英语语法--代词

代词

Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns in a sentence. The noun being replaced is known as the antecedent of the pronoun

Using pronouns

to avoid sounding unnatural and repetitive by reusing the same noun in a sentence multiple times.
the pronouns are all serving the same function as nouns. They can be the subject of a sentence or clause, the object of a verb, or they can follow linking verbs to rename or re-identify the subject (known as a subject complement)

Categories of Pronouns

many pronouns belong to multiple categories, and can serve different purposes depending on the context. 
1. Personal Pronouns
are used to represent people in a sentence.
personal pronouns experience a wide range of inflection, meaning they change form to reflect specific meaning in different contexts.

personal pronouns can inflect according to grammatical person (first person, second person, or third person), 
but they also change to reflect grammatical number (singular or plural), 
gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter),
and case (subjective, objective, or possessive)
2. Reflexive Pronouns
They are technically not personal pronouns, but their use and the way they are formed are so similar that it is useful seeing them in direct comparison to personal pronouns.
We use reflexive pronouns when the subject of a clause is also the object of the clause’s verb. 
They are formed by adding “-self” (singular) or “-selves” (plural) to the end of my, your, our, him, her, it or them (as well as the indefinite pronoun one). For example:
•  “I saw myself in the mirror.”
• “She imagined herself on a tropical beach.”
3. Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are identical to reflexive pronouns in form, 
but, instead of functioning as the object of a verb, they serve to emphasize or reiterate the subject’s role in the verb’s action. For instance:
• “I checked over these documents myself.”
• “The president himself will be in attendance.”
4. Indefinite Pronouns
We use indefinite pronouns in place of a noun that is not being specified in the sentence.There are many different indefinite pronouns; which one we use depends on whether we are representing a noun that is a person or thing, and whether that noun is singular or plural.Some common examples include:
• “Is everyone here?”
• “I hope all is going well.”
• “Whatever you decide is fine with me.”
• “Many are coming to the show tonight.”
5. Demonstrative Pronouns
are used to indicate specific people or things 
and indicate whether they are 
a) singular or plural and 
b) near or not near to the speaker. 
The most common are this, that, these, and those. For example:
远近类似中文的这，那
• “This isn’t mine.” (singular, nearby)
• “Give me that.” (singular, not near)
• “These are really gross.” (plural, nearby)
• “I forgot to bring those.” (plural, not near)
6. Interrogative Pronouns
are used to ask questions, functioning either as the subject or object of such sentences. There are five primary interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and what.
• “Who is coming to the party tonight?” (subject)
• “So, which will it be: $10,000, or a new sports car?” (object)
• “Could you tell me whose these are?” (subject)
• “Do you know what we’re doing here?” (object)
7. Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to connect relative clauses (also known as adjective clauses)
to the main clause in a sentence. Relative clauses either help clarify the antecedent with
essential information (in which case they are known as restrictive clauses), or else give
extra, nonessential information about it (in which case they are known as non-restrictive clauses).
In a relative clause, the relative pronoun functions in one of three ways: as the subject of the clause, as the object of the clause’s verb, or as a possessive determiner. For example:
• “There’s the woman who always sits next to me on the bus.” (restrictive clause; who functions as the subject)
• “The book that I wrote is being published in January.” (restrictive clause; that functions as the object of wrote)
• “The escaped giraffe, which had been on the loose for weeks, was finally captured.” (non-restrictive clause; which functions as the subject)
• “The person, whose name can’t be revealed, appeared in court today.” (non-restrictive clause; whose functions as a possessive determiner, modifying name)
8. Reciprocal pronouns【相互代词】
when two or more people both act as the subject of a verb, and both (or all) individually and equally receive the verb’s action. They can be the object of either the verb itself or a preposition used to complete the verb’s meaning.
There are two reciprocal pronouns—each other (traditionally used for two people) and one another (traditionally used for more than two people). For example:
• “Jake and I call each other every day.”
• “My neighbors and I spent a lot of time at each other’s houses when we were kids.”
9. Dummy Pronouns
function grammatically as pronouns but do not have antecedents—that is, they do not replace a noun, phrase, or clause.  
They refer to nothing in particular, instead helping the sentence to function properly in a grammatical context. There are two dummy pronouns, there and it.
• “【There】 is a ship in the harbor.”
• “【There】 were flowers in the meadow.”
• “【It】 looks like it may snow tonight.”
• “Could you tell me what time 【it】 is?”

Personal pronouns

While personal pronouns often do indicate an actual person, they can also refer to animals, inanimate objects, or even intangible concepts. 
• “As soon as John comes home,【 I】 am going to give 【him】 back 【his】 hat.”
• “【My】 team lost again. 【We】 really stink this year!”
• “【He】 spoke to the boss yesterday and already got 【her】 approval.”

Which personal pronoun is used in each instance varies depending on four grammatical elements: 	
number (singular or plural), 
person (first, second, or third person), 
gender (male, female, or neuter/neutral), 
and case (subjective, objective, or possessive). 
This shifting of form is called inflection. 
Quite often, the inflection of a personal pronoun will change within the same sentence.
There is also a different kind of pronoun called a reflexive pronoun, which is used when the subject of a verb is also the object (receiving the action) of the same verb. For example:
• “He looked at himself in the mirror before he left.”
• “I hurt myself on the playground today.”

