrying out
the action in the clause. It is formed by adding –self to a singular personal
pronoun and –selves to a plural personal pronoun: myself, yourself, himself,
herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
 Our students thoroughly enjoyed themselves.
 NOTE! The impersonal reflexive pronoun oneself is used together with one
(Sw. man.), when you do not refer to a particular person.
 I’m wondering if it’s really possible to kill oneself with one’s hands.

5. Possessive pronouns
 As the name suggest, possessive pronouns are typically concerned with
ownership of some kind.
 There are two types of possessive pronouns:
 Those that occur as determiners in a noun phrase (dependent)
 Those that stand on their own (independent)

6. Independent possessive pronouns
 This book is mine.
 Those keys are yours.
 The dog is hers.
 The car is his.
 -
 The garden is ours.
 The shoes are yours.
 The bikes are theirs.
 Mine
 Yours
 Hers
 His
 -
 Ours
 Yours
 theirs

7. Dependent possessive pronouns
Used when the subject of
the clause is ”the owner”
 Jim shook his head.
(It’s Jim’s head)
 Jim hit the burglar on the head.
(The burglar was hit on the head,
not Jim. )
Used when the predicate
(verb) is in active form.
 Jane bit her lip. (Jane bet sig i
läppen)
 Jane was bit on the lip. (Jane blev
biten i läppen.)
My, your, his, her, its, our, your, their

8. Demonstrative pronouns
 There are four demonstrative (from Latin demonstrare = point to) pronouns in
English.
 Singular: This and that
 Plural: These and those
 The most central functions fo demonstratives are to point to something that is
near the speaker/writer (this/these) or further away in space or time
(that/those).
 This house looks pretty much the same as it did in 1978.
 We won’t have a Christmas tree this year.
 I wanted to curl up in one of those chairs in front of the fireplace.
 In those days we had no competiton.

9. Interrogative pronouns
Used in questions
 There are five interrogative pronouns in English:
 Who, whom, whose, which and what
 Which, what and whose can occur either as determiners of noun phrases or as noun phrases
themselves.
 Which song from Queen II did Queen perform on the Magic tour? (determiner)
 Of these, which is your favourite type of music? (head)
 What song makes your heart melt? (determiner)
 Whose car is parked outside? (determiner)
 Whose is this apartment? (head)
 Who and whom can only function as the head of a noun phrase.
 Who is only used to refer to people, whereas what is mainly used about things and abstract entities.
 Who do you think you are?
 What will you do when they come for you?

10. NOTE!
 An important distinction to make is that between which and what.
 Which is used when we have a limited set of items to choose from.
 What is used when there is no such limited set, i.e when there is an open
choice.
 Which is your favorite color, red or black?
 What color is your passport?

11. Relative pronouns
 Relative pronoun (from Latin realtio= bringing back) refers to the head of a noun phrase in order to link
the noun phrase and the relative clause.
 There are six relative pronouns in English;
 Who, whom, whose, which, what and that
 Who: is used about humans and animals.
 Which is used about things and abstract entities.
 Your grown child needs a father who will relate to him or her as an equal.
 Nasser, a Pakistani businessman, owned a launderette which earns money from the British instead of the other way
around.
 Who/Whom
 Who is used when the relative pronoun functions as the subject.
 Whom is used when the relative pronoun functions as the object.
 This is the teacher who provides a beautiful and fulfilling learning environment.
 The teacher whom I was closest, treated me as a friend and taught me four things which I carry with me always.

12. Exclamatory pronouns
What/such
 What= så, sådan/t, sådana is used in exclamations.
 What a rude remark! (En sådan ohövlig kommentar!)
 What silly questions! (Sådana dumma frågor!)
 What heavy traffic!( En sådan livlig trafik!)
 NOTE: no article before uncountable noun!
 Such= så, sådan/t, sådana in other cases.
 He made such a rude remark. (en så ohövlig kommentar)
 You shouldn’t ask such questions! (sådana frågor)
 I had never experienced such heavy traffic before. (en så livlig trafik)