Pronouns Flashcards
What are pronouns, and what is their purpose in a sentence?
Pronouns are words used in place of nouns in a sentence. The noun replaced by the pronoun is known as the antecedent. Pronouns avoid repetition and make speech more natural and fluid.
What are personal pronouns, and what do they refer to?
Personal pronouns are pronouns that represent a grammatical person within a sentence. They can refer to people, animals, inanimate objects, or intangible concepts. They vary in terms of number, person, gender, and case.
What is a reflexive pronoun, and when is it used?
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject of a sentence is also the object of the verb. They are formed by adding “-self” (singular) or “-selves” (plural) to personal pronouns. Examples: “I saw myself in the mirror” or “They consider themselves to be above the law.”
What are intensive pronouns, and how are they used?
Intensive pronouns have the same form as reflexive pronouns but are used to emphasize the subject’s role in the verb’s action. For example: “I checked over these documents myself.” or “The president himself will be in attendance.”
What are indefinite pronouns, and when are they used?
Indefinite pronouns replace an unspecified noun in the sentence. They vary depending on whether they represent people or things and whether they are singular or plural. Common examples include “everyone,” “all,” “whatever,” “many.”
What is the function of demonstrative pronouns?
Demonstrative pronouns indicate specific people or things and show whether they are singular or plural and near or far from the speaker. The most common ones are “this,” “that,” “these,” “those.” For example: “This isn’t mine.” or “Give me that.”
How are interrogative pronouns used?
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, functioning as subjects or objects. The main interrogative pronouns are “who,” “whom,” “whose,” “which,” “what.” Examples: “Who is coming to the party tonight?” or “What are we doing here?”
What is the purpose of relative pronouns?
Relative pronouns connect relative (or adjective) clauses to the main sentence. They can clarify the antecedent with essential information (restrictive clauses) or provide additional details (non-restrictive clauses). Examples: “The woman who sits next to me” or “The book that I wrote.”
What are reciprocal pronouns, and when are they used?
Reciprocal pronouns are used when two or more people act as both the subject and the object of a reciprocal action. Reciprocal pronouns include “each other” and “one another.” Examples: “Jake and I call each other every day” or “We spent a lot of time at one another’s houses.”
What are dummy pronouns?
Dummy pronouns, or expletives, have a grammatical function but no antecedents. They do not refer to anything specific but help the sentence function correctly in a grammatical context. Examples include “there” and “it,” as in “There is a ship in the harbor” or “It looks like it may snow tonight.”
How are personal pronouns inflected?
The inflection of a personal pronoun changes depending on number (singular or plural), person (first, second, or third), gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and case (subjective, objective, or possessive).
What is the relationship between personal pronouns and reflexive pronouns?
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject of a verb is also the object of the same verb. While not technically personal pronouns, they are similar in form and usage. Examples: “He looked at himself in the mirror” or “I hurt myself on the playground.
How does the concept of number work in personal pronouns?
Grammatical number indicates whether something or someone is singular or plural. Personal pronouns have specific forms depending on whether they are singular or plural. For example, “I” (singular) becomes “we” (plural) in the first person.
What are the first-person pronouns, and when are they used?
First-person pronouns are used to express an autobiographical point of view. They include:
Singular: I, me, my, mine, myself
Plural: we, us, our, ours, ourselves.
Examples: “I don’t know where my hat is!” or “We brought our own car.”
How are second-person pronouns used?
Second-person pronouns refer to the person or people directly addressed by the speaker. They are the same for singular and plural, except in the reflexive case:
Singular/Plural: you, you, your, yours, yourself (singular), yourselves (plural).
Examples: “Bill, can you help me?” or “You all need to clean up after yourselves.”
What is the generic “you”?
The generic “you” is used to refer to an unspecified person, often in an impersonal or indefinite manner. It is less formal than the pronoun “one” and is often preferred in less formal contexts.
What are the third-person pronouns, and how are they used?
Third-person pronouns refer to people or things that are neither the speaker nor directly addressed. They include:
Singular Feminine: she, her, hers, herself
Singular Masculine: he, him, his, himself
Singular Neuter: it, its, its own, itself
Plural: they, them, their, theirs, themselves.
Examples: “She lost her keys” or “They brought their own drinks.”
How are personal pronouns influenced by gender?
Personal pronouns are inflected for gender only in the third person singular, reflecting the gender of the person or, in some cases, the animal represented. The forms are: feminine singular (she, her, hers, herself), masculine singular (he, him, his, himself), and neutral singular (it, its, its own, itself). First person, second person, and third person plural remain neutral.
When is the neutral pronoun “it” used for animals?
The neutral pronoun “it” is used for non-pet animals or when the gender is unknown. However, for pets or animals with which one has an emotional bond, gendered pronouns can be used. Examples: “Look at that cute dog wagging his tail!” vs. “The horse galloped by, its hooves pounding the ground violently.”
How are countries and ships sometimes represented in pronouns?
Traditionally, countries and ships can be referred to in the feminine in the third person. Examples: “The SS Freedom… She has seen her fair share of adventure.” This usage is less common today and sometimes discouraged.
What is the “singular they” and when is it used?
The “singular they” refers to the use of plural pronouns (they, them) as a gender-neutral alternative for the third person singular, especially when the gender is unknown. It is becoming accepted as the norm, although it is still considered incorrect in formal contexts by some. Examples: “Someone left their book.” This usage avoids the exclusivity of masculine or feminine genders and the confusion in mixing them.
When do you use the subjective case for personal pronouns?
The subjective case is used when the personal pronoun acts as the subject of a verb, meaning it is the agent of the action. Examples include “I,” “she,” “he,” “we,” “they” when they are the subjects of their respective actions, as in “I know that she said that.”
When do you use the objective case for personal pronouns?
The objective case is used when the personal pronoun is the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. Examples include “me,” “him,” “her,” “us,” “them,” as in “Please send them in straight away” or “He told her to be quiet.”
How do you use a personal pronoun after a copulative verb?
After a copulative verb, such as the verb “to be,” you should use the subjective case for personal pronouns. This is because the pronoun functions as a subject complement. For example, “It was I who did this” is correct, while “It was me who did this” is incorrect.