反身代词：
		第一人称		第二人称		第三人称
单数		myself		yourself	himself herself itself
复数		ourselves	yourselves	themselves
	

-  Number
Grammatical number in English simply means whether something or someone is singular or plural—that is, is there one of something or someone (singular), or are there more than one (plural)? This is answered by the pronoun’s antecedent (the word, phrase, clause, etc., that indicates what pronoun should be used, and in what form).
For nouns, we usually just add an “-s” to the end of the word to signify that it is plural (though there are many exceptions to this). Personal pronouns, however, have specific inflections (different forms of the word) depending on whether they are singular or plural. For the most part, only the first-person and third-person personal pronouns have plural forms. The only plural second-person pronoun is the reflexive pronoun yourselves.For second-person pronouns that don’t inflect for number, you sometimes have to use information from another part of the sentence or paragraph to determine if it is plural or singular. (See the examples below.)Unfortunately, there is no rule to how personal pronouns change when they become plural; you simply have to memorize them. Refer to the table in the chapter overview to learn them.
• “I (first-person singular) am meeting my (first-person singular) writing club this afternoon. We (first-person plural)always meet on Wednesdays after class.”
• “I (first-person singular) really envy you (second-person singular)!”
• “They (third-person plural) can’t tell you (second-person plural) what it will be like; 
you (second-person plural) will just have to find out for yourselves (second-person plural reflexive).” 
• “The main reason Martha is so beautiful is because she (third-person feminine singular) is so tall.

- Person (First person, Second person, Third person)
Grammatical person refers to the perspectives of the personal pronouns used to identify a person in speech and text—that is, it distinguishes between a speaker (first person), an addressee (second person), and others beyond that (third person).
a. First person
单数/复数 * 主语/宾语 + 无的/有的
反身代词：不区分主/宾语
• Singular: I, me, my, mine, myself
• Plural: we, us, our, ours, ourselves
First-person pronouns are used to express an autobiographical point of view—they tell what is directly happening to the speaker, writer, or fictional character. 
• “I don’t know where my hat is!”
• “Janet is meeting me in town later.”
• “Hey, that book is mine! I bought it!”
When the speaker is part of a group, the first-person pronouns inflect to the plural form:
• “We brought our own car.”
• “They told us to help ourselves.”
b. Second person
主语/宾语 + 有的/无的
• Singular/Plural: you, you, your, yours, yourself (singular), yourselves (plural)
We use the second-person pronouns to indicate those who are being addressed directly by the speaker. Unlike first-person pronouns, there is not a distinction between singular and plural second-person pronouns (except in the reflexive form). Here are some examples:

Usage note: Generic “you”
The second-person pronouns are also often used to indicate an unspecified person. This is sometimes referred to as generic you, impersonal you, or indefinite you. This is less formal than its counterpart, the pronoun one, but it is sometimes preferred because it does not sound as snobbish or unnecessarily formal. If one is writing something very formal or professional, then one might be better off using the generic pronoun one. If you’re writing something a bit less formal, then you are probably just fine using the generic pronoun you.
c. Third person
主语、宾语、形容词性物主代词、名词性物主代词、反身代词
• Feminine singular: she, her, hers, herself
• Masculine singular: he, him, his, himself
• Neuter singular: it, its, its own, itself
However, when there are multiple people or things, we use the ungendered forms of they:
• Third person plural: they, them, their, theirs, themselves
Sometimes, when a single person of an unknown gender is being discussed, the third-person plural forms (they, them, etc.) are used as a gender-neutral alternative to the third-person feminine/masculine forms. To learn more about this, please see the Usage Note about “Singular they” under the chapter section explaining gender in personal pronouns.
-Gender
Personal pronouns are only inflected for gender when they are in the third person and singular—first-person and second-person pronouns (singular or plural) and third-person plural pronouns* remain gender neutral. Here are the gendered pronouns in English:
• Third-person feminine singular: she, her, hers, herself
• Third-person masculine singular: he, him, his, himself
The third-person singular can also be neuter. This is used when a personal pronoun represents a thing or an animal. Animals can sometimes take gendered personal pronouns if they are pets or domesticated animals; otherwise, they take the third-person neuter form:
• Third-person neuter singular: it, its, its own, itself
Remember, when there are multiple people or things, we use the ungendered forms of they*:
• Third person plural: they, them, their, theirs, themselves

Countries and ships
Countries and vehicles, especially ships or boats, will sometimes be given a feminine form when spoken of in the third person. For example:
• “The SS Freedom is a good ship. She has certainly seen her fair share of adventure.”
This is a more traditional usage; it is less common these days, and by no means necessary. Some style guides go so far as to discourage its use.

