“I have a lot on my mind today.”, she said as she sighed. “You have a lot on your mind? Why?”, he questioned. They were friends, acquaintances, and then strangers. He asked, but she didn’t reply.
Isn’t the aforementioned paragraph sad? Two friends who become strangers, a story that most understand on a personal level. But a question arises. How do you know who the pronouns are addressing? The ‘I’ can be me, the writer while the ‘you’ can be you, the learner. An even weirder question arises. How are you able to comprehend the various pronouns? I, you, she, we, he, they, them, and it. How do you understand which pronoun is addressing whom?
Isn’t it a feat of nature that you, the learner can understand the various pronouns and their underlying meanings? You’re able to distinguish between ‘we’ and ‘us’, ‘he’ and ‘she’, and ‘you’ and ‘I’. In this tutorial, we are going to be taking a look at various types of pronouns and points of view.
Take a look at the chart drawn below. Keep this chart in mind throughout the tutorial.
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
| I | We |
| You | You |
| She/ He | They |
What do you understand from this chart? For starters, the ‘I’ refers to the singular first person while ‘we’ refers to the plural first person. You will learn how to identify points of view later in the tutorial but for now, you must first identify the positions of the pronouns.
Pronouns are singular and plural in the sense that they signify individuality or unity. Individuals are always singular; hence, they follow the singular pronouns such as I, she, he, and you while a unity of two or more persons follow the plural pronouns such as we and they. These pronouns are also called subject pronouns. They talk about a particular subject, usually, someone with an identity.
Do you know what point of view means? When you read a story, you’re reading from someone else’s point of view. The first paragraph of the tutorial, even though it utilizes pronouns such as ‘I’, ‘you’, and ‘she’, is entirely from the learner’s point of view.
For example, you, the learner, are reading the text. The book, therefore, is from your point of you. Point of view is essentially the way people and objects are perceived by others.
The first point of view is ‘my’ point of view. ‘I’ see the world through ‘my’ eyes and everything that touches or talks to ‘me’ is included in ‘my’ point of view. If ‘I’ were living with ‘my’ family, ‘we’ would have the first point of view. What does that refer to? If ‘we’ had a leakage in ‘our’ house, ‘we’ would be in trouble. ‘We’ or ‘I’ am the first person to be troubled by the leakage.
Can you decipher what the paragraph above implies? Congratulations! You have now understood the first-person point of view. Wait a minute. Are ‘you’ receiving secondary information from ‘me’?
If ‘I’ and ‘we’ are pronouns being directly affected by the actions, words, or choices of others, ‘you’ is the pronoun receiving secondary information. You can either be the cause, participant, or enabler of the situation.
For example,
You hurt me.
I will tell you later.
The leakage in your house has managed to trouble my family.
‘You’ is responsible for receiving the response. What does this mean? Oftentimes, ‘you’ is being addressed by someone else. “Were you there?”, “Will you do this for me?”, “Will you find it for her?”, “Can you write?”, and more. ‘You’ does not necessarily respond to the question as ‘you’ might be ordered, commanded, or urged.
‘You’ are the person ‘I’ am addressing. Then who is ‘she’?
‘She’ is always busy. ‘She’ needs to be described by ‘me’ because ‘she’ is away. ‘She’ can also be a name. ‘Rhea’ is a talented girl. ‘She’ likes to draw, paint, sing, dance, and a lot more. ‘She’ is an individual but when united with ‘him’, ‘she’ becomes ‘they’. ‘He’ is ‘her’ husband and ‘they’ have been a couple for nine years.
‘She’ here is the subject that ‘we’ are discussing and she is different from ‘you’ because while ‘you’ are actively participating in the conversation, ‘she’ is away. ‘She’ might not be aware of the conversation happening about ‘her’ and ‘she’ might also be someone who is not an enabler, participant, or cause. ‘She’ is simply the subject that ‘you’ and ‘I’ are talking about.
‘She’ is a pronoun that is usually described, discussed, or designed to initiate a conversation between the first and the second pronoun ‘I’ and ‘you’. Therefore, ‘she’ is not starting the conversation or ending it but is involved in the storytelling process.
Now, take a look at the chart again. What difference do you notice?
| Singular | Plural |
|---|---|
I (Provider of the information) |
We |
You (Receiver of the information) |
You |
She/ He (subject of the information) |
They |
Qns 1. What are the different types of first-person pronouns?
Ans. The five types of singular pronouns are I, me, my, mine, and myself. The five types of plural pronouns are we, us, our, ours, and ourselves.
Qns 2. What are the different types of second-person pronouns?
Ans. The four types of pronouns are you, your, yours, and yourself.
Qns 3. What are the different types of third-person pronouns?
Ans. The five types of singular pronouns are she/ he, her/ him, her/ his, hers/ his, and herself/ himself. The five types of plural pronouns are they, them, their, theirs, and themselves.
Qns 4. Are there neutral pronouns?
Ans. Yes, all forms of them which are they, them, their, theirs, and themselves, are considered to be neutral.
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