Demonstrative and Possessive Pronouns
Demonstrative Pronouns
We know that ‘demonstrate’ means to show. Therefore, demonstrative pronouns are those that show
us the nouns or point towards them.
The four demonstrative pronouns in English are this, that, these and those.
• Like other pronouns, they too are used to replacenouns.
• Demonstrative pronouns represent nouns which are already mentioned before or are to be
understood fromcontext.
Let us look at an example.
The noun which stands for the pronoun ‘This’in the above sentence is unclear to us.
It can only be clarified if
• There is an antecedent in the preceding sentence.
Here it becomes clear that the pronoun ‘This’stands for ‘book’.
Or
• The speaker points towards thenoun.
• Demonstrative pronouns such as ‘that’ and ‘those’ refer to nouns which are far from thespeaker
either in time or indistance.
• ‘This’ and ‘these’ refer to nouns which are close to the speaker either in time or indistance.
• ‘This’ and ‘that’ stand for singularnouns.
• ‘These’ and ‘those’ stand for plural nouns.
Possessive Pronouns
• Possessive pronouns are used to show ownership or possession of nouns topronouns.
• Pronouns like mine, yours, his, hers and itsare known as singular possessivepronouns.
• Pronouns like theirs and ours are known as plural possessivepronouns.
Personal Pronouns
What is a Personal Pronoun?
Previously, we have learnt that a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun which has already
been used in a sentence.
A personal pronoun is used primarily to refer to a specific person, thing or idea.
It is used to refer to the first, second or third person in a sentence.
First, Second and Third Person Pronouns
• A first person pronoun is used by the speaker to refer to himself orherself.
• It can also be used to refer to the group the speaker is a partof.
• I, me, us, our, myself, ourselves are first personpronouns
• David interjected, “Ihave an idea! Why don’t weall go to themovies?”
• Tina asked, “CanIhave anotherone?”
• The team exclaimed,” Victory isours!”
• A second person pronoun is used by the speaker to refer to the person he or she isdirectly talkingto.
• It can be used to address a particular person or an entiregroup.
• You, yourself are examples of second personpronouns.
• Can I serve yousome tea?
• Youare all equally important tome.
• A third person pronoun is used by the speaker to refer to the person he or she is notdirectly addressing.
• He, she, it, they, him, her are examples of third personpronouns.
• Greta invited her friends today. Sheis looking forward to meetingthem.
• Subramaniam has a beautiful voice. Hepractises singing everyday.
• The dog held the bone securely in its mouth. Itwas afraid of the biggerdogs.
• The team members exhibited great team spirit. Theybrought homelaurels.
Singular and Plural Personal Pronouns
Nominative and Objective Pronouns
According to the role they play in the sentence, pronouns can be categorised as
nominative pronouns or objective pronouns.
Gender of Pronouns
Pronouns can be divided into three categories according to the genders of the nouns they represent.
• Masculine gender pronoun: He, his, him,himself
• Feminine gender pronoun: She, her, hers,herself
• Neutral gender pronoun: It,itself
Heis my best friend.
Radha invited herhome.
The assassin kept iton the table.
Reflexive, Emphatic, Interrogative and Relative Pronouns
Reflexive Pronouns
The term reflexive can be split into two parts—‘re-’ (the prefix which means ‘back’)
and ‘flex’ (the root which means ‘bend’).
• A reflexive pronoun is a pronoun that ‘bends back’ to its antecedent*. In other words,
it is used to refer to the object when it is the same as thesubject.
• Pronouns like ‘myself’, ‘yourself’, ‘herself’, ‘himself’, ‘ourselves’ and ‘themselves’
are known as reflexivepronouns.
In the above example, we see that the noun‘Mrs De Winter’ and the pronoun ‘herself’ refer
to the same person. Both arethe subject and the object of the verb ‘ hurt’. The pronoun
‘herself’bends back to the antecedent ‘Mrs De Winter’.Hence, ‘herself’ is a reflexive pronoun.
Let us look at a few more examples.
• The vain prince admired himselfin themirror.
• “Do I need one more pair of shoes?” Kavita askedherself.
• Good students have the power to motivatethemselves.
• A narcissist is a person who loveshimself.
• I cannot lie tomyself.
An antecedent* is the noun which the pronoun replaces
Emphatic Pronouns
• Pronouns like ‘myself’, ‘himself’, ‘herself’, ‘itself’, ‘themselves’ and ‘ourselves’
can alsobeemphatic pronouns. Functionally, however, emphatic pronouns are
different from reflexive pronouns.
• While reflexive pronouns are used to refer to the antecedent, emphatic pronouns are used to
lay emphasis on theantecedent.
In the above example, ‘Mrs Dalloway’ is the antecedent of the pronoun herself. In this sentence,
‘herself’ functions as a word which lays emphasis on its antecedent.
Let us look at a few more examples.
Singular and Plural Reflexive/Emphatic Pronouns
Interrogative Pronouns
We know that the term ‘interrogate’ means to ask questions. Interrogative pronouns
are those which are used for forming questions.
Relative Pronouns
• Relative pronouns help us refer back to theantecedent.
• Although they may look like interrogative pronouns, their functions are completelydifferent.
