Pronoun

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Examples
  • Take it or leave it.
  • I love you.
  • She turned and stared at them.
  • That reminds me of something.
  • Who says so?

In linguistics and grammar, a pronoun is a pro-form that substitutes for a noun phrase (including a noun phrase consisting of a single noun) with or without a determiner, such as you and they in English. The replaced phrase is the antecedent of the pronoun. A pronoun used for the item questioned in a question is called an interrogative pronoun, such as who.

For example, consider the sentence "John gave the coat to Alice." All three nouns in the sentence can be replaced by pronouns: "He gave it to her." If the coat, John, and Alice have been previously mentioned, the listener can deduce what the pronouns he, it and her refer to and therefore understand the meaning of the sentence. However, if the sentence, "He gave it to her," is the first presentation of the idea, none of the pronouns have antecedents, also called unprecursed pronouns, and each pronoun is therefore considered ambiguous.

Contents

[edit] Types of Pronouns

Common types of pronouns found in the world's languages are as follows.

  • Personal pronouns stand in place of the names of people or things:
    • Subjective pronouns are used when the person or thing is the subject of the sentence or clause. English example: I like to eat chips but she doesn't.
    • Objective pronouns are used when the person or thing is the object of the sentence or clause. English example: John likes me but not her.
      • Direct and indirect object pronouns. English uses the same forms for both; for example: Mary loves him (direct object); Mary sent him a letter (indirect object).
      • Reflexive pronouns are used when a person or thing acts on itself. English example: John cut himself.
      • Reciprocal pronouns refer to a reciprocal relationship. English example: They don't like each other.
    • Prepositional pronouns come after a preposition. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Mary looked at him.
    • Disjunctive pronouns are used in isolation, or in certain other special grammatical contexts. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: Who does this belong to? Me.
    • Dummy pronouns are used when grammatical rules require a noun (or pronoun), but none is semantically required. English example: It is raining.
    • Weak pronouns.
  • Possessive pronouns are used to indicate possession or ownership. English example: Those clothes are mine.
  • Demonstrative pronouns distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates. English example: I'll take these.
  • Indefinite pronouns refer to general categories of people or things. English example: Anyone can do that.
    • Distributive pronouns are used to refer to members of a group separately, rather than collectively. English example: To each his own.
    • Negative pronouns indicate the non-existence of people or things. English example: Nobody thinks that.
  • Relative pronouns refer back to people or things previously mentioned. English example: People who smoke should quit now.
  • Interrogative pronouns ask which person or thing is meant. English example: Who did that?
  • Intensive pronouns re-emphasize a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as for the reflexive pronouns; for example: I did it myself (contrast reflexive use I did it to myself).

[edit] Pronouns in English

Main article: English personal pronouns

Ordinary English has seven personal pronouns: first-person singular (I), first-person plural (we), second-person (you), third-person singular masculine (he), third-person singular feminine (she), third-person singular neuter (it), and third-person plural (they). Each pronoun has a number of forms: a subjective case form (I/we/etc.), used when it's the subject of a finite verb; an objective case form (me/us/etc.), used when it's the object of verb or of a preposition; two possessive case forms (my/our/etc. and mine/ours/etc.), used when it's the possessor of another noun — one that's used as a determiner, and one that's used as a pronoun or a predicate adjective; and a reflexive form (myself/ourselves/etc.), which replaces the objective-case form in referring to the same entity as the subject. That said, the different pronouns, and the different forms of the pronouns, often have overlapping functions.

[edit] Pronouns in other languages

[edit] See also

Look up pronoun in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
English gender-neutral pronouns
He • She • It • One • Singular they
neologisms: Spivak, sie/hir, thon, ve, xe, ze, …
af:Voornaamwoord

ast:Pronome bs:Zamjenice br:Raganv bg:Местоимение cv:Местоимени cs:Zájmeno ch:Klå'an da:Stedord de:Pronomen es:Pronombre eo:Pronomo fa:ضمیر fr:Pronom gd:Riochdair gl:Pronome ko:대명사 hr:Zamjenice id:Pronomina is:Fornafn it:Pronome kk:Есімдік la:Pronomen lv:Vietniekvārds ln:Likitana ml:സര്‍വ്വനാമം nl:Voornaamwoord ja:代名詞 no:Pronomen nn:Pronomen nds:Pronomen pl:Zaimek pt:Pronome ru:Местоимение sr:Заменице fi:Pronomini sv:Pronomen tr:Zamir uk:Займенник wa:Prono zh:代詞

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