English Pronouns

Pronouns are used in place of a noun that has already been mentioned or that is already known, often to avoid repeating the noun. For example:

 

 

Personal pronouns

Personal pronouns are used in place of nouns referring to specific people or things, for example I, me, mine, you, yours, his, her, hers, we, they, or them. They can be divided into various different categories according to their role in a sentence, as follows:

• subjective pronouns
• objective pronouns
• possessive pronouns
• reflexive pronouns

 

Subjective pronouns

The personal pronouns I, you, we, he, she, it, we, and they are known as subjective pronouns because they act as the subjects of verbs:

 

Objective pronouns

The personal pronouns me, you, us, him, her, it, and them are called objective pronouns because they act as the objects of verbs and prepositions:
Here’s a table setting out the different forms:

	SINGULAR		PLURAL
	subjective	objective	subjective	objective
first person	I	me	we	us
second person	you	you	you	you
third person	he/she/it	him/her/it	they	them

Notice that the personal pronouns you and it stay the same, whether they are being used in the subjective or objective roles.

 

Possessive pronouns

The personal pronouns mine, yours, hers, his, ours, and theirs are known as possessive pronouns: they refer to something owned by the speaker or by someone or something previously mentioned. For example:

 

Reflexive pronouns

Reflexive personal pronouns include myself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, and themselves. These are used to refer back to the subject of the clause in which they are used: