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Number - Singular or Plural

More than OneWhen the Pronoun Committee met in Amber and Igor’s cave, it realized another universal truth:Often there would be more than one speaker, more than one listener, and more than one unfortunate soul being talked about. So in addition to s...

Case - Subjective, Objective, Possessive

Pronoun Case - Watch OutRemember the section on nouns? Remember those nuggets of information we tucked away for the future? Remember those paragraphs mentioning the case of pronouns? Well, the future is now.1. Pronouns in the subjective case replace ...

Gender - Masculine, Feminine, Neuter

He or SheOur forbears on the Pronoun Committee had a sinister goal in mind: They set out to wreak havoc on people in the late 1900s and early 2000s. They invented one set of pronouns for men and another set for women, for they knew that one day we’...

Table of Personal Pronouns

You might want to bookmark this page.Now let’s put it all together. The first table below shows singular personal pronouns; the second, plural personal pronouns. Singular Personal Pronouns Person Subjective Case Objective Case Possessive Case ...

“Your” and “Its”

Personal Pronouns - Watch Out - Your and itsI would be remiss in my duties as an early 21st-century reincarnation of Miss Hamrick if I didn’t pause and talk a bit about serious problems many people have with two words: your and its. Let’s take yo...

Antecedents - Placement of Pronouns

Before we discuss the other types of pronouns, let’s pause and discuss the concept of pronoun antecedents.When you use a pronoun, it will typically refer to a word somewhere close by. That is, the noun the pronoun replaces sits somewhere in the vic...

Antecedents - Number and Gender

Pronoun AgreementYou must use a plural pronoun to refer to a plural noun, a singular pronoun to refer to a singular noun. This rule is called agreement in number. Thus: The young women pursued their career goals. That’s easy, and few people make th...

Sexist Writing

Sexist Writing - A QuagmireWhen Amber, Igor, and Miss Hamrick developed our language, they dreamed up another rule:Pronouns must agree with the gender of the nouns they replace or refer to. A pronoun referring to a woman or girl must be the feminine ...

Sexism - Proposed Solution

Make your antecedents plural.Refer to people, not a person. Refer to readers, not a reader. Talk about neighbors, not a neighbor. Then you can use they, their-theirs, them, and themselves.Problem solved.Some texts now use this approach. When generali...

Sexism - Other Solutions

Other tricks can help you avoid the problem of sexist writing:1. When you need a possessive pronoun, don’t write his or her. Instead, use an article so that the need for a pronoun goes away. The writer should submit his manuscript. The writer shou...

2. Reflexive Pronouns - The -self Words

Myself and Other MistakesThese are the reflexive ‑self pronouns, and we use them in the objective function to handle situations where the subject and the object of the sentence are the same person. (As discussed below, we also use these words as in...

2. Intensive Pronouns - The -self Words

Pronouns that EmphasizeFinally, the ‑self words also serve as intensives, structures enabling us to emphasize. We use them to repeat the noun referred to. In formal style, we put the ‑self word directly after the noun. In less formal settings, we...

3. Indefinite Pronouns

One, Each, Somebody, and Many OthersOodles of indefinite pronouns enable us to refer to any one, any two, several, or all in a group or class of persons or things or ideas. As shown in the list below, some of the pronouns have possessive forms. Unlik...

“They-Their-Them”

In the future, it will likely be regarded as correct to use third-person plural pronouns they-their-them to refer back to singular indefinite pronouns. In fact, the trend shows that they-their-them will correctly refer back not only to singular indef...

“None”

None Can Be PluralThe indefinite pronoun none requires some separate discussion. A myth has emerged that none always requires a singular verb.Not true.The word none can take the singular or the plural. In the words of New Fowler: It is a mistake to s...

“Each”

Each Is SingularUnder the traditional rule, the indefinite pronoun each is always singular and takes a singular verb.Thus: Each of the golfers wants to win the PGA. Each of us wishes for success. Some usage panels disagree. Consider this usage note ...

4. Demonstrative Pronouns

Four Important Words: This, That, These, and ThoseThese four words can serve as demonstrative pronouns or as demonstrative adjectives. This, That, These, Those - Pronouns We have four demonstrative pronouns in our language: this and that and their pl...

5. Relative Pronouns

That or Which? Who or Whom?Smart people get confused over relative pronouns. They use which when it feels good and that when it sounds right, and totally come apart when trying to sort out who-whom-whose.That, Which, Who, Whom, and WhoseAmber, Igor, ...

“Whose” and “Of Which”

When a possessive form is called for by the sentence, the word that has to bow out and rely on which to borrow a preposition to show possession. An example will show what I mean: Congress passed the statute, the purpose of which was to lower taxes. T...

Who, Whom, Whose

Who or Whom?Amber, Igor, and Miss Hamrick dreamed up that and which when they wanted to refer to inanimate objects and abstractions. But they also dreamed up a set of relative pronouns (who, whoever, whom, whomever, whose) to refer to people. These w...

“That” Can Refer to People

We use who-whom-whose to refer to humans and that-which to refer to inanimate objects and abstractions. Thus: The woman who became CEO was admired by all. The idea that she suggested ultimately succeeded. The report that she wrote sealed the deal. ...

That vs. Which

Which Is It? That? Or Which?Now we open the proverbial can of worms.Some people on earth know the differences between that and which. I’m one of them. So is your boss. Maybe.Enough discerning readers out there do know the differences. So it’ll pa...

6. Interrogative Pronouns

Amber, Igor, and Miss Hamrick had lots of questions they wanted to ask, so they convened the Grammar Committee and devised ways to interrogate members of the tribe. First, they decided to form questions by including an auxiliary verb and then putting...

7. Reciprocal Pronouns

Each Other and One AnotherWe have only two of these pronouns, they come in pairs, and they typically appear as objects: each other and one another. We use them to show some sort of a relationship between two or more people or larger groups. Like this...

Fear of Using Pronouns

Pronominal PhobiaAs we conclude our discussion of the seven kinds of pronouns, I should pause to point out a problem with the writing styles of many people, particularly professionals. For some unknown reason, professional people like to repeat profe...