2. Pronouns
Pronouns are words which can be used in the place of nouns. The personal pronouns in the following sentences are underlined.
e.g. She will do the work herself.
They gave it to him.
We want to know who was there.
In the following examples, pronouns are used in the place of nouns, instead of repeating the nouns.
e.g. I saw a boy on the steps. He seemed to recognize me.
My friend and her brother like to ski. They ski whenever they can.
In the first example, the pronoun he is used instead of repeating the noun boy. In the second example, the pronoun they is used instead of repeating the nouns friend and brother.
1. The subjective case
The following English personal pronouns were listed in Chapter 1. They are usually referred to as indicated below:
Singular Plural
First Person I we
Second Person you you
Third Person he, she, it they
Thus, I is referred to as the first person singular; we is referred to as the first person plural; you is referred to as the second person; he, she and it are referred to as the third person singular; and they is referred to as the third person plural.
These pronouns are said to be in the subjective case, because they can each be used as the subject of a verb. In the following examples, the personal pronouns in the subjective case are underlined.
In the first example, they stands for the human antecedent children. In the second example, they stands for the non-human antecedent umbrellas.
The main rules for the agreement of the third person pronouns he, she, it and they with their antecedents can be summarized as follows:
Agreement of Third Person Pronouns with their Antecedents
Pronoun Antecedent
he singular, male, usually human
she singular, female, usually human
it singular, non-human
they plural
Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns may be used without antecedents. The indefinite pronouns in the following sentences are underlined.
e.g. One cannot believe everything one hears.
I will try to think of something.
Nobody will believe it!
Is there anyone here by the name of Smith?
The following are examples of indefinite pronouns:
one
anyone anybody anything
everyone everybody everything
[no one] nobody nothing
someone somebody something
All of the pronouns listed above take verbs in the third person singular. The phrase no one is used like the other indefinite pronouns, but is spelled as two separate words.
The pronoun one can refer to persons or things.
e.g. One of the boys will help you.
Please hand me one of the boxes.
However, when used in a general sense, the pronoun one is usually understood as referring to persons.
e.g. One should always look both ways before crossing the street.
In addition, the other indefinite pronouns ending in one, and the indefinite pronouns ending in body, generally refer to persons. The indefinite pronouns ending in thing generally refer to things.
Unlike most of the personal pronouns, the indefinite pronouns have the same form in the objective case as in the subjective case. As shown in the following table, the indefinite pronouns which refer to persons form possessive adjectives by adding 's.
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