*Usage Note: “Singular they”
English does not have a way of identifying a single person with a pronoun if his or her gender is not known, so sometimes the third-person plural forms (they, them, etc.) are used as a gender-neutral alternative to the third-person feminine/masculine forms. This is sometimes called “singular they.”
• “You shouldn’t judge someone until you know what they are really like.”
• “If anyone needs extra help with their studies, they should feel free to see me after class.”
“Singular they” is gradually becoming accepted as the norm, especially in instances with indefinite pronouns that sound plural but are grammatically singular (like anyone in the example above). However, it is still considered incorrect by many writers and writing guides, especially in American English.
Therefore, in formal or professional writing, the best form to use is “he or she” or “him or her,” or else simply to rewrite the sentence to avoid sounding cluttered or awkward. In informal writing or speech, though, using “singular they” is generally OK

- Case
The English language has largely discarded its case system, which is the manner by which a noun is inflected depending on its grammatical function as a subject or object in a sentence. English largely uses prepositions to accomplish this now, but personal pronouns are one part of English in which the case system is still active, being inflected depending on whether they function as a subject, object, possessive determiner, or possessive pronoun.
a. Subjective Case
When a personal pronoun is acting as the subject of a verb (that is, it is the person or thing doing the action), it is said to be in the subjective case. For instance:
• “I know that she said that.” (Both pronouns are subjective, as both are agents of their respective actions.)
• “He told her to be quiet.” (Here, only he is in the subjective case; her, the recipient or “object” of his action, is in the objective case.)
b. Objective Case
A personal pronoun is in the objective case when it is a direct or indirect object of a verb,or else if it is the object or a preposition.
A direct object directly receives the action of a verb. For example:
• “Please send them in straight away.”
• “Take him away!”
An indirect object, on the other hand, is the recipient of the direct object—it therefore indirectly receives the action of the verb via the direct object. For example:
• “Please tell me any news immediately!”
Here, any news is acting as the direct object of the verb tell—it is the thing being told. Me,on the other hand, is looking to receive any news by means of the action of tell, making it the indirect object.
• “I can’t believe he brought you flowers. How sweet!”
Again, you is receiving the flowers, which is the direct object of brought. Be careful with the personal pronouns you and it, however—their subjective and objective forms are the same. Take the following sentence, for example: 
• “You said to give you the money as soon as I had it.”
The pronouns you and I in italics are in the subjective case because they are each performing the action of their verbs. The pronouns you and it in bold are in the objective case because they are functioning as indirect and direct objects of their verbs (respectively)

After Linking Verbs (Subject Complements)
One confusing area is when a pronoun is a subject complement to a linking verb. Forpersonal pronouns, this is almost always with forms of the verb be. In this situation, the personal pronoun should be in the subjective case. 
For example, 
“It was I who did this” is more correct than “It was me who did this.”
In conversational English, this distinction is much less frequently observed for simple sentences like our first examples, and you will often hear people using phrases such as “it’s me” or “that was her” in response to questions. But in writing (especially formal or professional writing), always use the subjective case for a personal pronoun if it is functioning as a subject complement after a linking verb.

c. Possessive Case (Genitive Case)
possessive determiners, and possessive pronouns
Possessive determiners function grammatically like adjectives, modifying a noun or nouns.
However, they cannot function as nouns in a sentence. For example:
✔ “My dad’s glasses went missing.” (My is correctly used as a possessive determiner, modifying dad to show his relation to the speaker.)
✖ “Hey, those glasses are my!” (My is incorrectly used as a possessive pronoun; it should read “Hey, those are my glasses!” or “Hey, those glasses are mine!”)
Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns in the possessive case which have the grammatical function of nouns. For example:
• “I can see mine through the window!”
• “You said you bought yours for $50?”
• “Jenny seems pretty sure that the book is hers.”
Be aware that the possessive determiners and possessive pronouns for the third-person masculine and third-person neuter are the same (his and his, its and its), although its is more often used as a possessive determiner in the phrase its own. For example:
• “He said it was his computer, but I don’t think it is actually his.”
• “As the campaign reached the peak of its success, it seemed to take on a life of its own.”
- Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns are used when someone or something is both the subject and the object 
of the same verb—that is, both that which is performing the action of the verb and that 
which is receiving the action. When this happens, the reflexive verb is used as the object of 
the verb to represent the person or thing.
The reflexive pronouns are myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, herself, himself, itself, 
themselves, and oneself. The last of these is formed from the gender-neutral indefinite 
pronoun one (which also has the possessive form one’s); however, the pronoun one is not a personal pronoun.
• I wish you could hear yourselves right now!
• She admitted to herself that she was wrong.
• The vole hides itself beneath the ground for safety.
• The players have really outdone themselves today!
• One should strive to better oneself every day.
On a final note, a reflexive pronoun can never be used as the subject of a verb—it can only act as the object, 
and only when the person or thing it represents is already being used as the subject.

- Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are identical to reflexive pronouns—
myself, yourself, ourselves, himself, herself, itself, and themselves. 
However, intensive pronouns do not serve a grammatical function in a sentence; instead, they add emphasis by reiterating the subject of the sentence (known as the pronoun’s antecedent).
When we use an intensive pronoun to add emphasis to a sentence, 
we generally place it after either its antecedent or the direct object of the verb. For instance:
• “The surgeon general himself will oversee the operation.”
• “They themselves indicated that the transactions might be illegal.”
• “He did it himself, much to his father’s surprise.”
• “We designed the album artwork ourselves.
If we use an intensive pronoun to add a pointed or argumentative emphasis to the sentence, it comes after the direct object, as in:
• “I can operate the TV remote myself, thank you very much.”

