WORD

CLASSES
PRONOUNS,
CONJUNCTIONS,
PREPOSITIONS and
DETERMINERS
PRONOUNS are words that
take the place of nouns
Consider the following example:
• Kurt opened the bottle for Julian. (nouns are in bold)
• He opened it for him. (nouns have been substituted by
PRONOUNS)
There are 7 types of pronouns:
1. Personal pronouns 5. Indefinite pronouns
2. Possessive pronouns 6. Relative pronouns
3. Reflexive pronouns 7. Interrogative pronouns
4. Demonstrative pronouns
 PERSONAL PRONOUNS

Personal Possessive Reflexive

pronouns pronouns pronouns
singular plural singular plural singular plural
First I (subject pronoun) We (subject mine ours myself ourselves
Me (object pro noun)
person pro noun) Us (object
pro noun)

Second you you yours yours yourself yourselves

person
Third he, she, it, They (subject his, hers, its theirs himself, themselves
(subject pronoun) pro noun) herself,
person him, her (object Them (object itself
pro noun) pronoun)
 Personal
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
pronouns
singular plural
• These replace the subject or object of First I, me we, us
the sentence person
• ‘I’ and ‘he’ are examples of pronouns used Second you you
person
to refer to the subject
• ‘Me’ and ‘him’ are examples of pronouns Third he, she, it, they, them
him, her
person
that refer to the object
• Ex: They took them to school.
• She welcomed me to the company.
POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS

• Possessive pronouns show Possessive

possession pronouns
• They replace the noun singular plural
Ex: This is Amy’s First mine ours
This is hers. person
Second yours yours

NB: Words such as her, your and person

their are determiners rather than Third his, hers, its theirs
pronouns because they precede nouns person
rather than take the place of them (ex:
her purse).
REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive
pronouns
• Reflexive pronouns singular plural
indicate that the object of a First myself ourselves
person
verb is the same as its subject:
Second yourself yourself
Ex: He congratulated himself. person
Third himself, themselves
They are easy to recognise person
herself,
itself
because the end in –self or
–selves.
DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS Demonstrative
Pronouns
These are pronouns that have a sense of ‘pointing’ at This
something or someone:
That
Ex: Listen to the song first. That will convince you at These
once.
Those

NB: remember that pronouns take the place of nouns.

If any of these four words is placed in front of a noun, it
becomes a determiner rather than a pronoun:
• Ex: She loves that colour. (‘that’ does not replace
the noun ‘colour’)
 INDEFINITE PRONOUNS Indefinite
pronouns
• These are pronouns that do not refer to
Someone
specific persons or things.
Somebody
• Examples include someone, anything, Nobody
no one, everything. No one
Anything/one
Something
Everything
Nothing
Everyone
Everybody
 Relative Pronouns
RELATIVE Refer to people Refer to things
PRONOUNS Who Which
Whom That
Whose

• These act as linking words in a sentence

• They are like other pronouns in that they refer to nouns
• They are always placed immediately after the noun they
refer to
• Ex: A book that many find interesting.
INTERROGATIVE PRONOUNS

• These are used when asking a question Interrogative

pronouns
• Ex: Who said that? Who/m
What do you want? Whose
Which
What
CONJUNCTIONS Conjunctions
Coordinating Subordinating
Conjunctions (also known as ‘connectives’) are conjunctions conjunctions
(equal value) (unequal value)
‘joining words’ or ‘link words’.
And Because
• They join together the different parts of a But Although
sentence. Or Unless
They can be divided into two: Until

• Coordinating conjunctions which include the words and, but & or.
• They are used when the parts of the sentence to be joined are of equal value:
• Ex: She arrived home and immediately noticed the terrible smell.
• Subordinating conjunctions connect a subordinate clause to a
main clause.
• Examples include because, although, unless, until
Conjunctions:
 PREPOSITIONS
Prepositions usually indicate in some way how one
thing is related to something else.
Examples include:
• Prepositions of place: at, on, opposite, etc
• Prepositions of directions: into, past, to, etc
• Prepositions of time: before, during, after, etc

A preposition shows the relationship between the noun that comes

after it and something else in the sentence
• Ex: They talked to the policeman at the gate
DETERMINERS Possessive
determiners
Demonstrative Determiners
determiners of quantity
(precede
• These words precede nouns and nouns)
My This One, two,
refer directly to them three, etc

• The most common

Our That Few
Your These Some
determiners are ‘the’ (the His Those Many

definite article) and ‘a/an’ Her

Its
(the indefinite article) Their

• Other determiners include

possessive determiners and
demonstrative determiners (see
chart opposite)
DETERMINERS
• NB: note the difference between
demonstrative determiners and demonstrative
pronouns
• Determiners precede nouns (ex: Hand me
that pen), pronouns replace nouns (ex: Hand
me that.)
• Other determiners refer to quantity, either
specifically (one, two, three, etc) or more
vaguely (some, few, many, etc).
DIRECT AND INDIRECT OBJECTS

What are direct and indirect objects?

• An object often follows the subject and verb in a
sentence.
• An object is a noun or pronoun and gives meaning to
the subject and the verb in a sentence.
• There are two types of objects: direct and indirect
DIRECT OBJECTS
• Direct objects are nouns, pronouns, clauses and
phrases.
• Direct objects follow transitive verbs (action verbs
that require something or someone to receive the
action).
• You can identify the direct object by using this
simple formula: subject + verb + who? or what?
= DIRECT OBJECT.
DIRECT OBJECTS: example 1
Try using this formula to determine the direct object as you
consider the following example:
Example 1: Dennis and Susan ate omelettes for
breakfast.
• The subject is “Dennis and Susan,” and the verb is “ate.”
Next ask yourself the question “who or what?” about the
verb “ate.” What did the subject, Dennis and Susan, eat?
They ate omelettes. Therefore, the direct object is
“omelettes.”
DIRECT OBJECTS: example 2
Consider the following example to find the direct object that follows a
clause or phrase:
Example 2: Sophia hates when her father lectures her
about her grades.
• The subject is “Sophia,” and the verb is “hates.”
• Next ask yourself the question “who or what?” about the verb “hates.”
What does the subject, Sophia, hate? She hates “when her father
lectures her about her grades.”
• This subordinate clause (a combination of words that contain a
subject and a verb, but do not form a complete sentence) is the direct
object of the sentence.
INDIRECT OBJECTS
• Indirect objects are nouns or pronouns that identify to
whom or for whom the action of the verb is performed, as
well as who is receiving the direct object.
• Indirect objects are seen infrequently.
• In order to have an indirect object, there is a direct
object.
• The indirect object typically precedes the direct object
and is identified by asking who or what received the
direct object.
 INDIRECT OBJECTS: example 1
Consider the following examples:
Example 1: Samuel sent his aunt a postcard from Martha’s
Vineyard.
• “Samuel” is the subject, and “sent” is the verb.
• Ask the question “sent what?”
• “A postcard” is the direct object.
• To determine the indirect object, ask who received the direct object.
• “His aunt” is the indirect object.
INDIRECT OBJECTS: example 2

Example 2: Marc paints the house for his family .

• “Marc” is the subject, and “paints” is the verb.
• Ask the question “paints what?”
• “The house” is the direct object.
• To determine the indirect object, ask for whom did the subject
do the action?
• “For his family” is the indirect object.