Pronouns

  Pronouns

Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by writers who claim something like

• They say that eating beef is bad for you.

They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is unfair.

Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.

• Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.

The word "everyone" has no antecedent.

The problem of agreement between a pronoun and its antecedent and between a pronoun and its verb is treated in another section on Pronoun-Antecedent Consistency. The quizzes on pronoun usage are also listed at the end of that section.
This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns

Unlike English nouns, which usually do not change form except for the addition of an -s ending to create the plural or the apostrophe + s to create the possessive, personal pronouns (which stand for persons or things) change form according to their various uses within a sentence. Thus I is used as the subject of a sentence (I am happy.), me is used as an object in various ways (He hit me. He gave me a book. Do this for me.), and my is used as the possessive form (That's my car.) The same is true of the other personal pronouns: the singular you and he/she/it and the plural we, you, and they. These forms are called cases. An easily printable chart is available that shows the various Cases of the Personal Pronouns.
Personal pronouns can also be characterized or distinguished by person. First person refers to the speaker(s) or writer(s) ("I" for singular, "we" for plural). Second person refers to the person or people being spoken or written to ("you" for both singular and plural). Third person refers to the person or people being spoken or written about ("he," "she," and "it" for singular, "they" for plural). The person of a pronoun is also demonstrated in the chart Cases of the Personal Pronouns. As you will see there, each person can change form, reflecting its use within a sentence. Thus, "I" becomes "me" when used as an object ("She left me") and "my" when used in its possessive role (That's my car"); "they" becomes "them" in object form ("I like them") and "their" in possessive ("That's just their way").
When a personal pronoun is connected by a conjunction to another noun or pronoun, its case does not change. We would write "I am taking a course in Asian history"; if Talitha is also taking that course, we would write "Talitha and I are taking a course in Asian history." (Notice that Talitha gets listed before "I" does. This is one of the few ways in which English is a "polite" language.) The same is true when the object form is called for: "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to me"; if Talitha also received some books, we'd write "Professor Vendetti gave all her books to Talitha and me." For more on this, see cases of pronouns.
When a pronoun and a noun are combined (which will happen with the plural first- and second-person pronouns), choose the case of the pronoun that would be appropriate if the noun were not there.

• We students are demanding that the administration give us two hours for lunch.
• The administration has managed to put us students in a bad situation.

With the second person, we don't really have a problem because the subject form is the same as the object form, "you":

• "You students are demanding too much."
• "We expect you students to behave like adults."

Among the possessive pronoun forms, there is also what is called the nominative possessive: mine, yours, ours, theirs.

• Look at those cars. Theirs is really ugly; ours is beautiful.
• This new car is mine.
• Mine is newer than yours.

Demonstrative Pronouns

The family of demonstratives (this/that/these/those/such) can behave either as pronouns or as determiners.
As pronouns, they identify or point to nouns.

• That is incredible! (referring to something you just saw)
• I will never forget this. (referring to a recent experience)
• Such is my belief. (referring to an explanation just made)

As determiners, the demonstratives adjectivally modify a noun that follows. A sense of relative distance (in time and space) can be conveyed through the choice of these pronouns/determiners:

• These [pancakes sitting here now on my plate] are delicious.
• Those [pancakes that I had yesterday morning] were even better.
• This [book in my hand] is well written;
• that [book that I'm pointing to, over there, on the table] is trash.

A sense of emotional distance or even disdain can be conveyed with the demonstrative pronouns:

• You're going to wear these?
• This is the best you can do?

Pronouns used in this way would receive special stress in a spoken sentence. When used as subjects, the demonstratives, in either singular or plural form, can be used to refer to objects as well as persons.

• This is my father.
• That is my book.

In other roles, however, the reference of demonstratives is non-personal. In other words, when referring to students, say, we could write "Those were loitering near the entrance during the fire drill" (as long as it is perfectly clear in context what "those" refers to). But we would not write "The principal suspended those for two days"; instead, we would have to use "those" as a determiner and write "The principal suspended those students for two days."
Distributive pronouns  
refer to people or things taken one at a time. Examples are: each, either and neither. Since they refer to a single person or thing at a time, distributive pronouns are always singular and are followed by singular verbs.

Each

Each refers to everyone of a group of persons/things taken separately.

• Each boy was given a present.
• She had a child hanging on to each hand.

Before a noun with a determiner (the, my, this etc.) we use each of. Note that each of is followed by a plural noun and a singular verb.

• Each of the boys was given a present.

Each can have different positions in a sentence.

• Each of the boys was given a present.
• The boys were each given a present.
• The boys were given a present each.

Either and neither

Either and neither can be used only when speaking about two persons or things. Either means one or the other of two. Neither means not one nor the other of two.

• Either answer is correct.
• Either road will lead to the railway station.
• Neither team could win a decisive victory.

When speaking about more than two persons or things any, no one or none should be used.

• I don’t like any of these three shirts. (NOT … either of these three shirts.)
• No one offered to accompany him.
• None but the brave deserve the fair.

 Relative Pronouns 

The relative pronouns (who/whoever/which/that) relate groups of words to nouns or other pronouns (The student who studies hardest usually does the best.). The word who connects or relates the subject, student, to
the verb within the dependent clause (studies). Choosing correctly between which and that and between who and whom leads to what are probably the most Frequently Asked Questions about English grammar. For help with which/that, refer to the Notorious Confusables article on those words (including the hyperlink to Michael Quinion's article on this usage and the links to relevant quizzes). Generally, we use "which" to introduce clauses that are parenthetical in nature (i.e., that can be removed from the sentence without changing the essential meaning of the sentence). For that reason, a "which clause" is often set off with a comma or a pair of commas. "That clauses," on the other hand, are usually deemed indispensable for the meaning of a sentence and are not set off with commas. The pronoun which refers to things; who (and its forms) refers to people; that usually refers to things, but it can also refer to people in a general kind of way. For help with who/whom refer to the section on Consistency. We also recommend that you take the quizzes on the use of who and whom at the end of that section.
The expanded form of the relative pronouns — whoever, whomever, whatever — are known as indefinite relative pronouns. A couple of sample sentences should suffice to demonstrate why they are called "indefinite":

• The coach will select whomever he pleases.
• He seemed to say whatever came to mind.
• Whoever crosses this line first will win the race.

What is often an indefinite relative pronoun:

• She will tell you what you need to know.