- Indefinite Pronouns
An indefinite pronoun is used in place of a noun without specifying a particular person or thing 
that is being represented. There are quite a few indefinite pronouns, 
which you can see listed in the table below. Look them over, and then read on to learn about their usage.

a. Singular vs. Plural
Many pronouns that refer to more than one—e.g., everything, everyone, much, etc.—
are considered singular. This is because, grammatically, they function as a single unit (like the collective nouns team, group, collection, etc., which are made up of multiple people or things). As a result, they must take a singular verb and have agreement with the rest of the text. For example:
• “Everyone is invited.”
• “I hope everything is alright; I would hate if it wasn’t.”
Likewise, the plural pronouns must have plural agreement with their verbs and other parts of the text:
• “Many are in agreement with their peers.”
Some pronouns can function either as singular or plural, depending on context and usage; 
thus, their verb agreement changes accordingly. For example:
• “All are welcome should they wish to attend.” (plural)
• “All is right with the world.” (singular)
b. People vs. Things
• “I can’t believe nobody/no one/no-one came to my play!”
• “She’s hoping somebody/someone will help her with her work.”
• “Whoever/whosoever would like to join us is more than welcome.”
• “Hire whomever/whomsoever you think would be the most appropriate for the job.”
• “They* say you should always wear a helmet on a bicycle.”
...

*Usage note: Generic “you” and “they”
The second-person pronouns (you, your, yours, yourself, yourselves) are also often used as indefinite pronouns to indicate an unspecified person. This is sometimes referred to as generic you, impersonal you, or indefinite you
Similarly, the third-person plural pronoun they can be used as an indefinite pronoun to refer to people in general. It is usually used in the form “They say…,” as in “They say that drinking too often is bad for your health.” However, this is considered very informal, and would be frowned upon in formal, professional, or academic writing


Any indefinite pronoun that is formed with “-thing” is, understandably, only used to refer to things. (One can also refer to things, but only as a quantifier, which functions differently in a sentence than the impersonal pronoun one.)
Let’s look at examples of the indefinite pronouns that only apply to things:
• “I don’t care what I eat, so just order me anything.”
• “I think she has had enough.”
• “He wanted to buy everything in the shop.”
• “The less you know, the better.”
• “As I’ve gotten older, I’ve realized that I know very little.”
• “It’s your money, so buy whichever you like.”

c. People and Things
In such cases, we rely on context or other elements of the sentence to know which:
• “One was short and stout; the other was long and skinny.”
In the above sentence, we don’t know whether one and other refer to people or to things; we have to rely on comes before or after the sentence to know which. Now let’s look at another example:
• “Each to his own—that’s what I always say!”
Because it is used in conjunction with the personal pronoun his, we can infer that the indefinite pronoun each is referring to a person. Likewise:
• “Get both if you like them so much.”
You don’t “get” (as in “acquire”) people, so we can safely assume that both is referring to things.

Indefinite Adjectives vs. Indefinite Pronouns

Some indefinite pronouns can also function as indefinite adjectives if they come immediately before a noun. For example:
• “There is more to be done.” (indefinite pronoun)
• “There is more work to be done.” (indefinite adjective)

• “There is another who can fill in, if necessary.” (indefinite pronoun)
• “There is another student who can fill in, if necessary.” (indefinite adjective)

Demonstrative Pronouns

Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns used to replace nouns or noun phrases in a
sentence, representing that which is nearby or far away in space or time。

Because demonstrative pronouns are less specific than the nouns or noun phrases they replace, you must use context to clarify what is being referred to. In spoken English, this can mean having to gesture toward, point to, or look at the thing or things indicated by the demonstrative pronoun. In written English, demonstrative pronouns are usually used to refer to previously mentioned nouns, ideas, or topics.
Here is a complete list of demonstrative pronouns:
this
that
these
those
none
such
neither

• “This isn’t mine.” (singular, nearby)
• “Give me that.” (singular, not near)
• “These are really gross.” (plural, nearby)
• “I forgot to bring those.” (plural, not near)
Demonstrative pronouns can also be used to indicate more abstract things, such as chronological events or ideas:
• “I really love this!” (This can possibly represent a physically close thing, a current event, or a recently developed idea.)
• “That was so cool.” (That can possibly represent a physically distant thing, a past event, or an old idea.)


The less commonly used demonstrative pronouns are 
none, 
such, 
and neither. 
None and such can be used as both singular and plural demonstrative pronouns.
For example:
• “None of this makes sense.” (None is singular because this is singular.)
• “None of the people here seem to like the cake I made.” (None is plural because the people is plural.*)
• “Such is the way of life.” (Such is singular because the way of life is singular.)
• “Such are the rules.” (Such is plural because the rules is plural.)

On the other hand, neither is always treated as a singular demonstrative pronoun, regardless of the presence of any plural nouns:
✔ “Neither sounds good to me.” (correct)
✔ “I think neither of the twins wants a babysitter.” (correct)
✖ “Neither of his parents work at the firm.” (incorrect)

Describing people with demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns always represent nouns, typically things, places, events, ideas, and animals. In certain cases, however, some of these pronouns may also be used to describe people. This can only be done when the person is identified by the pronoun’s antecedent within the same sentence. For example:
• “That is Amy standing by the door.”
• “This must be Jake.”
• “That appears to be the woman I saw earlier.”
• “Who is that?”
✖ “Go talk to that.” (incorrect; no antecedent)
✔ “Go talk to that woman.” (correct)
✖ “That is quite handsome.” (incorrect; no antecedent)
✔ “That man is quite handsome.” (correct)


