Pronouns – Words Used in Place of Nouns
Look at the following sentence groups:
1. Alice is a little girl.
Alice is pretty.
Alice has an umbrella.
The umbrella is very colourful.
2. Listen to Alex.
Alex is singing.
John and Alan are Alex’s friends.
John and Alan have come to hear Alex.
Alex is glad to see John and Alan.
We can write these sentences as:
1. Alice is a little girl.
She is pretty.
She has an umbrella.
It is very colourful.
2. Listen to Alex.
He is singing.
John and Alan are his friends.
They have come to hear him.
He is glad to see them.
In sentence group 1, we have used she for Alice and it for Umbrella.
In sentence group 2, we have used he, his and him for Alex; they and them for John and Alan.
By writing like this we avoid repetition and make our sentences better.
Such words which are used for or in place of a noun are called Pronouns.
The word Pronoun means ‘for a noun’.
Now read the following sentences carefully and note that the words in bold italics are Pronouns:
Teacher: Lucy, show me the drawing book
Lucy: I forgot to bring it, sir.
Here, me stands for the teacher. I stands for Lucy, and it stands for the drawing book. Teacher, Lucy and drawing book are Nouns. Me, I, and it are used in place of Nouns.
Jack and Jill: We want to go to the park. Will you allow us, mother?
Mother: Yes, but come back soon, else your father will get angry.
Here, we, us, and your stand for Jack and Jill and You stands for mother.
Jack, Jill and mother are nouns. We, us, you, your, are words used in place of Nouns.
A Pronoun is a word used instead of a Noun.
I, Me, my, you, your, he, him, his, she, her, it, its, we, us, our, they, them, there are some common Pronouns.