Chapter 2 – Pronoun

PRONOUN

A word used in the place of a Noun is called Pronoun. A pronoun is of 10 different types that are listed below:

• Personal Pronoun: Pronoun that stands for (I, II, III) persons. I, me, we, us, you, he, him, she, her, it, they, them. 
• Relative Pronoun: Eg- Who, Whom, Whose, Which, That, etc.
• Interrogative Pronoun: Eg- Who, Whose, Which, Whom, etc.
• Indefinite Pronoun: Eg- Anybody, Nobody, Everybody, Somebody, Someone, No one, Anyone, Something, Anything, Everything, Nothing, All, Some, Any, Both, Much Few, Little, Another, etc.
• Emphatic Pronoun: These pronouns are used to lay stress on the subject. Eg- Himself, Myself, Yourself, Yourselves, Oneself, Itself, Themselves, etc.
• Reflexive Pronoun: Eg- Myself, Yourself, Themselves, Herself, Himself, Itself, Ourselves, etc.  
• Possessive Pronoun: Eg- Mine, Theirs, Ours, Yours, His, Hers, etc.
• Demonstrative Pronoun: Eg- This, That, These, Those.
• Reciprocal Pronoun: Eg- Each other, One another.
• Distributive Pronoun: Eg- Everyone, Each one, Each, Every, Either, Neither, None, etc.

PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Personal Pronouns are those which stand for the three persons.

I Person: The person who is speaking(I, we).

II Person: The person who is spoken to(You).

III Person: The person other than the above two(he, she, it, they).

IMPORTANT RULES

1- A personal pronoun must be the same number, gender, and person as the noun for which it stands.

Incorrect: Every man must love their own country.

Correct: Every man must love his own country.

2- A pronoun must agree with its antecedent in person, number, and gender.

Incorrect: I am not one of those who believe everything I see.

Correct: I am not one of those who believe everything they see.

3- If all three persons or two out of three persons come in a single sentence, the order is 231.

Incorrect: I, You and he shall study for the exams.

Correct: You, he and I shall study for the exams.

4- If all the three persons or two out of three persons come in a single sentence and something wrong is talked about or if some mistake done by the persons has been accepted, the order is 123.

Incorrect: You, he and I have made a mistake.

Correct: I, you and he have made a mistake.

5- If pronouns are in plural form, the order should be 123.

Incorrect: They, you and we should now get down to work.

Correct: We, you and they should now get down to work.

6- An objective case comes after ‘let’, ‘like’. ‘Between…and’, ‘but’, ‘except’, and ‘all prepositions’.

Incorrect: There is no problem between she and I.

Correct: There is no problem between her and me.

7- If there is a comparison between two nominative cases, the pronoun of the nominative case is used after as/than.

Incorrect: He is as fast as me.

Correct: He is as fast as I.

8- If a sentence starts with ‘It’ followed by any form of ‘be’, the pronoun used must be in ‘nominative case’. 

Incorrect: It is me who is to blame.

Correct: It is I who am to blame.

9- When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to separate persons, the pronoun used for them must be plural.

Incorrect: Both Manas and Paras showed his fondness for his father.

Correct: Both Manas and Paras showed their fondness for their father.

10- When two or more singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and refer to the same person, the pronoun used for them must be singular.

Incorrect: The chairman and managing director of the company granted their approval to the scheme.

Correct: The chairman and managing director of the company granted his approval to the scheme.

11- When two singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and preceded by each and every, the pronoun must be singular.

Incorrect: Every teacher and every student got their dress ready.

Correct: Every teacher and every student got his dress ready.

12- When two or more singular nouns are joined by or, either…or, neither…nor, the pronoun is generally singular.

Incorrect: Neither Sneh nor Nehaal has brought their identity card.

Correct: Neither Sneh nor Nehaal has brought hias identity card.

13- When a plural noun and a singular noun are joined by ‘or’ or ‘nor’, the pronoun must be in plural.

Incorrect: Neither the father nor his sons cared for his books.

Correct: Neither the father nor his sons cared for their books.

14- If a pronoun is used as the object of a verb or of a preposition, it should be in the objective case.

Incorrect: Let you and I take a dip into holy water.

Correct: Let you and me take a dip into holy water.

15- When the following verbs are used reflexively a reflexive pronoun must be put after them- absent, enjoy, reconcile, avenge, amuse, adapt, adjust, apply, exert, forget, pride, resign, reach, avail, acquit, etc.

Incorrect: I absented from the class.

Correct: I absented myself from the class.

16- The following verbs are usually not followed by a reflexive pronoun- bathe, feed, form, hide, keep, break,  burst, make, move, lengthen, open, roll, rest, stop, turn, speed, steal, qualify, etc.

