Pronouns

• In English grammar, a pronoun is a word that

takes the place of a noun, noun phrase, or
noun clause. The pronoun is one of the
traditional parts of speech. A pronoun can
function as a subject, object, or complement
in a sentence. Unlike nouns, pronouns rarely
allow modification(closed word class)
Personal Pronouns
subject Object
1st person singular I Me
2nd person singular You You
3rd person singular She/ he /it Her/him/ it
1st person plural We Us
2nd person plural You You
3rd person plural They Them

Note that personal pronouns show whether they are serving as

subjects or as objects of verbs or prepositions. All the personal
pronouns except you have distinct forms indicating number,
either singular or plural. Only the third-person singular pronouns
have distinct forms indicating gender: masculine (he, him),
feminine (she, her), and neuter (it).
Demonstrative pronouns points to a particular
noun or to the noun it replaces.
Near in time or distance: this, these
Far in time or distance: that, those

A reflexive pronoun ends in -self or -selves and

is used as an object to refer to a previously
named noun or pronoun in a sentence. Reflexive
pronouns usually follow verbs or prepositions.
myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself,
themselves
An intensive pronoun ends in -self or -selves and
emphasizes its antecedent. It is also known as an
emphatic pronoun. Intensive pronouns often appear as
appositives after nouns or other pronouns.
• He, himself, wondered if the woman was his mother

