A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. A pronoun replaces a common noun or a proper noun.
Personal pronouns usually take the place of a person’s name.
Here are the personal pronouns: I, me, he, she, it, him, her, you, we, us, they, them
I and me take the place of your own name.
Instead of saying Sharon is writing a grammar blog, I replace Sharon with the pronoun I.
I am writing a grammar blog.
Instead of saying Read the sentence to Sharon, I replace Sharon with the pronoun me.
Read the sentence to me.
He, she, him, her, it, you, we, us, they, them take the place of proper nouns and common nouns.
Dad has a new car.
He let me drive it.
He is a pronoun for the name Dad. It is a pronoun for the noun car.
Bob and Sam played tennis.
They played tennis.
They is a pronoun for Bob and Sam together.
A pronoun always comes after the noun that it is replacing. We call the noun that comes first the antecedent. Every pronoun needs an antecedent.
Look at this confusing sentence: He kept it.
The sentence has two pronouns – He and it.
We don’t know what noun He is replacing, and we don’t know what noun it is replacing.
Never use a pronoun unless you have used an antecedent first.
Here is a better sentence: Bob found a dollar, and he kept it.
Now the pronouns make sense because Bob and dollar are antecedents.
He replaces Bob. It replaces dollar .
Pronouns replace nouns. Only use a pronoun to replace a noun if you have first used the noun. We call the noun that comes first the antecedent. I and me do not need an antecedent because they are pronouns for your name.