Pronouns are words that we use in place of Nouns (or other Pronouns) in a sentence to make it less repetitive and less awkward. Some of the most common Pronouns are - he, she, you, they, it, etc. These Pronouns are divided into different categories based on their use -
Personal Pronouns
These pronouns are used for a specific object or person and they change their forms to indicate the different genders, numbers, case and persons speaking -
Tanya told him to take the food to them as soon as possible as it was urgently needed.
Him is a Pronoun of gender.
Them is a Pronoun of number showing that there is more than one person, and it is also a Pronoun of case as it is referring to a specific group in an objective manner.
It is also a Pronoun of gender showing the object (food).
So we can see that the Personal Pronouns can be based on -
Gender
He went to the market. - He is used for the male gender. Other examples are - His, Him, He, etc.
She is doing the laundry. - She is used for the female gender. Other examples are - Her, Hers, etc.
It is important to them. - It is gender neutral as it shows an object, them is also gender neutral as them can consist of both genders. Other gender neutral pronouns are - Their, They, Its, etc.
Number
Singular Pronouns - Where the pronoun is only referring to one specific noun. That book belongs to me. - Me refers to one singular person only.
Plural Pronouns - Where the pronoun is used to refer to a number of nouns.That is their book, not yours. - Their shows a number of people, hence its a plural personal pronoun. Whereas the yours in this sentence is another example of singular personal pronoun.
Cases -
Subjective Case -
She is at work. -She is the main subject of the sentence, hence in this sentence, she is the subjective personal pronoun. You can ask the question who/what is doing ______? to recognize whether a pronoun is subjective or objective.
Objective Case -
He will meet us later. -Us is the objective personal noun as it the object of the verb meet. He is the subject as he is the person who will be doing the action of meeting.
Possessive Case -
That is our clubhouse. - Our shows the possession of the object clubhouse. Possessive pronouns can also be used to show possession over people.
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns are used to show or identify one or a number of nouns that may be far or near in distance or time. They are only four in number - This, That, These and Those. This and That are singular demonstrative pronouns and These and Those are plural demonstrative pronouns. They can also be used to show an unspecified quantity in a sentence.
That is a beautiful house. - That is a demonstrative pronoun that is referring to a specific noun (house). This is a singular pronoun as it is referring to only one house.
These were made by me. - These is showing an unspecified quantity of something that was made by a person. This is a plural demonstrative pronoun as its referring to a number of objects.
Everyone remembers those days. - Those is showing a particular time or period of days in the past; it is being used in place of a noun that could be - school, summer, college, etc. Here also those is a plural demonstrative pronoun as its indicating a number of days.
This is what he is charging? - This is used as pronoun in place of a number and it is also acting as a quantifier by referring not only to the noun but to the amount/number of the noun as well. This is a singular demonstrative pronoun.
Interrogative Pronouns
Who, Whom, Which and What are Interrogative Pronouns as they are used to ask questions about a person or object that we do not know about. Compounds of these words are made by attaching -ever to the words to strengthen the emphasis on the word.
Which one would you like? - Here, which is being used to ask someone to make a choice between different things, instead of naming every single choice that is available.
What is your name? - What is used to ask a personal noun that the speaker doesnt know.
Who will be managing the buffet? - Who is used to ask about a specific person related to a task.
Whom did you tell about this? - Whom is showing/asking the person who was told something by you.
Whoever could have done this? - Whoever is the compound of Who and it is used here to emphasise the feeling of confusion in the sentence while still asking a question.
Whichever one will you choose? - Whichever is used here to show strong emotion while asking a persons choice.
In the case of Who and Whom -
Who is always the subject of the verb. The emphasis is on the identity of the person who did the action.
Who rang the bell? Here, we can see that the verb phrase rang the bell is secondary and the main emphasis is on the identity of the person ringing the bell.
Whom is never the subject of the verb. It is used to show the person to or for whom the action is being done. In other words, it is the object of the verb.
Whom were you meeting with? Here, we can see that the subject of verb or the person who was meeting someone is you. Whom is the object of the verb or the person you were meeting.
