Pronouns

They are awesome! (PS “They” is a pronoun.)

Personal and possessive pronouns

• The word that a pronoun stands for is called its antecedent.

Personal pronouns

Singular Plural

First Person I, me(my, mine)

We, us(our, ours)

Second Person You(your, yours)

You(your, yours)

Third Person He, him, she, her, it(his, her, hers, its)

They, them(their, theirs)

Could you please tell me why this matters?

• Pronouns replace unnecessary or repetitive nouns.

• Example: Jimmy, Jude, Jared, Jeremy, and Jill are my friends. I really like Jimmy, Jude, Jared, Jeremy, and Jill.

• Necessary? No. Rephrase.• I really like them.

Let’s read some sentences about West Side Story now

Directions: Identify the personal and possessive pronouns AND their antecedents.1. The ending of West Side Story is slightly different

from the ending of the famous tragedy on which it is based.

2. Like Romeo and Juliet, the modern play has a bitter feud and an unlikely romance at the center of its plot.

3. Like Juliet, Maria in West Side Story falls in love with her family’s enemy.

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

• Reflexive and intensive pronouns are formed by adding –self or –selves to forms of the personal pronouns.

First Person Second Person Third Person

Singular Myself Yourself Himself, herself, itself

Plural Ourselves Yourselves themselves

• A reflexive pronoun reflects action back upon the subject and adds information to the sentence.

• Example: Donna prepared herself for a long day.• An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a noun or

pronoun (and sometimes makes you sound mean).• Example: I can get it myself!• Example: Forty five minutes before I can be seated

at a table? The wait itself is eating up all of my free time!

• A reflexive pronoun MUST have an antecedent. A common error is to use one without an antecedent in the sentence.

• Example: The planning committee appointed Ted and myself me.

Demonstrative Pronouns

• Demonstrative pronouns point out specific persons, places, things, or ideas.

• This• These• That• Those• Example: The people at the front of the line will

get better tickets than those at the end, she thought.

Indefinite Pronouns

Singular Another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one, somebody, someone, something

Plural Both, few, many, several

Singular or plural All, any, more, most, none, some

Interrogative and Relative Pronouns

Interrogative and Relative Pronouns

Interrogative Who, whom, whose, which, what

Relative Who, whom, whose, which, that

• Interrogative and relative pronouns look similar, but they function differently.

• An interrogative pronoun introduces a question.

• A relative pronoun introduces a noun clause or an adjective clause; it connects an adjective clause to the word/words it modifies.

• Interrogative Pronoun example: Who would believe the crowds and excitement?

• Relative Pronoun example: The merchants, who are eager for sales, shout to customers.