Personal , Possessive and Reflexive Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:

Number          : singular (eg: I) or plural (eg: we)

Person           : 1st person (eg: I), 2nd person (eg: you) or 3rd person (eg: he)

Gender           : male (eg: he), female (eg: she) or neuter (eg: it)

Case               : subject (eg: we) or object (eg: us)

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he" or "him". And so on.

Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

Number	Person	Gender	Personal Pronouns
			Subject	Object
Singular	1st	male/ female	I	me
	2nd	male/ female	you	you
	3rd	male	he	him
		female	she	her
		neuter	it	it
Plural	1st	male/ female	we	us
	2nd	male/ female	you	you
	3rd	male/ female/ neuter	they	them

Examples (in each pair, the first sentence shows a subject pronoun, the second anobject pronoun):

·         I like coffee. / John helped me.

·         Do you like coffee? / John loves you.

·         He runs fast. / Did Ram beat him?

·         She is clever. / Does Mary know her?

·         It doesn't work. / Can the man fix it?

·         We went home. / Anthony drove us.

·         Do you need a table for three? / Did John and Mary beat you at doubles?

·         They played doubles. / John and Mary beat them.

When we are talking about a single thing, we almost always use it. However, there are a few exceptions. We may sometimes refer to an animal as he/him or she/her, especially if the animal is domesticated or a pet. Ships (and some other vessels or vehicles) as well as some countries are often treated as female and referred to asshe/her. Here are some examples:

·         This is our dog Rusty. He's an Alsatian.

·         The Titanic was a great ship but she sank on her first voyage.

·         My first car was a Mini and I treated her like my wife.

·         Thailand has now opened her border with Cambodia.

For a single person, sometimes we don't know whether to use he or she. There are several solutions to this:

·         If a teacher needs help, he or she should see the principal.

·         If a teacher needs help, he should see the principal.

·         If a teacher needs help, they should see the principal.

We often use it to introduce a remark:

·         It is nice to have a holiday sometimes.

·         It is important to dress well.

·         It's difficult to find a job.

·         Is it normal to see them together?

·         It didn't take long to walk here.

We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:

·         It's raining.

·         It will probably be hot tomorrow.

·         Is it nine o'clock yet?

·         It's 50 kilometres from here to Cambridge.

Possessive Pronouns

We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).

We use possessive pronouns depending on:

• number: singular (eg: mine) or plural (eg: ours)
• person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (eg: yours) or 3rd person (eg: his)
• gender: male (his), female (hers)

Below are the possessive pronouns, followed by some example sentences. Notice that each possessive pronoun can:

• be subject or object
• refer to a singular or plural antecedent

number	person	gender (of "owner")	possessive pronouns
singular	1st	male/ female	mine
	2nd	male/ female	yours
	3rd	male	his
		female	hers
plural	1st	male/ female	ours
	2nd	male/ female	yours
	3rd	male/ female/ neuter	theirs

• Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture)
• I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers) 
• I looked everywhere for your key. I found John's key but I couldn't find yours. (object = your key)
• My flowers are dying. Yours are lovely. (subject = Your flowers) 
• All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay)
• John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport)
• John found his clothes but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her clothes) 
• Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it. (subject = Our car)
• Your photos are good. Ours are terrible. (subject = Our photos) 
• Each couple's books are colour-coded. Yours are red. (subject = Your books)
• I don't like this family's garden but I like yours. (object = your garden) 
• These aren't John and Mary's children. Theirs have black hair. (subject = Their children)
• John and Mary don't like your car. Do you like theirs? (object = their car)

Notice that the Interrogative pronoun whose can also be a possessive pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun). Look at these examples:

• There was $100 on the table and Tara wondered whose it was.
• This car hasn't moved for two months. Whose is it?

Reflexive Pronouns

reflexive (adj.) [grammar]: reflecting back on the subject, like a mirror

We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).

There are eight reflexive pronouns:

	reflexive pronoun
singular	myself yourself himself, herself, itself
plural	ourselves yourselves themselves

Look at these examples:

non-reflexive the underlined words are NOT the same person/thing	REFLEXIVE pronouns the underlined words are the SAME person/thing
John saw me.	I saw myself in the mirror.
Why does he blame you?	Why do you blame yourself?
David sent him a copy.	John sent himself a copy.
David sent her a copy.	Mary sent herself a copy.
My dog hurt the cat.	My dog hurt itself.
We blame you.	We blame ourselves.
Can you help my children?	Can you help yourselves?
They cannot look after the babies.	They cannot look after themselves.

Intensive pronouns

Notice that all the above reflexive pronouns can also act as intensive pronouns, but the function and usage are different. An intensive pronoun emphasizes its antecedent. Look at these examples:

• I made it myself. OR I myself made it.
• Have you yourself seen it? OR Have you seen it yourself?
• The President himself promised to stop the war.
• She spoke to me herself. OR She herself spoke to me.
• The exam itself wasn't difficult, but the exam room was horrible.
• Never mind. We'll do it ourselves.
• You yourselves asked us to do it.
• They recommend this book even though they themselves had never read it. ORThey recommend this book even though they had never read it themselves.

Reference:

englishclub.com, Personal Pronouns.

englishclub.com, Possessive Pronouns.

englishclub.com, Reflexive Pronouns.