Pronouns: A Guide for Students Grades K-12

Pronouns are words used as substitutes for nouns or noun equivalents. Pronouns take noun constructions and refer to persons or things named or understood in the context. Every pronoun has an antecedent (a noun that pronouns refer to or replace). Pronouns and antecedents must agree in person, number, and gender. (Grandma made brownies that she promised for Sunday school).

Singular pronouns followed by another pronoun must be followed by singular pronouns. Singular pronouns are someone, somebody, anyone, anybody, everyone, everybody, none, nobody, each, and everything. Personal pronouns name the speaker, the person spoken to, or the person or thing spoken about. Singular personal pronouns are I, my, mine, he, his, him, she, her, hers, it, its, you, your, and yours. Plural personal pronouns are we, our, ours, us, you, your, yours, they, them, their, and theirs.

Relative pronouns are that, which, and who. Relative pronouns are used when speaking of people, when including extra information about animals or things that is not needed to understand the sentence, and when speaking of people.

Subject pronouns are I, you, he, she, it, we, and they. Subject pronouns are to be used when the pronoun is the subject of a sentence or clause. Pronouns that follow the verb be restate the subject, so these words should be subject pronouns.

Object pronouns are me, you, him, her, it, us, and them. You should use object pronouns when the pronoun directly receives the action of a verb, when the pronoun indirectly receives the action of the verb, and when the pronoun is the object of a preposition.

Intensive pronouns emphasize or intensify the noun or pronoun it refers to. Intensive pronouns can be omitted.

Reflexive pronouns refer the action back to the noun or pronoun. These pronouns are not optional. Taking them out of the sentence changes the meaning or makes the sentence incomplete.

Possessive pronouns show ownership or possession. These include my, mine, your, yours, his, her, its, our, ours, their, theirs.

Indefinite pronouns refer generally to people, places, or things. Some are always singular, some are always plural, and some are either/or. Singular indefinite pronouns are anyone, everyone, no one, someone, and something. Plural indefinite pronouns are many, both, few, several, and others. And singular or plural indefinite pronouns are all, any, most, some, and none.

Predicate pronouns are pronouns used as subject complements. A subject complement is a word that comes after a linking verb and refers back to the subject.

Interrogative pronouns introduce questions. Who, what, which, when, how, and why are interrogative pronouns.

Demonstrative pronouns show which noun is being talked about in the sentence. That, these, this, and those are demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns have to take the place of a specific noun.

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