Personal Pronouns
The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation
Personal Pronouns
A personal pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. It stands in for a particular person or thing after that person or thing (the antecedent) has been identified. We use personal pronouns to avoid redundancy that can become distracting.
Redundant: Sheila goes to the library every other Saturday. Sheila returns old books and checks out new ones. Sheila also likes to browse the video section.
Better with personal pronoun: Sheila goes to the library every other Saturday. She returns old books and checks out new ones. She also likes to browse the video section.
Personal pronouns are classified by person, number, gender, and case.
Person identifies the individual or thing involved with the action (first, second, or third person).
Number identifies whether the person is singular or plural.
Gender identifies if the person is masculine, feminine, or neuter in the third person singular.
Case identifies the person’s use and place in a sentence (subjective, objective, or genitive [possessive]).
| first person singular | first person plural | second person singular | second person plural | |
| subjective | I | we | you | you |
| possessive | my (mine) | our (ours) | your (yours) | your (yours) |
| objective | me | us | you | you |
| third person singular | third personal plural | |||
| subjective | he, she, it | they | ||
| possessive | his, her (hers), its | their (theirs) | ||
| objective | him, her, it | them |
Let’s look at how personal pronouns are used in a sentence:
After Wanda looked at the map, she handed it to me.
In this sentence, she is a third person singular feminine pronoun in the subjective case (subject of an independent clause); the antecedent is Wanda. The word it is a third person singular neuter pronoun in the objective case (direct object); the antecedent is map. The word me is a first person singular pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition to).
Now let’s consider how personal pronouns function in this passage:
John came with us to France last summer. While we were there, he revealed to us his intention to own a vineyard in Alsace.
The word us is a second person plural pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition with). The word we is a first person plural pronoun in the subjective case (subject of a dependent clause).
The word he is a first person singular masculine pronoun in the subjective case (subject of an independent clause); the antecedent is John. The word us is another second person plural pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition to). The word his is a third person possessive masculine pronoun (adjective identifying ownership of intention); the antecedent is John.
Compound Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns also have forms that are made compound by adding the suffix (ending) -self or -selves: e.g., myself, herself, yourselves, themselves. These pronouns are known as reflexive pronouns.
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same. They can act as either objects or indirect objects. Compare the following sentences:
Jimmy made him a chocolate shake. (objective personal pronoun)
Jimmy made himself a chocolate shake. (reflexive pronoun, indirect object)
Karla gave a raise to her. (objective personal pronoun)
Karla gave a raise to herself. (reflexive pronoun, object of preposition)
In both sentence pairs, we see the difference in meaning between using an objective personal pronoun and a reflexive pronoun. Without a reflexive pronoun, we could not know if Jimmy and Karla were performing an action for themselves or another person.
Reflexive pronouns are also used to rename a noun to emphasize it:
Tasha herself will be responsible for organizing the family reunion.
We believe that the one who should receive the honor is Akoni himself.
In both sentences, the reflexive pronoun (herself, himself) does not serve to clearly identify that the subject and the object are the same; rather it emphasizes the noun preceding it by referring (reflexing back) to it. In this context, the reflexive pronoun functions as an intensifier (intensive pronoun). Readers can still understand each sentence without it.
Tasha will be responsible for organizing the family reunion.
We believe that the one who should receive the honor is Akoni.
In English, there are different kinds of pronouns, such as indefinite, demonstrative, relative, reflexive, possessive, and interrogative pronouns. In this review, we’ve examined what personal pronouns are.
Related Topics
Pop Quiz
Fill in the blanks with the correct personal pronoun according to its person, number, gender, and case. If needed for the sentence, the person, number, and gender are given in parentheses.
1. Rhonda bought James a birthday present. ____ is going to give ___ to ____ today.
2. (first person singular) _____ was sure they were going to ask ____ if the shoes were _____.
3. The Carters are going to the lake this weekend. _____ will spend much of ____ time on _____ boat.
4. (second person singular) Are ____ going to volunteer tonight, or did they give ____ the day off?
5. (third person singular feminine) _____ has not cleaned ____ room yet, and if you ask ____, ____ will say no one can make ____ do it until ____ is ready.
Pop Quiz Answers
1. Rhonda bought James a birthday present. She is going to give it to him today.
2. I was sure they were going to ask me if the shoes were mine.
3. The Carters are going to the lake this weekend. They will spend much of their time on their boat.
4. Are you going to volunteer tonight, or did they give you the day off?
5. She has not cleaned her room yet, and if you ask her, she will say no one can make her do it until she is ready.
If the article or the existing discussions do not address a thought or question you have on the subject, please use the "Comment" box at the bottom of this page.
The article on pronouns is fine, but primarily just gives category names to various pronouns. I think it would be more useful to show correct uses AND incorrect uses — I see many pronoun errors when reading. Please explain how to analyze and correct these errors.
By clicking on the Pronouns link under “Popular Categories,” you will find a multitude of posts dealing with various kinds of pronouns. Reading those along with the comments should provide plenty of instruction.
Have you considered including the pronoun “they” for non-binary people?
Yes, our post Gender Pronouns: Singular They addresses this option.
The use of “it” as gender neutral for human use is not really correct. “Would the person who left it’s umbrella in the hall please collect it.” You would use they/them/theirs when gender is not known, in singular or plural instances, and where the individual has requested that they be referred to (see – I used it again!) by gender neutral pronouns.
The first paragraph of the article states that “a personal pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. It stands in for a particular person or thing after that person or thing (the antecedent) has been identified. We use personal pronouns to avoid redundancy that can become distracting.”
In general use in English grammar, in the case of the third person neuter, the pronoun “it” would represent a noun antecedent classified as a thing, such as an animal or a flower: “After planting the seed, she watered it daily.”