pronoun

[ proh-noun ]

noun

, Grammar.

1. any member of a small class of words found in many languages that are used as replacements or substitutes for nouns and noun phrases, and that have very general reference, as I, you, he, this, it, who, what. Pronouns are sometimes formally distinguished from nouns, as in English by the existence of special objective forms, as him for he or me for I, and by nonoccurrence with an article or adjective.

pronoun

/ ˈprəʊˌnaʊn /

noun

1. one of a class of words that serves to replace a noun phrase that has already been or is about to be mentioned in the sentence or context pron

pronoun

1. A word that takes the place of a noun . She , herself , it , and this are examples of pronouns. If we substituted pronouns for the nouns in the sentence “Please give the present to Karen,” it would read “Please give it to her .”

Grammar Note

Although not generally accepted as good usage, between you and I is heard occasionally in the speech of educated persons. By the traditional rules of grammar, when a pronoun is the object of a preposition, that pronoun should be in the objective case: between you and me; between her and them. The use of the nominative form ( I, he, she, they, etc.) arises partly as overcorrection, the reasoning being that if it is correct at the end of a sentence like It is I, it must also be correct at the end of the phrase between you and …. The choice of pronoun also owes something to the tendency for the final pronoun in a compound object to be in the nominative case after a verb: It was kind of you to invite my wife and I. This too is not generally regarded as good usage.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pronoun¹

First recorded in 1520–30; from Middle French pronom, from Latin prōnōmen (stem prōnōmin- ). See pro- ¹, noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of pronoun¹

C16: from Latin prōnōmen, from pro- ¹+ nōmen noun

Example Sentences

Nicole, who uses them and they pronoun, said they receive Employment and Support Allowance of £1,042, Personal Independent Payments of £798, and Housing Benefit of £917 per month.

From BBC

In real life, there is one school day in Year 9 that Heartstopper fan Sharan, who uses the pronoun they, will never forget.

From BBC

They've proposed that those that are too long or too short, in addition to those that don't use the past tense or a first-person pronoun.

From Salon

In the generous reading of this tweet—and the Surge is nothing if not generous—the pronoun they refers to the Democrats, or the establishment, or the deep state, and not the good folks behind the space lasers.

From Slate

Garcia has criticized a new California law that prohibits schools from enacting policies that require teachers to notify parents about changes to a student’s gender identity — for example, if one asks to be called by a different name or pronoun.

From Los Angeles Times