A pronoun: examples. The possessive pronoun is an example. Indicative Pronouns - Examples

A pronoun is a special class of significant words that point to an object without naming it. To avoid tautology in speech, the speaker can use a pronoun. Examples: I, yours, who, this, everyone, most, all, myself, my, other, other, that, somehow, somebody, something, etc.

As can be seen from the examples, pronouns are most often used instead of the noun, as well as instead of the adjective, numerals or adverbs.

For pronouns, division into categories by value is inherent. This part of speech is oriented to names. In other words, pronouns replace nouns, adjectives, numerals. However, the peculiarity of pronouns is that, when replacing names, they do not acquire their significance. According to the established tradition, only pronounced words refer to pronouns. All unchangeable words are considered as pronominal adverbs.

In this article, ranks of pronouns in terms of meaning and grammatical features will be presented, as well as examples of sentences in which certain pronouns are used.

Table of pronouns by category

Personal pronouns	I, you, we, you, he, she, it, they, they
The return pronoun	Yourself
Possessive pronouns	My, your, our, your, your
The demonstrative pronouns	This, that, so, so, so much
Definitive pronouns	Himself, all, every, every, any, other, other
Interrogative pronouns	Who, what, what, who, whose, how much, what
Relative Pronouns	Who, what, how, what, who, whose, how much, what
Negative pronouns	No one, nothing, no one, no one, no one, nothing
Indefinite pronouns	Someone, something, some, some, some, some, somebody, somebody, somebody, something, somehow, some, some

According to grammatical features pronouns are divided into three categories:

1. Pronominal nouns.
2. Pronominal adjectives.
3. Pronominal numerals.

Personal pronouns

The words indicating the persons and objects that are participants in the speech act are called "personal pronouns". Examples: I, you, we, you, you, he, she, it, they. I, you, we, you designate participants in speech communication. Pronouns he, she, they do not participate in the speech act, they are reported to the speaker as non-participants in the act of speech.

• I know about what you want to tell me. (Participant of the speech act, object.)
• You should read all the fiction from the list. (The subject to which the action is directed.)
• We had a wonderful vacation this year! (Participants in the speech act, subjects.)
• You have perfectly played your part! (The addressee, the object to which the appeal is directed in the speech act.)
• He prefers a quiet pastime. (A non-participant of a speech act.)
• She surely will go to America this summer? (A non-participant of a speech act.)
• They for the first time in their life skipped with a parachute and were very satisfied. (A non-participant of a speech act.)

Attention! Pronouns of it, its, them depending on the context can be used both in the rank of possessive, and in the category of personal pronouns.

Compare:

• He was not in school today either in the first or in the last lesson. - His academic performance at school depends on how often he will attend classes. (In the first sentence it is a personal pronoun in the genitive case, in the second sentence is a possessive pronoun.)
• I asked her to keep this conversation between us. - She ran, her hair developed in the wind, and the silhouette was lost and lost with every second, moving away and dissolving in the light of the day.
• They should always be asked to make the music quieter. - Their dog very often howls at night, as if yearning for some kind of unbearable grief.

The return pronoun

This category refers to the pronoun itself - indicates the face of the object or the addressee, which is identified with the actor. Return function pronouns perform this function. Sample sentences:

• I always considered myself the happiest in the whole world.
• She constantly admires herself.
• He does not like to make mistakes and trusts only himself.

Can I leave this kitten at home?

Possessive pronouns

The word indicating the belonging of a person or thing to another person or object is called "possessive pronoun". Example: my, your, our, your, your. Possessive pronouns indicate that they belong to a talking person, an interlocutor or a non-participant of an act of speech.

• My decision is always the most correct.
• Your wishes will necessarily be fulfilled.
• Our dog behaves very aggressively towards passers-by.
• Your choice will remain for you.
• Finally I received my gift!
• Leave your thoughts to yourself.
• My city misses me, and I feel like I miss it.

Words such as her, him, them can act as a personal pronoun in the accusative case or as possessive pronoun. Sample sentences:

• Their car is at the entrance. - They were not in the city for 20 years.
• His bag lies on a chair. "He was asked to bring tea."
• Her house is in the center of the city. "She was made the queen of the evening."

The belonging of a particular person (object) to a group of objects is also indicated by a possessive pronoun. Example:

• Our joint trips will be remembered for a long time!

The demonstrative pronouns

Demonstrative is the second name, which has a demonstrative pronoun. Examples: this one, that one, so many. These words distinguish one or another object (person) from a number of other similar objects, persons or features. This function is performed by the demonstrative pronoun. Examples:

• This novel is much more interesting and informative than all those that I read before. ( This pronoun distinguishes one object from a number of similar ones, indicates a feature of this subject.)

The pronoun also performs this function.

• This sea, these mountains, this sun will forever remain in my memory the brightest memory.