A relative pronoun introduces an adjective clause (also

called a relative clause),
The standard relative pronouns in English are which, that,
who, whom, and whose. Who and whom refer only to
people. Which refers to things, qualities, and ideas—never
to people. That and whose refer to people, things,
qualities, and ideas.
• The boy, who was here, came to the event.
Interrogative Pronouns
The term interrogative pronoun refers to a pronoun that
introduces a question. In English, who, whom, whose,
which, and what commonly function as interrogative
pronouns, for example:
• Whom are you going to tell your problems to?
• What did she ask you?
When immediately followed by a noun, whose, which,
and what function as determiners or interrogative
adjectives. When they start a question, interrogative
pronouns have no antecedent, because what they refer
to is precisely what the question is trying to find out.
Source – grammar monster
Reciprocal Pronouns
A reciprocal pronoun expresses a mutual action
or relationship. In English, the reciprocal
pronouns are each other and one another, as in
this example:
• The man and his wife praised each other at
their silver anniversary party.
each other refers to two people or things, and
one another to more than two.
An indefinite pronoun refers to an unspecified
or unidentified person or thing. An indefinite
pronoun doesn't have an antecedent(a
referent). Indefinite pronouns include
quantifiers (some, any, enough, several, many,
or much); universals (all, both, every, or each);
and partitives (any, anyone, anybody, either,
neither, no, nobody, some, or someone). For
example:
• Everyone is here,
• Both of us love red.
• Some coffee is left.
 Underline the pronouns in the following
sentences
• One cannot determine when or where the
laws of a country work.
• That item belongs to them. Can I have it?
• She spoke to him harshly.
• Give us the opportunity to recommend
something to them.
• Anything you say or do can be used against
your mother in court. Be careful!
 Change the underlined words into
pronouns
• The men revealed the secret to the women.
• Unfortunately the butler has been dismissed.
• The deaconess has been arrested for theft.
• The fat cow jumped over the fence.
• A good thing comes to those who wait for a
good thing
 Adverbs
• Adds to the meaning of a verb (or an adjective
or another adverb) by telling what, when,
where, why, how....
The babies cried loudly
They did quite well
This is a very fast car.
 Types
Adverbs of manner- shows how an action was
done
• The bird sang sweetly in the morning.
• The dog snarled angrily.
Adverb of time- tells when an action is or was
done
• He died yesterday.
• Call me early
• Go and do it now
Adverb of frequency- expresses how often an
action was done
• He never comes on time.
• She is always crying
• Mr Infum sometimes drinks tea in the
morning
Adverbs of degree
• The tea is too sweet.
• The boy is very hungry.
• What he did was so bad.
• Other examples: extremely, slightly, totally
• Adverb of place: It tells where an action takes
place.
The item was stolen here.
The boys all sat there unconcerned
They have travelled abroad
The birds have flown away.
VERBS
Verbs describes an action or occurrence or indicates
a state of being.
Verbs can display differences in tense, mood, aspect,
number, person, and voice. In the English language,
main or principal verbs may be classified into five
categories:
• Copular
• Intransitive
• Transitive
• Ditransitive
• Ambitransitive
 Copular Verb/Linking verbs
The first type of verb in English is the copular
verb. Copular verbs are English verbs that link
the subject complement in the predicate to the
grammatical subject. Linking verbs do not
express action instead, they connect the subject
of the verb to additional information about the
subject
• Akosua is a teacher.
• My dogs are content to nap on the couch.
• The girl seems unsure of herself.
• The poor man feels tired
• The following are true linking verbs
• Any form of the verb ‘to be’ (is, are, were,
was, am, being…)
• Seem
• Then there are others who can function as
linking verbs: appear, feel, grows, look,
become, proves, remain, smells, sound, taste
and turn
• To test whether it is linking or action,
substitute the verb with is ,are or am. After
substitution if the sentence makes sense then
it is a linking verb but if it doesn’t then it is
not.
Eg.
• The stew tastes good
• The stew is good- hence it is linking
• The man tastes soup all the time
• The man is soup all the time.- action
For example:
• His father is a locksmith.
• Your brother appears ill today.
• The result of the test remains unknown.
• That pumpkin pie smells delicious.
• I felt sad yesterday.
• Her soup tastes like burnt socks.
Intransitive Verbs
The second type of verb in English is the
intransitive verb. Intransitive verbs are English
verbs that cannot or do not take objects. Some
common intransitive verbs in English include:
• cough
• die
• dream
• go
• sit
• sneeze
Examples
• The baby coughed.
• The old woman died.
• My dog dreams about chasing rabbits.
• We went to the fair.
• Sit down!
• The sick child sneezed in my face.
• Many intransitive verbs in English are also
prepositional verbs, which are verbs that
required a verb phrase complement in the form
of a prepositional phrase. For example:
• The patron argued about the fine on his account.
• The citizens must cope with the tragedy.
• I am listening to my favorite band.
• My daughter insisted on wearing the striped
pants with the polka dot shirt.
• We should laugh about the situation.
• Some people yearn for a time that never existed.
 Transitive Verbs
• The third type of verb in English is the transitive
verb. Transitive verbs are English verbs that take
direct objects. Another name for verbs that take
only a direct object is monotransitive verb.
Monotransitive verbs take only one object. Some
common transitive verbs in English include:
• borrow
• clean
• eat
• kick
• swallow
• write
For example:
• The man tore the paper.
• A burglar stole my necklace.
• Rabbits destroy my garden every year.
• My cat kills rabbits.
• We enjoyed the performance
• He closed the door.
• Many phrasal verbs in English are transitive
verbs.
Ditransitive Verbs
The fourth type of verb in English is the ditransitive
verb. Ditransitive verbs are English verbs that take
both direct objects and indirect objects. Some
common ditransitive verbs in English include:
• bring
• buy
• catch
• give
• pass
• trade
• For example:
• Maureen gave Dan the pencil.
• My husband bought me some flowers.
• The police caught themselves a criminal.
• Please pass me the rice.
• She showed the doctor her rash.
• I lent him some money.
Ambitransitive Verbs
The fifth type of verb in English is the
ambitransitive verb. Ambitransitive verbs are
English verbs that may be either
transitive/ditransitive or intransitive depending
on the context. Some common ambitransitive
verbs in English include:

• Break read
• Drinksink
• Openpay
For example:
• The little boy broke the lamp. (transitive)
• My oven broke yesterday. (intransitive)
• Some man opened the window. (transitive)
• The store opens early today. (intransitive)
• My husband paid the mechanic. (transitive)
• We already paid. (intransitive)
• The majority of verbs in English are
ambitransitive rather than purely intransitive,
transitive, or ditransitive.
One of these words is not a verb. Identify it

ThoughtCo. 2019
 Indicate the type of verb(linking, ditransitive,
transitive, intransitive)

1. The boy spoke Twi in class.

2. They sent me some items from Kumasi.
3. Men love sports but women don’t.
4. He smells great in that perfume.
5. By next Monday , he would have travelled to
Spain.
6. The Piped Piper of Hamelin drove the
children of the old German Town into a ship
1. They went about crying.
2. The way she walks tells volumes about her
attitude.
3. The rabbit ate the grass quickly.
4. I lent her my dress, only to be disappointed
by how she handled it.
5. She looks pale and worn out.