Microsoft Word Theoretical Course of English Grammar

The pronoun 
The problem of the grammatical categorization of pronouns, like numerals, is controver-
sial. Some linguists (for instance, Fromkin, Rodman, Hyams, Biber, Conrad, Leech, Greenbaum 
and Quirk) consider pronouns as function word subclass, because they are devoid of indepen-
dent lexical meaning and their system is closed. Others, Russian scholars mainly, think that 
pronouns should belong to the notional (i.e. content, lexical) parts of speech, as they can 
perform syntactic functions that of the subject, object and attribute independently (Blokh 1983: 
37-39).

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof. 
Nino Kirvalidze
29
The categorical meaning of pronouns is 
indication
or 
reference
. Pronouns fill the position 
of a noun or a whole noun phrase. The reference of a pronoun is usually made clear by its 
context. There are eight major classes of pronouns: 
1.
Personal pronouns refer to the speaker, the addressee (s) and other entities. They are 
used more frequently than other pronouns. E.g.:
I won’t tell you how it ended
.
2.
Demonstrative pronouns refer to entities which are “near to” or “away from” the
speaker’s immediate context: 
this book; that book
; 
these books; those 
books.
3.
Reflexive pronouns refer back to a previous noun phrase, usually the subject of the 
clause: 
I taught myself. She never introduced herself
.
4.
Reciprocal pronouns, like reflexive pronouns, refer to a previous noun phrase, but in-
dicate that there is mutual relationship:
They know each other pretty 
well
. 
5.
Possessive pronouns have two forms: 
possessive determinars, so-called conjoined forms, that are used attributively pre-
ceding a noun (e.g.: 
my book
, 
your sister
, 
their neighbours
); 
absolute forms of possessive pronouns (such as 
mine, yours, his, hers, ours, 
theirs
), which usually imply a missing noun head: 
This is my book. 
Where is yours 
?
6.
Indefinite pronouns have a broad, indefinite meaning. Some of them are compound 
words consisting of a quantifier + a general noun (
everything, nobody, 
some-body, someone, 
etc.). Others consist of a quantifier alone (
all, some, 
many, 
etc.). 
7.
Relative pronouns (
who, whom, which, what, that,
etc.) introduce an attributive rela-
tive clause: 
He is the guy who told me about this. 
8.
Interrogative pronouns ask questions about unknown entities:
What
did he say? 
I just wonder 
who
it was.
Most relative and interrogative pronouns belong to the class of wh-words. 

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Theoretical Course of English Grammar 
Script by prof.