However, one should be careful with the definition of the part of speech and not confuse the demonstrative pronoun with the particle!

Compare examples of demonstrative pronouns:

• It was excellent! - Did you play the role of a fox in a school play? (In the first case, this is a pronoun and performs the syntactic role of the predicate, in the second case it is a particle and does not have a syntactic role in the sentence.)
• That house is much older and more beautiful than this. (The pronoun selects the object, points to it.)
• Neither this nor the other option suited him. (A pronoun such helps to focus attention on one of many subjects.)
• So many times he stepped on the same rake, and again he repeats everything anew. (The pronoun emphasizes the repeated actions.)

Definitive pronouns

Examples of pronouns: himself, most, all, every, every, any, other, other . This category is divided into sub-clauses, each of which includes the following pronouns:

1. Itself, the most - pronouns, which have a excretory function. They elevate the object in question, individualize it.

• Director - Alexander Yaroslavovich - attended the invited party.
• He was offered the highest-paid and prestigious work in our city.
• The greatest happiness in life is to love and be loved.
• Her Majesty descended to my praise.

2. The whole is a pronoun meaning the breadth of the characteristics of a person, object, or feature.

• The whole city came to look at his performance.
• The whole path was spent in remorse and a desire to return home.
• The whole sky was covered with clouds, and there was not a single lumen visible.

3. Everyone, everyone, any - pronouns, denoting freedom of choice from several subjects, persons or signs (provided, if they exist at all).

• Semyon Semenovich Laptev is a master of his business - everyone will tell you this.
• Any person is able to achieve what he wants, the main thing is to make efforts and not be lazy.
• Every blade of grass, every petal breathed life, and this desire for happiness was transmitted to me and more and more.
• Every word he said turned against him, but he did not seek to fix it.

4. Other, other - pronouns that have values of non-identity to what was said earlier.

• I chose a different path that was more accessible to me.
• Imagine, another in my place would do the same?
• Sometimes he comes home, silently, eats and goes to bed, today everything was different ...
• The medal had two sides - the other I did not notice.

Interrogative pronouns

Examples of pronouns: who, what, what, which, whose, how much, what.

Interrogative pronouns include the question of persons, objects or phenomena, quantities. At the end of the sentence, which contains an interrogative pronoun, a question mark is usually put.

• Who was the man who came to see us this morning?
• What will you do when the summer exams end?
• What should be the portrait of the ideal person, and how do you imagine him?
• Which of these three people could know what really happened?
• Whose portfolio is this?
• How much is the red dress in which you came yesterday to school?
• What is your favorite time of the year?
• Whose child did I see yesterday in the yard?
• Do you think I should enter the faculty of international relations?

Relative Pronouns

Examples of pronouns: who, what, how, what, which, whose, how much, what .

Attention! These pronouns can act both in the role of relative and in the role of interrogative pronouns, depending on whether they are used in one or another context. In the compound sentence (SPP), only the relative pronoun is used. Examples:

• How do you prepare a biscuit cake with cherry filling? "She told me how she cooks a cherry pie."

In the first case, as - a pronoun, Has an interrogative function, that is, the subject concludes the question of a certain subject and the method of obtaining it. In the second case, the pronoun is used as a relative pronoun and acts as a connecting word between the first and second simple sentences.

• Who knows what river the Volga falls into? - He did not know what this man was to him, and what could be expected of him.
• What do you need to do to get a good job? - He knew what to do in order to get a high-paying job.

What - the pronoun - is used both as a relative and as an interrogative pronoun, depending on the context.

• What are we going to do tonight? "You said that today we should visit our grandmother."

To accurately determine the category of pronouns, choosing between relative and interrogative, one must remember that the interrogative pronoun in the sentence can be replaced by a verb, a noun, a numeral name depending on the context. The relative pronoun can not be replaced.

• What do you want for dinner tonight? "I'd like a vermicelli for dinner."
• What color do you like? "Do you like purple?"
• Whose house is this? "Is this my mother's house?"
• Which account are you in line for? - Are you the eleventh in the queue?
• How many candies do you have? "Do you have six sweets?"

A similar situation with a pronoun than. Compare the examples of relative pronouns:

• What would you do for the weekend? - He completely forgot than Wanted to do it for the weekend. (As we see, in the second variant the pronoun is included in the relative category and performs the connecting function between two parts of the compound sentence.)
• How did you get into my house yesterday? - Anna Sergeyevna looked inquiringly at the boy and did not understand how he got into her house.
• How does it feel to be in trouble? - I know by myself what it's like to realize that your plans are falling fast and irrevocably.
• Which time do I ask you not to do this again? - She has already lost count, which time her son brought her class teacher to tears.
• Whose car is parked at the gate of my house? - He was at a loss, so he could not figure out whose idea was to provoke a fight.
• How much does this Persian kitten cost? "They told him how much the red Persian kitten was worth."
• Who knows what year the battle of Borodino happened? - Three students raised their hands: they knew in what year the battle of Borodino took place.

