English Grammar - Pronouns and Possessive Determiners

 

English Grammar

Pronouns and Possessive Determiners 

A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that is used as a substitution for a noun or noun phrase. Pronouns are short words and can do everything that nouns can do. Common pronouns are he, she, you, me, I, we, us, this, them, that. A pronoun can act as a subject, direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any person, place, animal or thing.

A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that can take the place of a noun phrase to show ownership.

The weak possessives (also called possessive determiners) function as determiners in front of nouns (as in "My phone is broken"). The weak possessives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.

The strong (or absolute) possessive pronouns stand on their own: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs.

A possessive pronoun never takes an apostrophe.

 

Reflexive pronouns are words like myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves and themselves. They refer back to a person or thing.

We often use reflexive pronouns when the subject and the object of a verb are the same.

Example:

I cut myself when I was making dinner last night.

I hope you enjoy yourselves at the party tonight!

My phone isn't working properly. It turns itself off for no reason.

We need to believe in ourselves more.

 

We can add a reflexive pronoun for emphasis when it's unusual or different.

Examples:

He wants to pass his driving test so that he can drive himself to work.

She broke her arm, so she couldn't wash herself very easily.

 

We can use reflexive pronouns to emphasise that someone does it personally, not anybody else.

Examples:

The door was definitely locked. I locked it myself.

Are you redecorating your flat yourselves?

 

We can also use a reflexive pronoun together with the noun it refers to in order to emphasise it.

Examples:

We talked to the manager herself, and she agreed to give us our money back.

Parents themselves need to take more responsibility for their children's learning.

 

We can use by + reflexive pronoun to mean alone.

Examples:

He usually goes on holiday by himself.

Do you enjoy being by yourself?

 

With reciprocal pronouns (e.g. each other), each person does the action to the other person/people but not to themselves.

Examples:

They're buying themselves a new television.

They're buying each other small gifts.

We looked at ourselves in the mirror.

We looked at each other in surprise.

 

Subject pronouns replace nouns that are the subject of their clause. In the 3rd person, subject pronouns are often used to avoid repetition of the subject's name.

Examples:

I am 16.

You seem lost.

Jim is angry, and he wants Sally to apologize.

This table is old. It needs to be repainted.

We aren't coming.

They don't like pancakes.

 

Object pronouns are used to replace nouns that are the direct or indirect object of a clause.

Examples:

Give the book to me.

The teacher wants to talk to you.

Jake is hurt because Bill hit him.

Rachid received a letter from her last week.

Mark can't find it.

Don't be angry with us.

Tell them to hurry up!

 

Possessive adjectives are not pronouns, but rather determiners. It is useful to learn them at the same time as pronouns, however, because they are similar in form to the possessive pronouns. Possessive adjectives function as adjectives, so they appear before the noun they modify. They do not replace a noun as pronouns do.

Examples:

Did mother find my shoes?

Mrs. Baker wants to see your homework.

Can Jake bring over his baseball cards?

Samantha will fix her bike tomorrow.

The cat broke its leg.

This is our house.

Where is their school?

 

Possessive pronouns replace possessive nouns as either the subject or the object of a clause. Because the noun being replaced doesn't appear in the sentence.

Examples:

This bag is mine.

Yours is not blue.

That bag looks like his.

These shoes are not hers.

That car is ours.

Theirs is parked in the garage.

 

Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the clause because the subject of the action is also the direct or indirect object. Only certain types of verbs can be reflexive. You cannot remove a reflexive pronoun from a sentence because the remaining sentence would be grammatically incorrect.

Examples:

I told myself to calm down.

You cut yourself on this nail?

He hurt himself on the stairs.

She found herself in a dangerous part of town.

The cat threw itself under my car!

We blame ourselves for the fire.

The children can take care of themselves.

 

Intensive pronouns emphasize the subject of a clause. They are not the object of the action. The intensive pronoun can always be removed from a sentence without changing the meaning significantly, although the emphasis on the subject will be removed. Intensive pronouns can be placed immediately after the subject of the clause, or at the end of the clause.

Examples:

I made these cookies myself.

You yourself asked Jake to come.

The Pope himself pardoned Mr. Brown.

My teacher didn't know the answer herself.

The test itself wasn't scary, but my teacher certainly is.

We would like to finish the renovation before Christmas ourselves.

They themselves told me the lost shoe wasn't a problem.