Demonstrative pronouns vs. demonstrative adjectives and determiners
Some demonstrative pronouns may also be used as demonstrative adjectives or determiners, but their usage is quite different. As demonstrative pronouns, this, that, these,  those, such, and neither represent nouns. As demonstrative adjectives and determiners, however, these same words instead modify nouns, appearing immediately before them in a sentence. We can see this in the examples below:
• “She wants to photograph this.” (demonstrative pronoun)
• “She wants to photograph this painting.” (demonstrative adjective)
• “That is one of my favorites.” (demonstrative pronoun)
• “That book is one of my favorites.” (demonstrative adjective)

None is the only demonstrative pronoun that does not also function as a demonstrative adjective:
✔ “I’ll eat none.” (correct)
✖ “I’ll eat none sandwiches.” (incorrect)

Interrogative Pronouns

Interrogative pronouns are used in interrogative sentences to ask questions, functioning
either as the subject or object of such sentences. There are five primary interrogative
pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and what.
There are other interrogative pronouns as well that are used for emphatic purposes, which we’ll cover later in this section.

Most often, interrogative pronouns are used in direct questions, representing the person or thing that is being asked about. In direct questions, the interrogative pronoun usually comes at or near the beginning of the interrogative clause, acting as either the subject or object of the sentence. For example:
• “Who is coming to the party tonight?” (subject)
• “Whom did you ask to fill in for Mr. Smith?” (object)*
• “Whose is this computer?” (subject)
• “So, which will it be: $10,000 or a new sports car?” (object)
• “What do you expect me to do, exactly?” (object)

An interrogative pronoun is easy to identify because it can stand on its own in a sentence and takes the grammatical function of a noun. Other question words, on the other hand, act as adverbs when they stand alone, as in:
• “How did you find me?” (How modifies the verb find.)
• “When are we leaving?” (When modifies the verb leaving.)
• “Why did we stay?” (Why modifies the verb stay.)

Usage Note: Whom is becoming increasingly rare in modern English. Although it is technically correct to use whom when it functions as the object of a verb and who when it functions as the subject, it is much more common to use who in both cases.


Interrogative pronouns can also appear within indirect questions. When this happens, they appear in the middle of the sentence. Indirect questions are sometimes used to ask something in a more polite way, as in:
• “Could you tell me whose these are?”
• “Would you mind telling me which I’m supposed to bring?”
• “Do you know what we’re doing here?
Other times, indirect questions are used for emphasis to convey surprise:
• “She wants who to come to the party?”
• “You’re going to do what in New York City?”
• “He’s going to ask whom out on a date?”*


Interrogative pronouns also appear in the middle of reported questions. Reported questions are actually a form of declarative sentences using reported speech (also called indirect speech): they tell us about something someone else asked, but do not ask a question themselves. As such, they do not end in a question mark. For example:
• “She wants to know whose these are.”
• “He wondered which is correct.”
• “I asked you what we were supposed to do today.”
• “She was wondering who would be coming tomorrow.”
• “They asked whom to consult in the matter.”

There are technically seven other interrogative pronouns—whoever, whomever, whichever, whatever, whatsoever, whosoever, and whomsoever—that are used for emphatic purposes, but they are typically used in more formal or old-fashioned English. For examp

• “Whoever would believe such a story?”
• “Whatever could I have done to make you so angry?”
• “Whomever did you ask to accompany you to the gala on such short notice?”
• “Whichever will the gentleman choose, I wonder?

The last three, whatsoever, whosoever, and whomsoever, are synonymous with whatever, whoever, and whomever. However, they are considered even more antiquated in modern English, bordering on archaic. It is uncommon to come across them even in more formal speech or writing.

Many of the interrogative pronouns we’ve examined above often serve other grammatical functions in different contexts. It’s important to know the difference between them

Interrogative Adjectives
Three of the interrogative pronouns—whose, which, and what—can also function as
interrogative adjectives, meaning they come before and modify another noun. An easy way to be sure whether you are dealing with an interrogative adjective or an interrogative pronoun is to check  whether the question word is immediately followed by a noun it modifies. For example:
• “What book is your favorite?”
• “What are you reading?”

Who, whom, which, and whose can also be used as relative pronouns in declarative
sentences. They are not considered interrogative in this form, because they are no longer associated with a question; rather, they are used to help clarify whom or what a sentence is talking about, or else give extra information about it. For example:
• “I helped the old man who lives down the road with his groceries.”
• “The computer, which belonged to my brother, is very slow.”
• “Could the person whose car is parked outside please move it?”
• “A man who/whom I had never met before greeted me in the street.”
In addition, the pronouns whoever, whichever, and whatever are also used as indefinite
relative pronouns. They are much more commonly used in this way in modern English than they are as interrogative pronouns. For example:
• “Do whatever you please; I don’t care.”
• “Whoever decides to join us is more than welcome.”
• “Take whichever route is fastest.”
Whomever can also be used in this way when the pronoun functions as an object, as in:
• “Be with whomever makes you happy.”

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a type of pronoun used to connect a relative clause (also known as an adjective clause) to the main clause in a sentence. Relative clauses either help clarify who or what a sentence is talking about (known as the antecedent), or else give extra information about it.
Here are the five most commonly used relative pronouns:
that
which
who
whom
whose
Less commonly used relative pronouns include the following:
where
when
whoever
whosoever
whomever
whichever
wherever
whatever
whatsoever

In a relative clause, the relative pronoun functions in one of three ways: as the subject, the object, or a possessive pronoun (though whose is the only possessive relative pronoun). The usage of a relative pronoun ultimately depends on its antecedent and the relative clause it introduces.

