Personal Pronouns: Definition, List, and Examples

Personal Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun and save you from repeating yourself much in a single piece of writing.

Personal Pronouns such as she, us and they can clean up your writing. Make it more coherent.

Trinka’s free grammar checker will help catch Personal Pronoun mistakes and guide you to selecting the Personal Pronoun case, number and agreement every time.

A Personal Pronoun example:

• I saw a yellow butterfly flying near the zinnias in the backyard. It rested on a leaf for a moment, but it flew away before I could take a photo.
• Isaac had a scholarship for the first year of college because he got excellent grades during high school.

What is a Personal Pronoun?

A Personal Pronoun is used to replace or refer to a noun that is called an antecedent.

The Personal Pronoun then substitutes the antecedent, which in turn avoids the repetition of words throughout a piece of writing.

Some Personal Pronouns refer to people, such as me and he whereas others, such as it refer to places or things.

Personal Pronouns are always important to establish the antecedent before using a Personal Pronoun to refer to it.

There are four types of Personal Pronouns depending on their category:

• number. Singular or plural
• person. First, second or third
• case. Object, possessive or reflexive
• gender. For third-person singular Personal Pronouns representing people.

What are the different cases of Personal Pronouns?

The case of a Personal Pronoun tells us how that Personal Pronoun is being used in a sentence. English has four Personal Pronoun cases.

• Subject Personal Pronouns. I, we, she, he, they, you, it. Perform the action of the verb in the sentence.

  Example: Geraniums are gorgeous. They bloom all summer.

• Object Personal Pronouns. Me, us, her him, them, you, it. Are receiving the action of the verb or are following a preposition.

  Example: We always plant potatoes in March. Harvest them in July.

  Example: Daphne is popular. Everyone wants to sit by her.

• Possessive Personal Pronouns. Mine, ours hers, his, theirs. Indicate ownership. Can also function as a subject or an object.

  Example: Out of all the performances during Wicked hers was by far the best.

• Reflexive Personal Pronouns. Myself ourselves herself, himself themself, themselves yourself yourselves. Refer back to the Personal Pronoun in a sentence.

  Example: The toddlers played until they exhausted themselves.

What are the different first-person Personal Pronouns?

First-person Personal Pronouns refer to the person who is writing or speaking. The Personal Pronoun I is always capitalized.

First-person singular: I, me, mine, myself.

First-person plural: we, us, ours ourselves.

Examples of first-person Personal Pronouns:

• We have started saving money to visit Jamaica year.
• Our anniversary present was cooked dinner for by the neighbors.
• The lilacs by the driveway are ours.
• I bought a Zelda game for myself.

What are the different second-person Personal Pronouns?

Second-person Personal Pronouns refer to the person or people who are being addressed.

• Second-person singular: you, yours, yourself.
• Second-person plural: you, yours, yourselves.

Examples of second-person Personal Pronouns:

• You all should be proud of yourselves for exceeding the goals.
• Make sure the letter addressed to you is intended for you, not yours.

What are the different third-person Personal Pronouns?

Third-person Personal Pronouns refer to someone or something that is not the speaker or person being addressed.

• Third-person singular: she, her hers, herself he, him, his, himself they, them, theirs, themself or themselves.
• Third-person plural: they, them theirs themselves.

Examples of third-person Personal Pronouns:

• The raspberries will not be ready until they ripen.
• After customers inquired about the donuts the store decided to sell them.
• Each of the students decided it was best to come up with their project ideas.
• The artist signed the piece so her work would be recognized.

What are impersonal Personal Pronouns?

Impersonal Personal Pronouns do not refer to an individual but rather to human beings in a general sense.

The impersonal Personal Pronouns are one and oneself.

Examples of Personal Pronouns:

• When one decides to tackle a problem one should make a plan to complete the task.
• One always wants to achieve one’s potential.

Correct way to use personal pronouns

A student will use Personal Pronouns correctly by having an antecedent using the case and matching their number.

By focusing on these three factors sentences will read more cleanly and professionally.

Trinka’s free grammar checker will proofread for all of these issues in order to create coherent academic and business documents.