Introduction
Pronouns replace nouns to avoid repetition. SSC exams heavily test pronoun case (subject
vs object form) and pronoun-antecedent agreement in Error Spotting and Sentence
Improvement questions.
Types of Pronouns
| Type | Examples |
|---|
| Personal | I, you, he, she, it, we, they |
| Possessive | mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs |
| Reflexive | myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves |
| Relative | who, whom, whose, which, that |
| Demonstrative | this, that, these, those |
| Interrogative | who, whom, what, which, whose |
| Indefinite | someone, anybody, everything, none, each |
Pronoun Case — Subject vs Object Form
| Subject Form (does the action) | Object Form (receives the action) |
|---|
| I | me |
| he | him |
| she | her |
| we | us |
| they | them |
| who | whom |
Q. Choose the correct sentence: (A) Between you and I, this is a secret. (B) Between you and me, this is a secret.
"Between" is a preposition and always takes the object form of a pronoun
Correct: (B) Between you and me...
Who vs Whom
💡 Quick Test: If you can replace the word with "he/she" → use who. If you can replace it with "him/her" → use whom.
Q. Fill in the blank: "___ did you give the book to?"
Test: "You gave the book to him" (object) → use Whom did you give the book to?
Reflexive Pronoun Rule
| Rule |
|---|
| Use a reflexive pronoun only when the subject and object of the verb are the SAME person |
Q. Choose the correct sentence: (A) He hurt him while playing. (B) He hurt himself while playing.
"He" (subject) and the person hurt are the same person → reflexive pronoun needed
Correct: (B) He hurt himself while playing.
Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
| Rule |
|---|
| A pronoun must agree in NUMBER (singular/plural) and GENDER with the noun it replaces (antecedent) |
| Indefinite pronouns (everyone, each, nobody, someone) are always treated as SINGULAR |
Q. Choose the correct sentence: (A) Everyone must submit their assignment. (B) Everyone must submit his/her assignment.
"Everyone" is singular indefinite pronoun → traditionally requires singular pronoun agreement
Standard/formal correct: (B) Everyone must submit his/her assignment. (though "their" is increasingly accepted in modern usage, SSC exams typically test the traditional singular rule)
This/That vs These/Those
| Pronoun | Use |
|---|
| This / These | For things near the speaker (singular/plural) |
| That / Those | For things far from the speaker (singular/plural) |
✅ Practice Focus: Subject vs object pronoun case (especially after prepositions) · Who vs whom substitution test · Reflexive pronoun same-subject-object rule · Singular treatment of indefinite pronouns (everyone, each, nobody).