• “The woman who came to my house was a salesperson.” (Who is the subject of the relative clause who came to my house, which describes the antecedent the woman.)
• “The male birds danced and sang, which attracted nearby females.” (Which is the subject of the non-restrictive relative clause which attracted nearby females that describes the antecedent danced and sang.)
• “I have to go mend the fence that is broken.” (That is the subject of the restrictive relative clause that is broken, describing the antecedent the fence.)
• “I want a computer which can download a lot of games.” (Which is the subject of the relative clause which can download a lot of games and describes the antecedent a computer.)

• “I don’t know if I passed the test that I took yesterday.” (That is the object of relative clause that I took yesterday and describes the antecedent the test.)
• “The new employee whom I hired is a dedicated worker.” (Whom is the object of the relative clause whom I hired and describes the antecedent the new employee.)

The relative pronoun whose is unique in that it is the only one that can describe possession. It comes before a noun in a sentence, modifying it like an adjective to indicate that it belongs to the antecedent.
• “She tried to help the student whose lunch money had been stolen.” (Whose modifies
lunch money and introduces the relative clause whose lunch money had been stolen, which describes the antecedent the student.)

Most relative pronouns are capable of multiple functions and usages, meaning they can be used in place of one another in certain circumstances. The table below gives a quick breakdown of when it is acceptable to use each relative pronoun:

• “The woman who/that came to my house was a salesperson.” (Who and that are interchangeable when describing people.)
• “The new employee whom/who/that* I hired is a dedicated worker.” (In addition to
whom, who and that can also be used as an object in informal English when describing a person in a restrictive relative clause.)
• “The mailman, whom/who* my father knew in high school, is running for the state senate.” (When whom is the object of a non-restrictive relative clause, it can only be replaced by who)
• “I want a computer that/which** can download a lot of games.” (Which and that can both describe things.)

Usage note 1: Traditionally, whom is considered the only correct relative pronoun when
functioning as the object of a relative clause, but nowadays who is also acceptable (as is
that in restrictive relative clauses). In fact, most people these days only use who, while
whom tends to be reserved for formal English.)
Usage note 2: In general, the relative pronoun that is preferable to which in restrictive
relative clauses; however, which is largely considered acceptable, especially in informal
writing. We will discuss the differences between restrictive and non-restrictive clauses in
more detail later


• “The male birds danced and sang, which attracted nearby females.” (Since which is the
subject of a non-restrictive relative clause describing a thing (the act of dancing and
singing), it cannot be replaced by any other relative pronoun.)
• “She tried to help the student whose lunch money had been stolen.” (Only whose can be used as a possessive relative pronoun, whether it describes a person or a thing.)

Restrictive vs. non-restrictive relative clauses

- Restrictive relative clauses 
Restrictive relative clauses (also known as defining relative clauses) are clauses carrying
essential information. Without its restrictive relative clause, a main clause will lack a vital
description and fail to convey the full or appropriate meaning. Because of the necessity o their information, restrictive relative clauses are not set apart by commas:
• “I’ve never understood people who hate sports.”
• “That book that I read when I was young is being made into a movie.”
• “Here is the website which my sister created.”
• “Did you hear about the sailor whose ship was haunted by a headless ghost?”
• “I think a man whom my father hired has been stealing from the company.”

That vs. which in restrictive clauses
As discussed earlier, that is preferable to which in restrictive relative clauses, though many writers tend to use both, especially in less formal writing. As a general rule, though, which is normally reserved for non-restrictive relative clauses, which we will learn about in the following section.

- Non-restrictive (non-defining) relative clauses
Unlike restrictive relative clauses, non-restrictive relative clauses (or non-defining
relative clauses) contain non-essential or additional information to the main clause that,
when taken away, does not affect or dramatically change the overall intent and meaning of the sentence.
Non-restrictive clauses require the use of commas to distinguish the non-essential
information from the rest of the sentence.
Which is used to introduce non-restrictive clauses that describe things or non-domestic
animals:

• “The large park, which she used to visit when she was young, had been around for many years and was a popular gathering spot for children.”
• “I had to search extensively for the missing cookbook, which took me many hours to
find.”
• “The song, which was his favorite, could be heard from miles away.”
• “The cattle, which always wander away from the ranch, didn’t return until nightfall.”


Who and whom may also be used in non-restrictive clauses that describe people or domestic animals:
• “The woman, who volunteers at a local homeless shelter, won the lottery.”
• “My friend, Tom, whom I haven’t seen in years, is coming to stay with us tomorrow.”
• “Our dog, who is missing one of his hind legs, ran away yesterday.”	

Whose can be used with both people and things in non-restrictive clauses:
• “Jane, whose primary goal is to become a doctor, sent out her medical school
applications last month.”
• “The old bank, whose exterior is falling apart, is remarkably beautiful on the inside.”


