A Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. It refers to a person or thing without giving the name.

There are two types of Personal Pronouns:

(1) those used as subjects; and

(2) those used as objects.

Personal Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

We use the Reflexive Pronoun when the action of the doer goes back to himself so that the Subject of the sentence is the same person as the object.

Example: He has hurt himself.

Pronouns like ‘himself' are called Reflexive Pronouns. They always end in ‘self '.

Relative Pronouns

The Relative Pronouns take the place of Nouns or Pronouns; and they are used to join two sentences about the same person or thing.

Examples of relative pronouns: who, which, that, whom and whose.

In most cases, we use who, whose and whom to make statements about people.

• ¨ We use who to join two sentences.

Example: "The man is an artist. He drew that picture."

"The man is an artist who drew that picture."

• ¨ We use whose to show possession or relationship.

Example: "That is my uncle whose son is my cousin."

• ¨ We use which or that in almost the same way as we use who but it refers to things, not human beings. There is one other difference in the way we use who and which. After who we put a verb. After which we can put a verb, a pronoun or a noun.

Example: That is the camera which costs fifty dollars. That is the camera which he bought. That is the camera which John likes.

• ¨ We use whom to make a statement about human beings. It is used in place of who (a) when it is the object of a verb or (b) when it comes after a preposition.

Example: (a) The man whom they caught was sent to prison. (b) The man to whom you should speak is my uncle.