Pronouns :


Generally (but not always) pronouns stand for (pro + noun) or refer to a noun, an individual or individuals or thing or things (the pronoun's antecedent) whose identity is made clear earlier in the text. For instance, we are bewildered by writers who claim something like

They say that eating beef is bad for you.

They is a pronoun referring to someone, but who are they? Cows? whom do they represent? Sloppy use of pronouns is unfair.

Not all pronouns will refer to an antecedent, however.

Everyone here earns over a thousand dollars a day.

The word "everyone" has no antecedent.


This section will list and briefly describe the several kinds of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns

Demonstrative Pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

Relative Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Intensive Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns

Reciprocal Pronouns