The Little Girl — Pronouns | English Grade 9 CBSE

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The pronoun toolkit

English has several kinds of pronoun, each with its own job. Tap a type to see what it does, with an original example sentence.

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The three big ideas

Personal pronouns — words that stand in for people or things so we do not repeat the noun: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Example: They arrived late.
Subject vs object forms — the subject form does the action (I, he, she, we, they); the object form receives it (me, him, her, us, them). Example: She called us.
Possessive pronouns — they show ownership and stand alone: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs. Example: This book is mine.
Possessive adjective vs pronoun — my, your, her come before a noun (my pen), while mine, yours, hers stand alone (the pen is mine).

Reflexive pronouns — they end in -self / -selves and point back to the subject: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. Example: She taught herself to swim.
When to use them — use a reflexive pronoun when the subject and object are the same person or thing. Example: The cat washed itself.
Relative pronouns — who, whom, whose, which, that — join a describing clause to a noun. Example: The girl who sang is my friend.
who / whom / whose / which / that — use who/whom for people, which for things, that for either, and whose to show possession.

Worked example. Find the reflexive pronoun in: Anu helped herself to fruit.

Step 1 — find the subject. The person doing the action is Anu.

Step 2 — see where the action goes. The action turns back on the same person — Anu helps Anu.

Step 3 — name the word. The word that ends in -self and points back to the subject is herself — the reflexive pronoun.

Demonstrative pronouns — they point things out: this, that (singular) and these, those (plural). Example: These are ripe.
Antecedent — the noun a pronoun refers back to. Example: Ravi forgot his bag (his → Ravi).
Pronoun–antecedent agreement — a pronoun must match its antecedent in number (singular/plural) and gender. A singular noun needs a singular pronoun.
Watch words like each, everyone, nobody — these are singular, so they take a singular pronoun in formal writing.

Common mistake: a pronoun must agree with its antecedent in number and gender. In Each student brought their book, the word "each" is singular, so formal writing uses his or her: Each student brought his or her book.

Where you'll meet it

Pronouns, at work

Writing without repeating yourself

Without pronouns, every sentence would name the same person again and again: Asha packed Asha's bag, then Asha left. Pronouns let you write Asha packed her bag, then she left. — shorter, smoother and far easier to read.

Saying clearly who you mean

A pronoun is only useful when the reader knows its antecedent. In When Riya met Sara, she smiled, who smiled? Keeping the antecedent obvious — Riya smiled when she met Sara — stops confusion in essays, answers and emails.

Check yourself

Competency quiz

Modelled on the competency-based pattern — MCQ, assertion–reason and a case study, testing whether you can use pronouns correctly, not just name them. Every sentence is original.

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