Incorrect: I bathed myself in the river.

Correct: I bathed in the river.

17- A reflexive pronoun cannot be used as a substitute for the subject.

Incorrect: Mohan and myself decided to join politics.

Correct: Mohan and I decided to join politics.

18- Pronoun ‘It’ comes before the phrase or clause to which iot refers whereas ‘this’ follows the phrase or clause it refers to.

Incorrect: This is true that bell-bottoms were once in fashion.

Correct: It is true that bell-bottoms were once in fashion.

Incorrect: India won the match and it was a good news.

Correct: India won the match and this was a good news.

19- ‘Which’ implies selection, that is, it implies a question concerning a limited number. It is used for both person and thing.

Incorrect: What of the pictures do you like best?

Correct: Which of the pictures do you like best?

20- The relative pronoun ‘what’ is used without any antecedent.

Incorrect: I mean that what I say.

Correct: I mean what I say.

21- Pronoun of the third person plural should not be used as antecedents ro ‘who’ and ‘that’

Incorrect: They who are students of the school need not buy tickets.

Correct: Those who are students of the school need not buy tickets.

22- Possessive Pronoun can be used in any sentence as the subject of the verb.

Incorrect: Your is a new car.

Correct: Yours is a new car.

23- Possessive Pronoun can be used as the object of a preposition.

Incorrect: I prefer your help to her.

Correct: I prefer your help to hers.

24- We do not use possessive pronouns with words like separation, leave, report, favour, pardon, excuse, mention, sight, etc.

Incorrect: At her sight the robbers fled.

Correct: At the sight of her the robbers fled.

25- In possessive pronouns apostrophe is not used before ‘s’. The use of her’s, your’s, it’s is wrong.

Incorrect: The bear had a ring around it’s nose.

Correct: The bear had a ring around its nose.

26-  When two subjects are joined by ‘as well as’, ‘with’, ‘together with’, ‘but’, ‘in addition to’, alongwith’, ‘rather than’, ‘like’, ‘unlike’, ‘no less than’, ‘nothing but’, ‘and not’, ‘besides’, ‘except’, the possessive adjective/pronoun will agree with the first subject.

Incorrect: Renu as well as her friends have done their homework.

Correct: Renu as well as her friends has done her homework.

27- When two subjects are joined by ‘either…or’, ‘neither…nor’, ‘not only…but also’, ‘none…but’, the possessive adjective/pronoun agrees with the nearest subject.

Incorrect: Neither the staff members nor the manager were taking their task seriously.

Correct: Neither the staff members nor the manager was taking his task seriously.

28- When each, every, anyone, either, neither is used as a subject, 3rd person singular is used as a possessive case.

Incorrect: Neither of the two brothers has brought their luggage.

Correct: Neither of the two brothers has brought his luggage.

29- If collective noun like jury, fleet, army, crew, team, etc are used as a subject in a sentence, it denotes a group and hence singular pronoun/adjective like it, its, itself is used.

Incorrect: The jury has given their verdict.

Correct: The jury has given its verdict.

30- If collective noun is used as a subject and it denotes separate individuals or a division is shown amoung the members, it is considered plural and hence plural pronoun/adjective like they, them, their, theirs, themselves, etc is used.

Incorrect: The team are divided in its opinion.

Correct: The team are divided in their opinion.

31- If two singular nouns are joined by ‘and’ and if an article is used before the first singular noun, it denotes one person/thing. Here singular pronoun/adjective like he, him, himself for human beings and it, its, itself for non-living thing is used.

Incorrect: The secretary and treasurer is negligent of their duty.

Correct: The secretary and treasurer is negligent of his duty.

32- If two nouns are joined by ‘and’ and an article or Possessive adjective is used before each noun then it denotes many persons or things. Thus Plural pronoun/adjective will be used.

they, them, their, themselves, theirs is used accordingly.

Incorrect: The secretary and the treasurer did not do his work.

Correct: The secretary and the treasurer did not do their work.

33- If two or more than two nouns are joined by ‘and’ and each/every is used before each noun, a singular pronoun/adjective and a singular verb will follow.

Incorrect: Every soldier and every sailor was in their place.

Correct: Every soldier and every sailor was in his place.

34- If many a/an + singular noun is used with the subject of the sentence, a singular pronoun/adjective is used.

Incorrect: Many a soldiers have met their death in the battlefield.

Correct: Many a soldier has met his death in the battlefield.

35- When the sentence starts with each of, either of, neither of, each, either, neither, ‘the’ is used before the plural noun or plural pronoun, but singular adjective, singular verb and singular pronoun are used in the latter part of the sentence.

Incorrect: Each of the boys have their own books.

Correct: Each of the boys has his own book.