English

ALLEN

Pronouns

We
PRONOUNS

She He "Pronouns rename nouns.

They make the sentences
shorter and eliminate the
need to repeat nouns."

She

It

E N
It

L
3.1 Definition
A Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a Noun.

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3.2 Kinds of Pronouns
There are seven different kinds of Pronouns.
Look at different types of pronouns in the following diagram.

A
Pronouns

Personal
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Subjective Objective
THE
Possessive SPOT P
Reflexive LIGHT
The three Persons in Grammar.
Emphasising First Person : the speaker
Second Person : the listener
Demonstrative Third Person : the object/ person
being spoken
Distributive about.
Interrogative

Relative

Indefinite

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CBSE : Class VII
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· Personal Pronouns
Pronouns that are used to refer to people or things are called personal
pronouns.
THE
SPOT P e.g. he, she, it, I, you, we, etc.
Personal Pronouns are so called, because they stand for the three persons,
LIGHT viz.,
Possessive pronouns generally come
at the end of a sentence and no noun (i) The Pronouns which refer to the person or persons speaking are called
is put after them. Pronouns of the First Persons; as, I, we, me, us, mine, ours, etc.
(ii) The Pronouns which refer to the person or persons spoken to are called
Pronouns of the Second Person; as, thou, thee, you, yours.
(iii) The Pronouns which refer to the person or thing spoken of are called
Pronouns of the Third Person; as, he, she, him, her, hers, they, them,
theirs, it, etc.
Personal Pronouns perform different functions in sentences. Some
personal pronouns are used as the simple subject, others are used as the

N
direct or indirect object.
e.g. Dinesh has a favourite folk tale, and he tells it often.
In the above example, the pronoun he replaces the noun Dinesh which

E
is used as the subject. The pronoun it replaces the noun folk tale and
is the direct object.

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When personal pronoun play the role of subjects, they are called personal
subjective pronouns.
When personal pronouns play the role of objects, they are called personal

L
Reflexive Pronouns
objective pronouns.
· Possessive Pronouns
These are used to show ownership or possession.

A
e.g. The house you see over there is ours.
· They have recently bought a new car; that car is theirs.
Sometimes possessive pronouns are used with 'of'.
e.g. (i) He is a friend of mine.
(ii) That dog of yours often barks at night.
Fig :1 (iii) That friend of hers is going to visit us next week.
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· Reflexive Pronouns
When the action done by the subject turns back upon the subject or when
it reflects the subject, such pronouns are called Reflexive Pronoun. The
Reflexive Pronouns are formed by adding- self, as in the regular form,
or -selves as in the plural form.
e.g. (i) We enjoyed ourselves at Shimla.
(ii) She hurt herself yesterday.
THE (iii) He shot himself with a gun.
SPOT P (iv) The dog saw itself in water.
LIGHT CHECK YOUR L
CEARNING
ONCEPTS 0.0
3.1
'Own' may also be used for
emphasis. e.g. It is our own fault. 1. Fill in the blanks with appropriate pronouns.
(a) Here is the parcel; please have _______ sent by courier.
(b) She told Akash that she won't be meeting _____ today.
(c) I will give your message to your friends when I meet ______ today.

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· Emphatic Pronouns
The pronouns which are used to lay emphasis are called Emphatic
Pronouns; as:
THE
e.g. (i) I myself wash my clothes.
(ii) We ourselves decorated the house.
SPOT P
LIGHT
(iii) Gandhiji himself did all his work. Compound interrogative pronouns
whoever, whosoever, whatever and
(iv) He himself helped the beggar. whichever etc. are also used to ask
questions. e.g. (i) Whoever told you
· Demonstrative Pronouns
so ?
Demonstrative Pronouns are used for showing things and to point out the (ii) Whichever is liked by you ?
objects to which they refer and identify specific nouns. These refer to the
closeness or distance of the thing talked about from the speaker's point
of view.
This refers to what is close at hand and nearest in the thought or person

N
of the speaker, that refers to what is 'over there', farther away, and more
remote.

E
Near: this (singular), these (plural)

Far : that (singular), those (plural)

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THE
e.g. (i) Let me check this list; you could go through that one.

