Pronouns: understanding the basics

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun to avoid repetition or make an expression less cumbersome.

Pronouns are used in both subject and object positions in a sentence, i.e. they can be the performer of the action in a sentence or the receiver.

We have:

Personal pronouns: I (me), you (you), we (us), he (him), she (her), it (it), they (them). Note that object pronouns are in bracket.

Possessive pronouns: yours, mine, theirs, ours, hers, his, its.

Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

Reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another.

Indefinite pronouns: somebody, someone, something, anybody, anyone, anything, nobody, no one, nothing, everybody, everyone, everything.

Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that.

Demonstrative pronouns: this, that, those, these.

It is important to note that when referring to yourself and one or more persons, it is polite to put yourself last.

Example:

  1. Abubakar, Akin and I will attend the meeting in Abuja.

 

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