classification of Pronoun

 Definition:

In English, the word ‘pro’ means before but in Latin, it means instead of.  So, Pronouns are words that we use in place of nouns. Example: I, we, you, she, he, they, her, our, etc., the noun being replaced is known as the antecedent of the pronoun.

Categories of Pronouns: 

There is a wide range of different categories of pronouns that we use in everyday speech and writing. Each kind of pronoun has a unique function in a sentence; many pronouns belong to multiple categories and can serve different purposes depending on the context.

Normally, pronouns are classified into the following categories:

1. Personal Pronoun 2. Demonstrative Pronoun 3. Relative Pronoun,4. Interrogative Pronoun 5. Distributive Pronoun 6. Indefinite Pronoun 7. Reflexive Pronoun and 8. Reciprocal Pronoun.

1. Personal Pronoun: Personal pronouns have different forms depending on the person, number, and gender. Based on the person, it can be classified into three categories, and they are:

·         Subjective pronoun: I, we, you, they, he, she, it, etc.

·        Objective pronoun: the teacher loves me/ us/ you/them/him, etc.

·        Possessive pronoun: It is a pronoun that shows who or what owns something. For example: the fishing rod is mine/ yours/his/her/ others/ ours/ theirs.

2. Demonstrative Pronoun:

To identify a specific person or thing, we use demonstrative pronouns.  It has different forms depending on number of person or things. for example: this, that, these, those, such etc.

3. Relative Pronoun:

We use relative pronouns to relate or connect relative clauses (als

o known as adjective clauses) to the main clause in a sentence.  Relative pronouns provide more information about a noun or noun phrase. For example, who, which, what, and that, whose, whoever, whom, etc.

We can use this table as a quick guide to the function of relative pronouns:

Type of antecedent	subject	object	possessive
People	Who	Who/whom	Whose
Things	Which	Which	Whose
People or things	That	That

 

4. Interrogative Pronoun:

Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative sentences to ask questions, functioning either as the subject or object of such sentences. There are a number of primary interrogative pronouns: who, whom, which, whose, where, and what.

5. Reciprocal Pronoun:

 Reciprocal pronouns are used to refer to two or more people who are or were the subject of the same verb, with both or all parties mutually receiving or benefiting from that action in the same are Reciprocal pronouns always function as objects or verbs, referring back to the two or more people who are or were the subject(s).

The two reciprocal pronouns in English are each other and one another. In more traditional grammar, each other is used to identify only two people who are engaged in a mutual action, while one another describes more than two people.

6. Reflexive Pronoun:

Reflexive pronouns are used when someone or something is both the subject and the object of the same verb- that is, both that which is performing the action of the verb and that which is receiving the action. When this happens, the reflexive pronoun is used as the object of the verb to show that it is the same person or thing as the subject of the clause.

The reflexive pronouns are myself, himself, herself, ourselves, itself, themselves, and oneself.

7. Indefinite Pronoun:

An indefinite pronoun is used in place of a noun without specifying a particular person or thing that is being represented. There are quite a few indefinite pronouns, which are given below:

People vs. things	singular	plural	Singular or plural
Either people or things	Another One Either other	Both Few Fewer Many Others Several	All Any More Most Neither None Plenty Some
People only	Anybody/anyone Everybody/everyone One(impersonal pronoun) Nobody/no-one Somebody/someone Whoever you	they
Things only	Anything Enough Everything Less Little Much Nothing Something Such This Whatever whichever		such