(ii) I like these photographs; those are not so good.

SPOT P
LIGHT

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(iii) This is better than that. Relative pronoun, 'that' only helps to
define or limit the noun it refers to .
· Demonstrative Pronouns and Demonstrative Adjectives That is used in place of who, whom
or which
This, that, these, those, such etc. can be used as (a) Demonstrative

A
e.g. This is the boy that won the first
Pronouns as well as (b) Demonstrative Adjectives. prize.
(a) When these words are used as substitutes for Nouns, these are called

Demonstrative Pronouns.
e.g. (i) This is a gift from my father.
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(ii) These are lame excuses.

(b) When these words are used with Nouns and qualify those Nouns, these
are called Demonstrative Adjectives.
e.g. (i) This book is mine.
THE
(ii) These books are mine.
SPOT P
CHECK YOUR L
CEARNING
ONCEPTS 0.0
3.2 LIGHT
The relative pronoun 'whose' is used
in place of the possessive pronoun. It
1. Fill in the blanks with suitable pronouns. must be followed by a noun.
e.g. There's a boy in grade seven
whose father is a professional tennis
(a) Here is the pen _______ you lost. (that, who) player.

(b) _____ did you see there? (Which/Whom)

(c) ______ of the girls was given a prize. (Each, Every)

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CBSE : Class VII
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· Distributive Pronouns
Distributive Pronouns such as each, either, neither refer to persons or
things taken as a unit.
® Either and neither are used to refer to individuals in a pair.
® Each is used to refer to individuals in a group.
Whose bicycle is this ? e.g. (i) Each boy gets a prize.
(ii) Either of the two pens will do.
(iii) Neither of you is allowed to go out unless you finish your
homework.
· Interrogative Pronouns
These pronouns are used to ask questions. They are five in number. Like
personal pronouns, they can occupy the subject or the object position. They
are who, whom, whose, which and what.
e.g. (i) What do you do in your spare time?
(ii) Of these two bags, which is yours?
Interrogative Pronouns (iii) Who told you to throw these away?

N
CHECK YOUR ANSWERS 3.1

E
(a) it (b) him (c) them
· Relative Pronouns
These refer to the noun or pronoun which are placed before them that

L
has been mentioned earlier in a sentence. They are who, whom, whose,
which and that.
e.g. (i) What was the name of the person whom we met at the metro

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Whose icecream is this ? station today?
Fig: 2
(ii) The house that was advertised is already sold.
These pronouns do double work, the work of a pronoun and also the work

A
of a conjunction. It is, therefore, called a conjunctive pronoun.
The Noun to which a Relative Pronoun refers or relates to is called its
Antecedent.
Note : (i) Who is used for persons only.
(ii) Which is used for animals and things without life.
(iii) That is used for persons, animals and things.

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(iv) What (= that which) is used for things only. Its antecedent
is always understood.
· Position of relative pronouns
The relative pronoun should be placed as near its antecedent as possible.
THE (i) Incorrect : The student was punished by the teacher who was
SPOT P (ii)
disobedient.
Correct : The student who was disobedient was punished by the
LIGHT teacher.
The interrogative pronouns 'who', (iii) Incorrect : Our player scored a goal who was very quick.
'whom', 'whose' and 'which' are also (iv) Correct : Our player who was very quick scored a goal.
used as relative pronouns.
Remember that relative pronouns (v) The boy whose book is lost, is crying.
do not form questions while (vi) She is the girl whom I was talking about.
interrogative pronouns are used to (vii) What is done is done.
ask questions. As is used as a Relative Pronoun when it is used after "The same, such"
It is used for persons or things; as :
This is the same pen as I saw yesterday.
She is such a girl as I like.

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But is used as a Relative Pronoun when it means "who not", "which not";
as :
There was not a person but wept.
None but the brave deserve the fair.

CHECK YOUR ANSWERS 3.2

(a) that (b) whom (c) each
· Indefinite Pronouns
Indefinite Pronouns such as something, someone, somebody, anything,
anybody, nobody, all, none, some, several, few, any, many, other, everyone,
anyone, nothing refer to persons or things in general way. These things are
not definite, specific or exact.
e.g. (i) Someone has stolen my pen.
(ii) One must do one's best.

