Pronouns 1

It is sometimes said that pronouns are so named because they are used instead of nouns. This is a bit of an oversimplification. It is more accurate to say that pronouns refer back to something already written or said. This may be:

• a noun
• another pronoun or group of pronouns
• a noun phrase
• a section of text - part or all of a sentence, or even a group of sentences
• an idea or fact already mentioned.

In addition, you will probably have noticed that we sometimes use it as the subject of a sentence when it refers back to nothing at all:

It is raining.

In sentences like that, it is described as a dummy subject because in effect the sentence has no real subject. There can be used in a similar way:

There's a lot of politics involved.

Pronouns can act as the subject, object, subject complement, or object complement of a clause.

© John Seely 2008