Pronouns

For beginners learning English, one of the first basic foundational knowledge is personal pronouns. Having a solid foundation will make the process of self-studying English much easier. Let EnglishTopVN help you do this

1. Concepts

Pronouns also known as a pronoun - a word used to represent a noun that refers to a person, thing, thing or event mentioned in the previous sentence or sentences to avoid unnecessary repetition of words.

Pronouns

Purpose :  

  • Replaces nouns or noun phrases

Avoid repeating the same word multiple times in sentences

For example:

  • My father is a teacher.
  • My father is tall
  • My father has a black hair

 When describing our father, if we use the word "My father" over and over again, it will make the sentence quite boring and create a feeling of fatigue for the reader, right?

2. Classification

 

Singular

Many

The person speaking in the conversation (also called 1st Person)

I

we

The person listening in the conversation (also called Second Person)

you

you

The person who is not participating in the conversation, just being addressed (also called Third Person)

he
she
it

they

3. Function

✅ Summary:

  • Personal pronouns can stand in the following positions and play the following roles in a sentence: subject, object, after prepositions.

  • Each personal pronoun has two forms: subject form and object form.

 As we learned above, a personal pronoun is a word used to represent a noun or a noun phrase.
Therefore, personal pronouns can stand in the positions that nouns or noun phrases can stand in the sentence, specifically:

  • Subject
  • object
  • Comes after a preposition (in a prepositional phrase)

 But personal pronouns have one difference compared to nouns, that is, personal pronouns have 2 different forms, depending on their position in the sentence, while nouns have only 1 form.

Noun examples:

  • Subject position: The student is good at math. = This student is good at math.
  • Object position: I like the student. = I like this student.
  • Comes after prepositions: I went to the park with the student. = I went to the park with this student.

Examples of personal pronouns:

  • Subject position: He is good at math.
  • Object position: I like him.
  • Comes after prepositions: I went to the park with him.


Pronouns
The student is good at math. I like him. I went to the park with him.

Thus, personal pronouns have two forms: one form is used when the pronoun is in the subject position, the other form is used when the pronoun is in the object position or comes after the preposition.

Below is a table summarizing and comparing two forms of personal pronouns:

Subject

Object & After Preposition

I

me

you

you

he

him

she

her

it

it

we

us

you

you

they

them


4. Other types of pronouns related to personal pronouns


Personal pronouns refer to the subject

Object pronouns

reflexive pronouns

Possessive pronoun

Positive adjectives

I

me

myself

mine

my

  you

  you

 yourself

yours

your

  he

  him

 himself

his

  his

she

her

herself

hers

her

it

it

itself

(Not available)

its

we

us

ourselves

ours

our

you

you

yourselves

yours

your

they

them

themselves

theirs

their