1. Personal and Possessive Pronouns
- Subject personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
- Object personal pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them
- Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs
Usage:
- Subject pronouns are used before verbs.
- Example: He is coming to the party.In this sentence, “he” is the subject of the sentence, performing the action of coming.
They have won the competition.
- Object pronouns are used after verbs or prepositions.
- Example: She saw him at the park.In this sentence, “him” is the object of the verb “saw,” indicating the person she saw.
I lent my pen to her during the meeting.
- Possessive pronouns replace a possessive determiner and a noun.
- Example: The book on the shelf is yours.In this sentence, “yours” is a possessive pronoun, indicating ownership of the book.
The keys are mine.
2. Reflexive Pronouns
- Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves
Usage:
- Used when the subject and object of the verb are the same.
- Add emphasis to the subject or object.
- Used with “by” to mean on my own/on your own, etc.
- Used in some set expressions in the imperative with “yourself/yourselves.”
3. Some Special Situations
- “It”:
- Used as a subject to start sentences about weather, time, or distance.
- Used to start sentences with an infinitive or -ing form.
- Used to refer to phrases, whole sentences, or ideas.
- “You”:
- Used to talk about everybody in general.
- “We” can be used when the speaker includes themselves in the group.
- “They”:
- Used to mean experts or authorities.
- Used when the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
- “One/ones”:
- Used to avoid repetition of a countable noun.
These pronouns help convey information clearly and efficiently in sentences, avoiding unnecessary repetition of nouns.