N
· The pronoun 'It' is used :
1. For lifeless things; as
It is a nice bag.

E
They have a nice house. They are proud of it.
2. For animals; as :
THE
We have a cow. It is black in colour.
P

L
The dog jumped into the water and lost its life. SPOT
3. For young children; as : LIGHT

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The child is weeping. I think it is hungry. Indefinite pronoun 'One' must be
The baby has hurt itself. followed by one's or oneself and not
by he, him, his or himself. It is wrong
4. For time : as :
to say, 'One must take care of his
It is 8 p.m. now.

A
health'. The correct sentence is ' One
It is Monday again. must take care of one's health'.
5. For weather; as :
It is raining. It is spring now.
6. For temperature; as :
It is 40°C today.
7. For distance; as :
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It is 480 kilometers to New Delhi.

8. For present situation; as :
It is awful. It is nothing but disgrace.
9. As a subject before the verb "to be".
It is easy to find fault with others.
It is never too late to mend.
10. To refer to some statement going before.
You are saying something and I know it.
11. In interrogative sentence; as :
Who is it? It is Raman.
12. In Exclamatory sentences; as :
What a fine scene it is !
How splendid it is !
13. To lay emphasis; as :
It is I who helped you in time of need.
It was you who started the quarrel.

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CBSE : Class VII
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EXERCISE PRONOUNS
I. Underline the Pronouns in the following (A) who (B) which (C) that
sentences and write down their kind in the (D) as (E) what
space given. One is done for you :-
1. This is the beggar __________ stole my (A)
1. I shut the gate myself. Emphatic
purse.
2. She hurt herself. _____________
2. I, __________ am your king, will lead ( )
3. Those books belong to him. _____________
4. What would you do if you were _____________ you.

him? 3. I am the person __________ is to be ( )

5. That house is ours. _____________ blamed.
6. Everyone in our class comes _____________ 4. The answer __________ she gave was ( )
to school early. wrong.
7. Both of them are happy with _____________

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5. I mean __________ I say. ( )
their result.
6. __________ cannot be cured must be ( )
8. Many are poor, only a few are _____________

E
endured.
rich.
9. To whom did you give my letter _____________ 7. He __________ is not with me is ( )

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yesterday? against me.
10. This is the man whose son was _____________ 8. My answer is the same __________ ( )

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kidnapped yesterday. yours.
II. Choose the most appropriate pronoun from
9. This is __________ troubles me. ( )
those given in the brackets and complete the
sentences given below. 10. He is not such a clever boy __________ ( )

A
1. There was no way to get _______ (he / him) out of you are.
the hole.
11. He is one of the greatest men _________ ( )
2. When _______ (you / yours) see a public tap
have ever lived.
running, do _______ (you / yours) close it?
3. Draft the document _______. (himself / yourself) 12. Listen to__________ he says. ( )

4. _______ (Who / Whom) will do the shopping? 13. He __________ always speaks the truth ( )
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5. Give _______ (me / I) the document. shall be respected.
6. _______ (We / Us) shall complain to the commissioner. 14. He is the man__________ you can trust. ( )
7. My dog is smarter than _______. (your / yours)
15. Blessed is he __________ has found his ( )
8. Children went on a picnic. _______ (They / Them)
had a nice time. work.

9. The apple was overripe. We threw _______ (them 16. Man is the only animal __________ can ( )
/ it) away. talk.
10. His children are very hard working. _______ (He /
17. Such a man __________ he, should be ( )
She) is very proud of _______ (they / them).
honoured.
III. Out of the five answers (A, B, C, D, and E),
choose the one that is correct. Write the letter 18. Do the same __________ I do. ( )
of this correct answer (either A or B or C or D 19. __________ is done cannot be undone. ( )
or E) in the brackets provided at the end of
each sentence. One is done for you :— 20. He is the boy _______ helped me yesterday ( )