It is important to remember that that, 
as a relative pronoun, 
can only be used in restrictive relative clauses. 
On the contrary,
who, whom, whose, and which are all capable of introducing both restrictive and non-restrictive relative clauses (although, in restrictive relative clauses, that is preferable to which)

- Omitting relative pronouns
Sometimes, especially in informal writing, relative pronouns can be omitted altogether. This
can only be done when the relative pronoun is the object of a restrictive relative clause.
For example, if a relative pronoun is the object of a clause, there are several ways you can
phrase the sentence, depending on how formal or informal you want it to sound:
• “The girl to whom I gave my ice cream looked up and smiled at me.” (very formal)
• “The girl whom I gave my ice cream to looked up and smiled at me.” (formal)
• “The girl who I gave my ice cream to looked up and smiled at me.” (casual)
• “The girl that I gave my ice cream to looked up and smiled at me.” (very casual)
• “The girl I gave my ice cream to looked up and smiled at me.” (most casual)

Unlike whom, which can only act as an object of a relative clause, who and that can function
as both objects and subjects when describing people; therefore, in relative clauses, it is
acceptable to replace the rather formal-sounding whom with either who or that, or omit the
relative pronoun entirely

When describing things instead of people, the relative pronouns that and which may be
omitted as long as they are used, like whom, as an object of a restrictive relative clause:
• “The house that I want to buy is going on sale today.”
• “The house which I want to buy is going on sale today.”
• “The house I want to buy is going on sale today.”

Similarly, if a relative clause uses an auxiliary verb (such as to be) + a present or past
participle after the relative pronoun, it can be worded like this:
• “The girl who is jumping into the lake is a world-famous diver.”
• “The girl that is jumping into the lake is a world-famous diver.”
• “The girl jumping into the lake is a world-famous diver.”

Relative pronouns as objects of prepositions
In certain cases, relative pronouns can be used as objects of prepositions, meaning the
relative pronoun works in conjunction with a preposition to modify the subject or verb of
the relative clause. Only whose, which, and whom can function as objects of prepositions.
In more formal English, we place a preposition before the pronoun. Here are some of the
combinations you might see:
with whom
to whom
for whom
through which
of which
about which
from which
at whose
in whose
with whose

In modern English, positioning prepositions in front of relative pronouns often sounds overly
formal, in particular when it comes to the relative pronoun whom. As a result, it is generally
acceptable for a preposition to come after a relative clause instead of before a relative
pronoun. For example:
• “The teacher with whom I spoke had many interesting things to say.” (Very formal)
• “The teacher whom/who/that I spoke with had many interesting things to say.” (Less
formal. Whom is most often replaced by either who or that, and the preposition with is
moved to the end of the relative clause.)

• “The teacher I spoke with had many interesting things to say.” (Most casual. The relative
pronoun is omitted, and the preposition is kept at the end of the relative clause.)

• “The home in which I grew up holds many dear memories for me.” (Very formal. In this
case, you cannot replace which with that, as that cannot be used as an object of a
preposition in a relative clause.)
• “The home that/which I grew up in holds many dear memories for me.” (less formal)
• “The home I grew up in holds many dear memories for me.” (most casual)

he pronoun whose follows this same pattern of prepositional placement, except that it
cannot be substituted with another pronoun and it cannot be omitted:
• “My friend, in whose house I’m staying, invited me to see a movie with him.” (very
formal)
• “My friend, whose house I’m staying in, invited me to see a movie with him.” (less
formal)

When and Where
When and where are also used as relative pronouns, especially in less formal writing and
conversation. They are always used in restrictive relative clauses.
We use when to describe antecedents that have to do with time, as in:
• “That’s the day when we met.”
• “I’m looking forward to a time when the world will be at peace.”
We use where to describe antecedents that have to do with location, as in:
• “The café where we went on Sunday was very nice.”
• “The town where she lives is only an hour away.”

In more formal English, where and when are often replaced with a preposition + which to
mark precise locations or points in time. For example:
• “We preferred a part of the country where we could live in peace and quiet.”
• “We preferred a part of the country in which we could live in peace and quiet .”
• “Ben is looking forward to the day when he can finally join the army.”
• “Ben is looking forward to the day on which he can finally join the army.”

Reciprocal Pronouns

Reciprocal pronouns are used to refer to two or more people who are or were the subject
of the same verb, with both or all parties mutually receiving or benefiting from that action in
the same way. Reciprocal pronouns always function as the objects of verbs, referring back
to the two or more people who are or were the subject(s).
The two reciprocal pronouns in English are each other and one another. In more traditional
grammar, each other is used to identify only two people who are engaged in the mutual
action, while one another describes more than two people. However, this supposed “rule”
is less commonly applied in modern English, with each other and one another often being
used interchangeably.
Because the subjects of the sentence are also the objects of the same verb, it might seem
logical to use one of the reflexive pronouns to represent them instead, as in:
However, this is incorrect. Reflexive pronouns are used with “one-way” actions, so saying
“we call ourselves” means each person is calling him- or herself individually—i.e., person
A calls person A every day, person B calls person B every day, and so on.
Because we are describing a reciprocal action of the verb (meaning the action is mutually
given and received between the parties involved), we must therefore use a reciprocal
pronoun. The correct expression would thus be:
✖ “We call ourselves every day.”
• “We call each other every day.”
or
• “We call one another every day.”
Now the sentence means that person A calls person B every day, 
and person B calls person A every day

As we said already, we can use both each other and one another to refer to reciprocal
action between two individuals or between multiple people in larger groups—it depends
entirely on the context. If we have already been talking about Mary and Susan before we say
“they love one another,” then it is obvious that the action is limited to those two. Likewise, if
we had been talking about the various members of a large family and then say “they love
each other,” then it is clear that the action is reciprocal among all of the individuals in the
group.
Again, while traditional and prescriptive grammarians sometimes insist that each other can
only be used between two people and one another can only be used between more than two
people, this guideline is not based on historical or linguistic evidence. The two are
interchangeable.

