- Take or leave .
- love '''you'''.
- turned and stared at '''them'''.
- reminds me of '''something'''.
- says so?
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In ''.
For example, consider the sentence "John gave the coat to Alice." All three nouns in the sentence can be replaced by pronouns to give: "He gave it to her." If the coat, John, and Alice have been previously mentioned, the listener can deduce what the pronouns '''' refer to and therefore understand the meaning of the sentence.
Common types of pronoun found in the world's languages are as follows.
- stand in place of the names of people or things:
- --- are used when the person or thing is the Subject of the sentence or clause. English example: '''''I''' like beer but '''she''' doesn't.''
-- . For example, ''vous'' and ''tu'' in French. There is no distinction in modern English.
-- indicate whether or not the audience is included. There is no distinction in English.
- --- are used when the person or thing is the Object of the sentence or clause. English example: ''John likes '''me''' but not '''her'''.''
-- . English uses the same forms for both; for example: ''Mary loves '''him''''' (direct object); ''Mary sent '''him''' a letter'' (indirect object).
-- are used when a person or thing acts on itself. English example: ''John cut '''himself'''.''
-- refer to a reciprocal relationship. English example: ''They don't like '''each other'''.''
- --- come after a Preposition . No distinct forms exist in English; for example: ''Mary looked at '''him'''.''
- --- are used in isolation, or in certain other special grammatical contexts. No distinct forms exist in English; for example: ''Who does this belong to? '''Me'''.''
- are used to indicate Possession or ownership. English example: ''Those clothes are '''mine'''.''
- --- are a somewhat confusing alternative name for Possessive Adjective s (also known as Possessive Determiner s); for example, in English: ''I lost '''my''' wallet.'' They are not strictly pronouns because they do not substitute for a noun or noun phrase, and as such some grammarians classify these terms in a separate lexical category called determiners.
- distinguish the particular objects or people that are referred to from other possible candidates. English example: ''I'll take '''these'''.''
- refer to general categories of people or things. English example: '''''Anyone''' can do that.''
- --- indicate the non-existence of people or things. English example: '''''Nobody''' thinks that.''
- refer back to people or things previously mentioned. English example: ''People '''who''' smoke should quit now.''
- ask which person or thing is meant. English example: '''''Who''' did that?''
- are used when grammatical rules require a noun (or pronoun), but none is semantically required. English example: '''''It''' is raining.''
- re-emphasise a noun or pronoun that has already been mentioned. English uses the same forms as for the reflexive pronouns; for example: ''I did it '''myself''''' (contrast reflexive use ''I did it to myself'').
- are used to refer to members of a group separately, rather than collectively. English example: ''To '''each''' his own.''
- .
See Also: English personal pronouns
Ordinary English has seven personal pronouns: first-person singular (''I''), first-person plural (''we''), second-person (''you''), third-person singular masculine (''he''), third-person singular feminine (''she''), third-person singular neuter (''it''), and third-person plural (''they''). Each pronoun has a number of forms: a ''subjective case'' form (''I''/''we''/etc.), used when it's the subject of a finite verb; an ''objective case'' form (''me''/''us''/etc.), used when it's the object of verb or of a preposition; two ''possessive case'' forms (''my''/''our''/etc. and ''mine''/''ours''/etc.), used when it's the Possessor of another noun — one that's used as a Determiner , and one that's used as a pronoun or a predicate adjective; and a ''reflexive'' form (''myself''/''ourselves''/etc.), which replaces the objective-case form in referring to the same entity as the subject. That said, the different pronouns, and the different forms of the pronouns, often have overlapping functions.
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