Pronouns are a closed group of words which can be used in place of nouns in a sentence‏‎. We replace nouns that are repeated with pronouns so instead of saying:

William took the ball and then William kicked the ball.

We say:

William took the ball and then he kicked it.

This makes the sentence less clumsy and more fluid.

Types of Pronouns

The type of pronoun we use depends on the type of noun we replace.

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns replace people and things. They are:

I, you, he/she/it, we, you, they

me, you, him, her, it, us, you, them

And we can use them in the place of subjects or objects‏‎ in a sentence:

Bill bought Mary an ice cream and then Mary bought Bill a coffee.

He bought her an ice cream and then she bought him a coffee.

See the main articles, Personal Pronouns‏‎

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used when people do things to themselves. For example:

Jane washed Jane > Jane washed herself.

The reflexive pronouns are

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, themself, themselves…

See the main article, Reflexive Pronouns‏‎.

Possessive Pronouns

When we want to show possession‏‎ we can use the following possessive pronouns:

mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs

I like Sheila’s hair long. Instead I prefer yours short.

Dad has an old fishing rod. Mine is brand new!.

See the main article, Possessive Pronouns‏‎.

Demonstrative Pronouns

These are used to talk about a noun or pronoun in space and time:

this, that, these, those

Which one we use depends on how close to use the nouns are and how many.

This is my new watch here; that is my old watch in the other room.

These cakes are ready to eat; I finished reading those papers last week.

See the main article, Demonstrative Pronouns‏‎.

Interrogative Pronouns

These are used to ask questions:

who, whom, which, what, whose, where

Whom did you speak with?

What kind of guitar did you buy?

Whose books is this?

See the main article, Interrogative Pronouns‏‎.

Relative Pronouns

These are used to link two phrases or clauses.

who, that, which

That’s the man who owns the Ferrari.

Green is the color that I like the most.

See the main article, Relative Pronouns.

Indefinite Pronouns

These refer to unspecified people or things.

any, anybody, anything, some, somebody, something, every, everybody, everything, neither, none, each, either