Definition:
A word (one of the parts of speech) that takes the place of a noun. Adjective: pronominal. There are several different classes of pronouns:
- Demonstrative Pronouns
- Indefinite Pronouns
- Interrogative Pronouns
- Personal Pronouns
- Possessive Pronouns
- Reciprocal Pronouns
- Reflexive Pronouns
- Relative Pronouns
- Generic Pronoun
- Gender
- Person
- Using the Different Forms of Pronouns
- Relative Pronouns and Adjective Clauses
- Pronouns: Practice Exercise
Etymology:
From the Greek, "interchange of names"Examples and Observations:
- "I, pronoun. In grammar it is a pronoun of the first person and singular number. Its plural is said to be "We," but how there can be more than one myself is doubtless clearer to the grammarians than it is to the author of this incomparable dictionary."
(Ambrose Bierce) - Chalmers: Well, Seymour, it seems we've put together a baseball team and I was wondering, who's on first, eh?
Skinner: Not the pronoun, but rather a player with the unlikely name of "Who" is on first.
Chalmers: Well that's just great, Seymour. We've been out here six seconds and you've already managed to blow the routine.
("Screaming Yellow Honkers," The Simpsons, 1999) - "She got her looks from her father. He's a plastic surgeon."
(Groucho Marx) - "We rolled all over the floor, in each other's arms, like two huge helpless children. He was naked and goatish under his robe, and I felt suffocated as he rolled over him. We rolled over me. They rolled over him. We rolled over us."
(Vladimir Nabokov, Lolita) - "I used to be with it, but then they changed what 'it' was. Now, what I'm with isn't it, and what's 'it' seems weird and scary to me."
(Abe in "Homerpalooza," The Simpsons) - "I am he as you are he as you are me and we are all together."
(John Lennon and Paul McCartney, "I Am the Walrus")
Pronunciation: PRO-nown