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IV. In each of the following questions there are 7. Nobody __________________ seen her for the last
five answers marked A, B, C, D and E. Only two days. (have / has)
one of these answers is correct. Write the letter
8. Both of my granddaughters _________________
of the correct answer in the brackets provided
good at study. (is / are)
at the end of each sentence.
9. Much of the land _________________________
(A) who (B) whose (C) whom
lying barren. (is / are)
(D) which (E) that
10. Neither of them _________________ ill, they are
1. There was an old woman __________ ( ) both lying. (is / are)
lived in a hut.
VI. Join together each of the following pairs of
2. Unfortunately he took the road__________ ( ) sentences by means of a Relative Pronoun.

led in the wrong direction. (who, whom, whose, which, that)

3. I like the boy __________ temper is good. ( ) 1. This is the man. I trusted him.

N
4. This is the boy __________ stood first in ( ) ____________________________________________________
English. 2. I am the person. You sent for me.

E
5. This is the girl __________ parents helped us. ( ) ____________________________________________________
6. This is the man __________ courage saved us.( ) 3. Here is the book. I told you about it.

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7. This is the horse __________ won the race. ( ) ____________________________________________________
8. This is the woman __________ I suspected. ( ) 4. This is the road. It leads to the station.

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9. This is the house __________my grandfather ( )
____________________________________________________
built.
5. He does his best. He should be praised.

A
10. He is one of the bravest generals __________ ( )
____________________________________________________
have ever fought in India.
6. The thieves were caught. They had stolen cash and
V. Choose the correct verb from the brackets to jewellery.
complete the sentences given below.
____________________________________________________
(Remember the rule about Singular and Plural Pronouns.)
7. Rabindra Nath Tagore was born in Bengal. His
CBSE-2021\Module\FOUNDATION\SET-1\7th\English-1\(A) Grammar\03-Pronouns\Theory & Exe

1. A few of the apples _________________ (is / are) literary works are famous.
left, the rest _________________ (has / have) been
eaten. ____________________________________________________

2. Each apple on the plate___________________ 8. The boys thanked me sincerely. I had helped them
been cut. (have / has) solve the problem.

3. Look at the children! All ___________________ ____________________________________________________

asleep. (are / is) 9. My watch was stolen yesterday. I have not found it
4. Many of your sums __________________ wrong. yet.
(is / are) ____________________________________________________
5. Some of the rice _____________________ not
10. They met the woman. Her children were hurt in
cooked properly. (is / are)
the road accident.
6. Either of these two books ____________________
____________________________________________________
very interesting to read. (are / is)

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CBSE : Class VII
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EXERCISE ANSWER KEY
I. 2. herself - reflexive/she - personal

3. him - personal

4. What - interrogative, you/him - personal

5. ours - possessive

6. everyone - indefinite

7. them - personal

8. many / a few -indefinite

9. you- personal / whom-interrogative

10. this - Demonstrative / whose - relative

1. him 2. you, you 3. yourself 4. Who

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II.

5. me 6. We 7. yours 8. They

9. it 10. He, them

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III. 1. who 2. who 3. who 4. which / that

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5. what 6. What 7. who 8. as

9. what 10. as 11. who 12. what

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13. who 14. whom / who 15. who 16. who

17. as 18. as 19. What 20. who

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IV. 1. who 2. which / that 3. whose 4. who

5. whose 6. whose 7. that 8. whom

9. which 10. who

V. 1. are, have 2. has 3. are 4. are

5. is 6. is 7. has 8. are

9. is 10. is CBSE-2021\Module\FOUNDATION\SET-1\7th\English-1\(A) Grammar\03-Pronouns\Theory & Exe

VI. 1. This is the man whom I trusted.

2. I am the person whom you sent for.

3. Here is the book which I told you about.

4. This is the road which leads to the station.

5. He who does his best should be praised.

6. The thieves who had stolen cash and jewellery were caught.

7. Rabindra Nath Tagore, whose literary works are famous, was born in Bengal.

8. The boys, whom I had helped solve the problem, thanked me sincerely.

9. I have not yet found my watch, which was stolen yesterday.

10. They met the woman whose children were hurt in the road accident.

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