Each other’s and One another’s
When we wish to make reciprocal pronouns possessive, we always treat them as singular
and add “-’s” to the end. Because both each other and one another refer to the individuals
within a pair or group, they cannot take the plural possessive form (i.e., each others’ or one
anothers’).
However, because we are talking about things belonging to two or more people, the nouns
that follow their possessive form are usually pluralized. For example:

• “My neighbor and I spent a lot of time at each other’s houses when we were kids.”
• “The students were sent off in pairs to correct one another’s assignments.”
• “Everyone at the rally was bolstered by each other’s energy.”

Dummy Pronouns

Dummy pronouns are words that function grammatically as pronouns, but which do not have
antecedents like normal pronouns do. This means that, unlike normal pronouns, dummy
pronouns do not replace a noun, phrase, or clause. They refer to nothing in particular, but
instead help the sentence to function properly in a grammatical context. Dummy pronouns are
also commonly referred to as expletive pronouns.
There are two dummy pronouns, there and it.

There is primarily used as a dummy pronoun in circumstances where the sentence is
explaining that a person, place, or thing exists. When the word there is being used in this
manner, it is often referred to as the existential there. For example, the following sentences
contain the dummy pronoun there to explain the existence of people, places, or things:
• “There is a ship in the harbor.”
• “There is a bowl on the table.”
• “There were flowers in the meadow.”
• “There is a river that passes through the mountain.”
• “There are many reasons to go to Jamaica.”

The dummy pronoun there can be used in either a singular or plural context. When it is used
in a singular context, the correlating nouns and verbs have singular endings; when it is used
in a plural context, the corresponding nouns and verbs have plural ending

• “There is a fence around the yard.”
In this case, the existence of only one thing, a fence, is being discussed. Therefore, the
singular verb is and the singular noun fence are used. Here is another example of there being
used in a singular context:

• “There are two fences around the yard.”
This sentence discusses the existence of two fences, and thus the plural form is used. This is
demonstrated by the use of the plural verb are and the plural noun fences. 

Difference from adverbial there
Although the word there can be used as a dummy pronoun, it can also be used as an adverb.
Because of this fact, it is important to know the difference between the two.
When there is being used as an adverb, it is taking the place of an adverbial phrase,
oftentimes an adverbial prepositional phrase. For example, consider the following
sentences:

• “They swam in the water.”
• “I’m going to hide the cookies up above the fridge.”
In this sentence, in the water is a prepositional phrase that functions as an adverb. However,
this adverbial can be replaced by the word there:
• “They swam there.”
• “I’m going to hide the cookies up there.”
In these cases, the word there acts as an adverbial that gives further information about where
the action takes place. But, if the word there was used differently in a similar sentence, it
could function as a dummy pronoun. For example:
• “There were fish where they swam.”
• “There are cookies up above the fridge.”
Both of these sentences use the existential there to explain that certain things—namely, the
fish and the cookies—exist. There also does not have any antecedents in these sentences, so
it is clearly functioning as a dummy pronoun in both.

Just like the dummy pronoun there, it is also used as a pronoun without an antecedent in
sentences. It is commonly used in situations when weather, distance, or time is being
discussed.

• “It looks like it may snow tonight.”
• “Is it raining?”
• ”It was very sunny at the beach last weekend.”
• “It always seems to sleet when he drives on the highway.

• “It is very far from North America to Europe.”
• “Is it a long drive to get to the mountain?”
• “It is a short walk once you get out of the forest.”
• “It is farther than you think to drive to California.”

 “It is 4:30.
• “It was earlier than he expected.”
• “Could you tell me what time it is?”
• “She told him to come back when It was later in the day.”

There are a number of other situations where it can be used as a dummy pronoun, without
pertaining to weather, distance, or time.
When it functions as an empty subject to introduce or “anticipate” something that appears
later in the sentence, it is sometimes referred to as anticipatory it:


• “It was assumed that the tour guide knew exactly how to get there.”
• “It seems that four people showed up instead of the expected two.”
It can also function as an object when it is a dummy pronoun:
• “The teacher seemed a bit out of it yesterday.
• “Watch it, pal!”

Notice that in all of the examples above, it is only functioning as a singular dummy pronoun.
This is because it can’t be plural. This means that the verbs and objects in sentences with the
dummy pronoun it have to be singular as well.

A subject is a noun or pronoun that performs the action of the verb. An object is a noun or
pronoun that receives the action of the verb,
The dummy pronoun it can either function as the subject of a sentence or as the object,
although it is more commonly used as the subject. Existential there, on the other hand, can
only be a subject.
The word there can function as the object of a preposition, as in “We left from there.”
However, it is considered a noun in this case, not a pronoun.

• “There are many ducks in the pond.”
• “It is 12:30.”

• “Will he make it to the game?”
• “Cool it down.”