What are Pronouns? Types and Examples

A pronoun is a noun that takes the place of a noun or groups of nouns. 

Using pronouns allows speakers and writers to communicate without having to repetitively restate the noun being commented on.  Because pronouns “stand in” for nouns, you have to be sure that the pronoun you choose agrees in number, person, and gender of the noun it is standing in for (the noun that the pronoun stands in for is called the antecedent, which we'll discuss later in this article).

There are many types of pronouns to be aware of. Keep reading for easy explanations and clear pronoun examples. 

Personal pronouns are pronouns that take the place of common and proper nouns and refer to people and things.

Example

My brother is staying up late to watch a “Walking Dead” marathon.  He is going to have nightmares!

In this example, the author doesn’t have to repeat my brother since she uses the personal pronoun he.  

Personal pronouns can be singular or plural; they can also be categorized into first, second, and third person forms.

Personal (Definite) Pronouns

Definite & Indefinite Pronouns

What is the difference between definite and indefinite pronouns?  A definite pronoun is a pronoun that refers to something specific, so a personal pronoun would also be a definite pronoun (see the examples in the previous section).  

Indefinite pronouns do not refer to anything specific, so words like someone and everybody are indefinite pronouns. Indefinite pronouns can also be singular or plural.

Here's a list of indefinite pronouns:

Indefinite Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are pronouns that show ownership.

Some possessive pronouns can be used before nouns and function as adjectives (words that describe nouns). Examples would be pronouns like my, her, or his as in  my books, her computer, and his zombie plan.

Other possessive pronouns stand alone. These are pronouns like mine, yours, hers, and his.  Example:  That book is hers.

Relative Pronouns

Relative pronouns relate subordinate clauses (clauses that cannot stand alone) to the rest of a sentence.

There are five relative pronouns in English:  who, whom, whose, that, and which.

Example

Belen, who had starred in six plays before she turned seventeen, knew that she wanted to act on Broadway someday.

The relative pronoun who is the subject of the subordinate clause, who had starred in six plays..., and it refers back to the main subject of the sentence, Belen.

Example

My daughter wants to adopt the dog that doesn’t have a tail.

That functions the same way that who does in the previous example.  Use who when referring to people and that when referring to anything else.  

It's easy to get pronouns mixed up.  One of the most common mistakes in pronoun usage has to do with using who vs whom.   

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns stand in for things, and we choose these words based on how close these things are to us.  For things that are nearby, we use the pronouns this and these. For things that are far away, we use the pronouns that and those.

It's important to note that the idea of closeness can refer to the physical, emotional, or temporal. 

Example:  Do I actually have to read all of this?

The speaker is indicating a text that is close to her, by using “this.”

Example:  That is not coming anywhere near me.

The speaker is distancing himself from the object in question, which he doesn’t want to get any closer. The far pronoun helps indicate that.

Example:  You’re telling me you sewed all of these?

The speaker and her audience are likely looking directly at the clothes in question, so the close pronoun is appropriate.

Example:  Those are all gross.

The speaker wants to remain away from the gross items in question, by using the far “those.”

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns end in self or selves, and they’re used when a pronoun is both the subject and the object of a sentence.

Example:  I am going to treat myself to a little vacation from all of this worry about a zombie apocalypse and spend the day playing Halo on my Xbox.

Example:  She is going to can all of those beans for her zombie storage room herself.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to show emphasis in a sentence, as illustrated in this example:

Example:  I myself had to go through all of those web pages to find the one that would be the most helpful for our escape plan.

Subjective vs. Objective Pronouns 

Pronouns can appear in the subjective or the objective case.  Subjective pronouns tell us who or what the sentence or clause is about. Objective pronouns receive the action in the sentence or clause.   

Subject and Object Pronouns

You and I versus You and Me

Remember that every time you use a pronoun you need to make sure that you’re using the correct case. 

Some of the most common pronoun mistakes occur when writers have to choose between “you and I” and “you and me.”  

Incorrect:  “You and me should go out for drinks.”

Both pronouns are the subject of the sentence, so they should be in subject case: “You and I should go out for drinks.”

Incorrect:  Susan assigned the task to both you and I.  

Both pronouns are the object of the sentence, so they should be in object case: “Susan assigned the task to both you and me.”

Pronoun Agreement & Reference

Issues with pronoun agreement and pronoun references are common struggles for many beginning writers, but these problems are easy to correct once you realize the issue.

Pronoun agreement errors occur when the pronoun you are using to “stand in” for a noun does not agree with that noun in number, place, or gender.  For example, using the singular pronoun she to stand in for a group of girls would not agree in number. Errors like this aren’t usually an issue for most writers.

A more common pronoun agreement error occurs when a writer uses a singular noun like student to represent students in general. Then, later, the writer may use they as a pronoun to replace student because the writer meant students in general.

Example:  If a student really thinks about how much they are paying for college, they are likely to be more focused in class.

You have a options for correcting this error.  You can change they to "he" or "she" or "she or he":

Revision 1:  If a student really thinks about how much he is paying for college, he are likely to be more focused in class.  

Revision 1 is a common way to handle this issue, but try to balance the number of times you use he with she.  Using He was the traditional recommendation in usage guides, but many critics have aptly pointed out the sexist bias inherent in using only he.  

Revision 2:  If a student really thinks about how much she or he is paying for college, she or he are likely to be more focused in class.

Revision 2 technically works, but it's awkward most style guides recommend avoiding this construction. 

A better option would be to change the antecedent (student) to its plural form:

Revision 3:  If students really think about how much they are paying for college, they are likely to be more focused in class. 

Here are more examples of personal pronouns used with antecedents:

• That man looks as if he needs a new coat. (the noun phrase that man is the antecedent of he)
• Kat arrived yesterday. I met her at the station. (Kat is the antecedent of her)
• When they saw us, the lions began roaring (the lions is the antecedent of they)
• Adam and I were hoping no one would find us. (Adam and I is the antecedent of us)

Note: Pronouns like I, we, and you don’t always require an explicitly stated antecedent. When a speaker says something like “I told you the zoo was closed today,” it’s implied that the speaker is the antecedent for I and the listener is the antecedent for you.

Other Pronoun Reference Errors

A common pronoun reference error occurs when writers write about several different people or things and then use a pronoun later like she or it, but the audience has no idea what she or it refers to.

Example:  My mother and my aunt told me I should consider going to college, and she was right.

Such errors are easy to make but they're also easy to fix.  Just be sure to double check pronoun usage during the editing and proofreading stages.   

Conclusion

The simple question of what is a pronoun? has a delightfuly elaborate answer—a rich reminder of the joy in studying English grammar. But it's also important to remember that grammar and writing are fundamenally separate endeavors. More fruitful than simply understanding grammar is understanding how grammar can affect clear and effective writing. To see a perfect example of this idea, go to the next article, which explains the problem of unclear pronoun reference.