The Pronoun

Dear readers...

Tonight, I would like sharing about Pronoun. Many people ask me “what is the definition of Pronoun?” this writing only one of the definitions and a brief explanation about pronoun.

A pronoun is a word that is used as a substitute of a noun or of more than one

noun.

·         John finished the experiment. He had worked three days to prepare it. [The

pronoun he takes the place of the noun John. The pronoun it takes the place

of the noun experiment.]

·         Helen and David are excellent engineers, and they plan to open a firm. The

pronoun they takes the place of the nouns Helen and David.]

The word to which a pronoun refers (whose place it takes) is called the antecedent of

the pronoun. Using pronouns in place of nouns relieves the monotony of repeating the

same noun over and over. In the preceding example, John is the antecedent of he, and

experiment is the antecedent of it.

Not all pronouns have antecedents. For example, in the sentence “ Nobody was in the

room, “ the pronoun nobody does not stand for a specific noun. However, it is used “in

place of “ a noun in the sense that it is used in a sentence in the place where a noun

would ordinarily occur, as in the sentence “ A person was in the room.”

There are several kinds of pronouns: personal (including the possesive and reflexive

forms), relative, interrogative, demonstrative, and indefinite.