Forms of Personal Pronouns
Unlike nouns, which are undeclined for case except for possession (woman/woman's), English personal pronouns have a number of forms, which are named according to their typical grammatical role in a sentence:
- subjective (nominative) case (I, we, etc.), used as the subject of a verb (see also Case usage below).
- objective (oblique) case (me, us, etc.), used as the object of a verb or of a preposition (see also Case usage below). The same forms are also used as disjunctive pronouns.
- reflexive form (myself, ourselves, etc.). This typically refers back to a noun or pronoun (its antecedent) within the same clause (for example, She cut herself). This form is also sometimes used optionally in a non-reflexive function, as a substitute for a non-reflexive pronoun (for example, For someone like myself, . . ., This article was written by Professor Smith and myself), though some style guides recommend avoiding such use. The same reflexive forms also are used as intensive pronouns (for example, She made the dress herself).
- two possessive (genitive) forms, used to indicate the possessor of something (in a broad sense). The first group (my, our, etc.) are used as determiners (possessive determiners, also called possessive adjectives), coming together with a noun, as in my house. The second group (mine, ours, etc.) are used as pronouns (as in I prefer mine) or as predicate adjectives (as in this book is mine). For details see English possessive.
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