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Pronouns stand instead of nouns. If we had no pronouns, we would have to write sentences like:

When Pat arrived at Pat’s office, Pat made Pat a cup of coffee and read the paper a friend had given Pat.

As we have pronouns, we can leave most of the repetition of Pat out and write:

When Pat arrived at his office, he made himself a cup of coffee and read the paper a friend had given him.

He, him and his are different cases of the same personal pronoun – some pronouns change their form depending on their grammatical function. He is subjective case, him is objective case and his is possessive case.

Himself is a reflexive pronoun – this group, always ending in self or selves, is only used when the subject acts upon itself – for example, he hurt himself; or to emphasise that the subject acted alone she did it herself. A reflexive pronoun must always reflect a noun or pronoun given earlier in the sentence. Thus, we cannot write Give the ticket to myself because neither I nor me has been mentioned for myself to reflect on. The correct pronoun here is me – Give the ticket to me. There are several types of pronoun.

Personal pronouns – I, you, we, they, him, them, his, my, our, ours and so on – stand instead of nouns and noun phrases that have been, or are about to be, mentioned in the text:

I gave you my books and they gave him yours.

Reflexive pronouns – myself, itself, yourself, yourselves, themselves and so on – reflect on a noun or personal pronoun earlier in a sentence:

He warmed himself by the fire. (Only use a reflexive pronoun if it can ‘reflect’ on something earlier in the sentence – here he.)

Relative pronouns – who, whom, whose, which, that, what – represent people, things and so on earlier in a sentence:

The person whose book I found is the same person who lent me the paper that is missing.

Interrogative pronouns – who, whom, whose, which, what – ask questions:

Whose book is missing? Who had it last? What was it about?

Demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – point to something, standing in for nouns, noun phrases and even whole sentences:

This is mine, but that belongs with those.

Indefinite pronouns – any, each, several, some, and so on – point to people or things whose identity we don’t know:

Have you any? There are several in the kitchen.

Like nouns, some pronouns have number (singular and plural) and case. The case system of pronouns is one of the last relics in English of a Latin case system. We use I, we, you, he, she, it and they in subject position; me, us, you, him, her, it and them in object position; and my (mine), our (ours), your (yours), his (his), her (hers), its, their (theirs) to show possession. The words in brackets are used when the thing possessed is not stated: This one is mine, not yours. Her umbrella is blue, yours is black.

Person is another such relic. It is a means of classifying personal pronouns as follows: first person is the person speaking – I, me, we, us; second person is the person spoken to – you; and third person is the person spoken about – he, him, she, her, it, they, them. For instance:

I am speaking to you about them. (I is first person, you is second person, them is third person).

We are going to the theatre with him and her. (We is first person, him and her are third person – notice that they are also in the objective case; this is because they follow the preposition with).

Gender is also shown – she, he, him, her and so on – but modern English does not have a gender-neutral pronoun to use in sentences like these:

When the applicant completes the form, he/she should lodge it at the post office.

Somebody left her/his pen here last night when she or he finished work.

It is now acceptable to use they and their in a singular sense to cover these situations:

When the applicant completes the form, they should lodge it at the post office.

Somebody left their pen here last night when they finished work.

Contrary to some people’s beliefs, singular they is not new – it is a return to an old form that was in common usage until grammarians decreed that they could only be used in the plural. It is more logical and workable to accept singular they than to impose a new pronoun. This topic is discussed further in Section 8.8 (Pronoun–antecedent agreement).

Other solutions are to make the whole sentence plural, or to use the passive voice of the verb:

When applicants complete forms, they should lodge them at the post office.

When the form is completed, it should be lodged at the post office.

A ‘plain English’ solution is to use the pronoun you when direct address is involved:

When you complete the form, you should lodge it at the post office.

Do not confuse this legitimate use of you with the overuse of you discussed in Section 11.5.

Activity 4b

Spot all the pronouns in these sentences. Try to describe them as fully as possible by giving their type, number, gender (if applicable) and case.

1 She went to find them and they had tangled themselves in the wool.

2 Several had gone to see those, but most stayed here with these.

3 Who gave you that?

4 There is the man whom she is going to marry.

5 Who did this?

6 It’s her book.

Solutions 4b

1 she (personal, feminine, singular, subjective); them (personal, plural, objective); they (personal, pl, subj); themselves (reflexive, pl, obj)

2 several (indefinite, pl, subj); those (demonstrative, pl, obj); most (indef, pl, subj); these (demons, pl, obj)

3 who (interrogative, sg/pl, subj); you (personal, sg/pl, obj); that (demons, sg, obj)

4 whom (personal, sg, masculine by inference, obj); she (personal, fem, sg, subj)

5 who (interrog, sg, subj); this (demons, sg, obj)

6 it (personal, neuter, sg, subj); her (personal, fem, sg, possessive)