1- What is a Pronoun
A pronoun is a word which is used in place of a noun.
To understand true nature of PRONOUNS, please read the following paragraph:
“Tom is a simple peasant. Tom goes to his fields early in the morning. Tom loves to work hard. Tom ploughs the fields with his mule throughout the day. Tom lives with his family happily.”
In order to avoid this awkward the repetition
of noun ‘Tom’ sets the passage awkward. We need to change it with some
suitable word (pronoun) in order to make the speech elegant and to
retain the meaning at the same time. This is how we have put a pronoun
in place of this noun (Tom). See; after replacing He (pronoun)
with Tom (Noun), we get the following well-formed passage.
“Tom is a simple peasant. He goes to his fields early in the morning. He loves to work hard. He ploughs the fields with his mule throughout the day. He lives with his family happily.”
2- TYPES OF PRONOUNS
2.1 PERSONAL PRONOUN
Pronouns that stand for persons are
generally called personal pronouns. They are three in number:
First Person: the person speaking
Second Person: the person spoken to
Third Person: the person spoken of
2.2 POSSESSIVE PRONOUN
A pronoun which shows the possession
of something in the sentence, is known as possessive pronoun.
For example, ‘her’ and ‘their’ are posseive
pronouns in the following sentence;
(1) She sold her gold to buy a
house of their own.
2.3 REFLEXIVE PRONOUN
Reflexive pronouns are used to emphasize
the role of the doer in the execution of an action. They are formed by
suffixing ‘self or selves’ with the pronouns.
(2) I did this work myself.
(3) God helps those who help themselves.
2.4 DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN
A pronoun which demonstrates a noun
already existing in the same sentence. They are used to avoid the repetition of
same noun in the same sentence.
For example, ‘That’ has been
used in place of ‘climate’ of Murree otherwise ‘climate’ would have
appeared twice. Similarly, ‘One’ has been used in place of ‘Coat’
which already exists in the same sentence.
(4) The
climate of Lahore is hotter than that of Murree.
(5) Your
coat is black, mine is white one.
2.5 RELATIVE PRONOUN
A relative pronoun is one which relates to its
preceding noun. Usually, they make a relative clause which qualifies a noun
already existing in the same sentence.
(6) He
met a professor who was the dean of a department.
(7) I
saw a lion that was injured.
2.6 INTERROGATIVE PRONOUN
A pronoun which is used to ask a
question is known as interrogative pronoun. These are usually ‘5-Wh’ words
which refer to some noun hidden behind question tag.
(8) Who
knocks at the door?
(9) Whose
book is this?
{There is somebody who comes to knock your door. He is standing on the other side of your door, he knocks and you ask who is there? The answer comes, “It’s Tom here.” It means that you placed Who as an interrogative pronoun in place of noun Tom standing outside.}
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