pronoun

[proh-noun]

noun

Grammar.

1. any member of a small class of words found in many languages that are used as replacements or substitutes for nouns and noun phrases, and that have very general reference, as I, you, he, this, it, who, what. Pronouns are sometimes formally distinguished from nouns, as in English by the existence of special objective forms, as him for he or me for I, and by nonoccurrence with an article or adjective.

pronoun

/ ˈprəʊˌnaʊn /

noun

1. pron. one of a class of words that serves to replace a noun phrase that has already been or is about to be mentioned in the sentence or context

pronoun

1. A word that takes the place of a noun. She, herself, it, and this are examples of pronouns. If we substituted pronouns for the nouns in the sentence “Please give the present to Karen,” it would read “Please give it to her.”

Grammar Note

Although not generally accepted as good usage, between you and I is heard occasionally in the speech of educated persons. By the traditional rules of grammar, when a pronoun is the object of a preposition, that pronoun should be in the objective case: between you and me; between her and them. The use of the nominative form ( I, he, she, they, etc.) arises partly as overcorrection, the reasoning being that if it is correct at the end of a sentence like It is I, it must also be correct at the end of the phrase between you and …. The choice of pronoun also owes something to the tendency for the final pronoun in a compound object to be in the nominative case after a verb: It was kind of you to invite my wife and I. This too is not generally regarded as good usage.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pronoun¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Middle French pronom, from Latin prōnōmen (stem prōnōmin- ). See pro- ¹, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pronoun¹

C16: from Latin prōnōmen, from _pro- ¹ + nōmen noun

Example Sentences

Elle, who uses they/them pronouns, is challenging the move and will remain in the flat while the case is heard by a first-tier tribunal.

From BBC

“Raising this flag in the heart of El Capitan is a celebration of our community, standing in solidarity with each other and all targeted groups,” said Joslin, whose pronoun is “they.”

From Los Angeles Times

As first minister she sometimes struggled to articulate her position on the case and to decide which, if any, pronoun to use to describe Bryson.

From BBC

Alon, who uses they/them pronouns, says in the past they put themselves in risky situations by meeting up with random strangers in a park in the middle of the night.

From BBC

Critics had also called out posts in which she falsely claimed voter fraud affected the results of the 2020 presidential election, derided pandemic-era mask mandates and made fun of stating people’s pronouns.

From Los Angeles Times

When To Use

What is a pronoun?

A pronoun is a type of word that replaces a noun (reminder, a noun is a person, place, or thing). Pronouns are words like she, you, him, them, this, and who, to name a few. For example, in the sentence “Carol likes apples,” the specific proper noun Carol can be replaced with the pronoun she: “She likes apples.”English has several categories of pronouns.

1. Personal pronouns replace people and things. They can be singular or plural, depending on what they are replacing. They can differ depending whether they are being used as subjects or objects. Personal pronouns include I, me, we, us, you, he, she, it, and they. The sentence “Mary likes the car” can be rewritten as “She likes it.”



2. Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns that indicate that the original noun owns or possesses something. They can also be singular or plural. Possessive pronouns include mine, theirs, your, hers, its, and ours. If you want to say a wallet belongs to your brother using a possessive pronoun, you can say, “That’s his wallet.”



3. Reflexive pronouns are used when the original noun performs an action on itself. Reflexive pronouns include myself, yourself, itself, herself, themself, and themselves. When you look in a mirror, you can say you are looking at yourself.



4. Reciprocal pronouns are like reflexive pronouns but for groups of two or more nouns. All members of the group perform the same action on all the other members of the group. Each other (used for a group of two) and one another (used for a group of more than two) are the only two reciprocal pronouns. For example: “My entire family loves one another and takes care of each other.”



5. Relative pronouns include who, whom, which, that, and what. These pronouns show a relationship between the noun they stand for and something else. In “Rex is the dog that lives in that house,” the word that connects the dog with a fact about where the dog lives.



6. Demonstrative pronouns point out someone or something. The four demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these, and those. This and these are typically used for things that are near the speaker or close by, while that and those are typically used for things that are somewhat farther away—especially things you might point to. For example: “I like these, not those over there.”



7. Interrogative pronouns begin questions. They include who, whom, whose (which are used to refer to people), which, what (which are used to refer to things), and when (which involves time). For example: “Who are you, when did you get here, and what are you doing here?”



8. Indefinite pronouns refer to people and things but not to a specific person or thing. Indefinite pronouns include someone, somebody, any, some, and all. When you can’t go to a concert you bought a ticket for, you might say, "I will find somebody to take my ticket."