Category Archives: Pronouns
Pronouns – Relative Pronouns
This is our last chapter on the series of Pronouns. So far, we learned Pronouns and its different kinds. Today, we will discuss Relative Pronouns, its forms and its usages.
Relative Pronouns
A relative pronoun, as the name suggests, works as a conjunction between two clauses and relates to the word it modifies in the sub-ordinate or dependent clause. A bit confusing? Okay, let’s check out a few examples; we will elaborate them later.
→ I lost my pen yesterday. I found it this morning.
→ I know Stuart. Stuart studies in standard XI
The first pair of sentences (or clauses) can also be told in a neat way and in only one complete sentence.
→ I found the pen this morning which I lost yesterday.
Take a note of the interrogative pronoun ‘which‘ which connects two sentences and makes a single sentence with the actual meaning in tact. Here, the word ‘which‘ replaces the noun ‘Pen’. So, it’s a pronoun, isn’t it? Moreover, the pronoun ‘which‘ also creates a relation between two sentences and completes the meaning in a single sentence. Such sentences are called complex sentences (we’ll know about them later).
Pronouns – Interrogative Pronouns
Continuing with our series of Pronouns, today, we’ll learn Interrogative Pronouns. Let’s see what they are and how better we can use them.
Interrogative Pronouns
We know a few question words such as What, Which and so on, don’t we? With the Interrogative Pronouns, we just ask questions about the things or persons we don’t know. These pronouns answer the open ended questions. There are primarily four Interrogative Pronouns in English grammar, namely →
Who, Whom, Which, What
Besides, we can also include ‘Whose‘ in the list of Interrogative Pronouns which is used as a possessive interrogative pronoun. So, we get five Interrogative Pronouns. An example of such pronouns is →
What are you?
In the above sentence, you need to answer the question, “what”. The answer will be an object, of course. An answer can be- ‘I am a student‘ (or anything else). The object ‘Student‘ answers the question ‘What‘.
Pronouns – Indefinite and Distributive Pronouns
Following our series of Pronouns, we’ve come to Indefinite and Distributive Pronouns in this chapter. Let’s see what they are and how to use them.
Indefinite Pronouns
When a person or a thing is referred to in a general way and not in any particular way, we use Indefinite Pronouns. These pronouns do not specify any person or thing. They are used to make a general statement about a person or a thing. See an example →
One must do one’s duty
The above sentence does not point to “who must do the duty?“. It’s for everyone. ‘One‘ does not refer to any name or thing. But this is used in place of a name (noun). Hence, this is an Indefinite Pronoun.
More examples
- Someone has stolen his money. [not sure who]
- All knew the answers. [everyone knows this, no particular person is referred to]
- None came to help me. [Just no body]
- Do you know anyone by the name Stuart here? [There may be many names by Stuart, does not specify which Stuart]
- Few are aware of the news. [Just a small number of people]
- Everyone must respect his parents. [All must do this]
Pronouns – Demonstrative Pronouns
We are in the Pronoun series and learning its types and usages. In our previous chapters, we went through Pronouns, types of pronouns, Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns. In this chapter, we will see what Demonstrative Pronouns are in details.
Demonstrative Pronouns are those pronouns which point to nouns they refer to. Identifying a noun, Demonstrative Pronoun represents a thing or things. See an example -
This is not my book; that is mine
The above two sentences have two different Demonstrative Pronouns – This and That. Both the pronouns point out to objects they refer to.
There are two types of Demonstrative Pronouns
This → referring to things near in distance or time.
That → referring to things far in distance or time.
Pronouns – Intensive Pronouns
Hello friends, I am back with a new chapter. In this series of discussion, we attempted to understand Pronouns and its other types. In our immediate previous chapter, we learnt Reflexive Pronouns. Today, we will talk about Intensive Pronouns which look like Reflexive Pronouns.
Intensive Pronouns
An Intensive Pronoun is a pronoun which creates emphasis on its antecedent. In other words, such a pronoun is used only to give stress on the pronoun it follows. They are identical with Reflexive Pronouns (in the form though) but they act differently. You need to add -self or -selves with Personal Pronouns to create Intensive Pronouns. See an example below →
I did the work myself.
This sentence can also be told such as ‘I did the work‘ omitting ‘myself‘. For the sake of putting an emphasis on the pronoun ‘I‘, we use it. The sentence means, ‘only ‘I‘ did it‘.