Types of Pronoun

In the first series, we saw the use of relative pronouns (who, whom, which, whose etc.). But this time, attention is on some other pronoun

Types: Personal, demonstrative, interrogative and possessive

1. Personal Pronouns

These are words used in place of any of the three persons we have in English language

1. The first person refers to the person(s) being addressed
2. The second person refers to the person(s) or being addressed and;
3. The third person refers to the person(s) or things spoken about.

Note that personal pronouns have singular and plural forms and they can also be used both in the nominative or subjective as well as accusative or objective cases. The table below illustrate the personal pronouns at a glance.

• Demonstrative Pronouns.

These are so called because they point out particular persons, places, or things. The English demonstrative pronouns are: this, these, that, those. “this” and “that” are singular, “these” and “those” are plural.

Also “this” and “these” point at objects that are near, while “that” and “those” are used for distant objects.

Examples:       This is my friend.

                        These are my books.

                        That is her shop.

                        These are my cars.

• Interrogative Pronouns.

Interrogative pronouns are employed or used in asking questions.

Examples:        What is your name?

                        Which of the dresses is yours?

                        Whose hat is this?

                        To whom did you give the letter?

                        Where do you live?

Note: The interrogative pronoun ‘which’ is used when we are making a selection from a known set of possibilities or when the choice is limited to a specific number.

• Possessive Pronouns.

These are pronouns which show ownership. For example, “The house is mine” means that the house is owned by me.

Other examples of possessive pronouns are his, ours, yours, theirs.

It is important for students to note the difference between possessive pronouns and possessive adjectives.

Possessive Pronoun                           Possessive Adjective

The ruler is mine                                This is my ruler

These books are ours                          These are our books

The table below illustrates the possessive words in their adjective and pronoun forms.

Note that apostrophe cannot be used with possessive pronouns e.g.

This pencil is yours                 This pencil is your’s

                                    Not

This school is theirs                This school is their’s

EVALUATION

Underline and classify the pronouns in the following sentences.

1. What did you do to my box?
2. That is the room which I used as the store
3. Give the book to him.

READING ASSIGNMENT

Read about, Emphatic, Reflexive, Reciprocal and Indefinite Pronouns.See Countdown in English, pg 218 – 220

GENERAL EVALUATION/REVISIONAL QUESTIONS

1. Write five words that rhyme.
2. For each of the following words, write two sentences, determine when each is used as possessive pronoun or possessive determiner (adjective)

WEEKEND ASSIGNMENT

Section A

Choose the word which contains the same vowel sound that is underlined.

1. Know                    A. sew             B. how            C. vow
2. Make                     A. height         B. take             C. says
3. fair                         A. wear           B. mere            C. dear
4. best                        A. regal           B. leopard       C. legal
5. story                      A. drought      B. spot             C. fought

Section B

Practice 3 (1 & 2) page 73, Effective English.