Some scholars suggest combining relative and interrogative pronouns into one category and calling them "interrogative-relative pronouns". Examples:

• Who is there? "He did not see who was here."

However, at present no consensus has been reached yet, and the ranks of interrogative and relative pronouns continue to exist separately from each other.

Negative pronouns

Examples of pronouns: no one, nothing, no one, no one, no one, nothing. Negative pronouns mean the absence of persons, objects, and also to denote their negative characteristics.

• Nobody knew what to expect from him.
• Nothing interested him so much that he could devote to this cause his whole life.
• No debt and no money could keep him from escaping.
• A lonely dog ran along the road, and it seemed that she had never had a master, a home and a delicious feed in the morning; It was a draw .
• He tried to find an excuse, but it turned out that everything happened exactly on his initiative, and there was no one to blame for this.
• He had absolutely nothing to do, so he walked slowly in the rain past the glowing shop windows and watched the passing cars passing by.

Indefinite pronouns

From the interrogative or relative pronouns an indefinite pronoun is formed. Examples: someone, something, some, some, some, some, somebody, somebody, somebody, something, somehow, some. Indefinite pronouns contain the meaning of an unknown, indefinite person or thing. Also, indefinite pronouns have the meaning of deliberately hiding information that the speaker does not specifically want to communicate.

Such properties have an indefinite pronoun. Examples for comparison:

• Someone's voice was heard in the dark, and I did not quite understand who it belonged to: a man or an animal. (Lack of information from the speaker.) - This letter was from a friend of mine who had been away from our city for a long time and was now going to come. (Intentionally hidden information from listeners.)
• Something incredible was happening this night: the wind tore and metal from the trees, the lightning sparkled and pierced the sky through and through. (Instead of something, you can substitute similar in meaning indefinite pronouns: something, something. )
• Some of my friends consider me a strange and wonderful person: I do not want to earn a lot of money and live in a small old house on the edge of the village . ( Some pronouns can be replaced by the following pronouns: some, several. )
• Several pairs of shoes, a backpack and a tent were already packed and waiting for us to get together and leave far away from the city. (The subject does not specify the number of objects, generalizes their number.)
• Someone informed me that you received the letter, but do not want to admit it. (The speaker specifically hides all information about the person.)
• If anyone saw this person, please report this to the police!
• Does anyone know what Natasha Rostova and Andrei Bolkonsky talked about at the ball?
• When you see something interesting, do not forget to write down your observations in a notebook.
• Some moments in learning English remained incomprehensible to me, then I went back to the last lesson and tried to pass it again. (Intentional concealment of speaking information.)
• I still had some money in my wallet, but I did not remember how much. (Lack of information about the subject of the speaker.)

Grammatical categories of pronouns

Grammatically pronouns are divided into three categories:

1. A pronominal noun.
2. The pronominal adjective.
3. Pronominal numerals.

The pronominal nouns include such categories of pronouns as: personal, reflexive, interrogative, negative, indefinite. All these categories are similar in their grammatical properties to nouns. However, pronominal nouns have certain characteristics that do not have a pronoun. Examples:

• I came to you . (In this case, this is the masculine gender, which we determined by the past tense verb with a zero ending). "You came to me." (The genus is determined at the end of the verb "came" - the female gender, the past tense.)

As you can see from the example, some pronouns are deprived of the category of the genus. In this case, it is possible to restore the race logically, proceeding from the situation.

Other pronouns of the listed categories have a gender category, but it does not reflect the real relations of persons and objects. For example, a pronoun who is always combined with a verb in the masculine gender of the past tense.

• Which of the women first visited the cosmos?
• Ready or not, here I come.
• She knew who would be the next contender for her hand and heart.

The pronoun that uses with nouns of the middle genus of the past tense.

• What allowed you to commit this act?
• He did not suspect that something could happen somewhere, similar to his story.

The pronoun has generic forms, but the genus here acts as a classification form, and not as a nominative form.

The pronominal adjective includes indicative, determinative, interrogative, relative, negative, indefinite pronouns. All of them answer the question what? And are likened to adjectives in their properties. They have dependent forms of number and case.

• This tiger cub is the fastest in the zoo.

Pronouns are numbered as pronouns as many as several. They are likened to numerals in their meaning in combination with nouns.

• How many books have you read this summer?
• I had so many opportunities now!
• Several grandmother's pies left for me.

Attention! However, in combination with the verbs of the pronoun, how many, so many, are used as adverbs.

• How much does this orange blouse cost?
• So much you can spend only on vacation.
• I thought about how to live and what to do next.