pronoun
pronoun — noun
- pronounsingular
- pronounsplural
1. A short word — for example 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they', 'we', 'who', or 'this' — u
A short word — for example 'he', 'she', 'it', 'they', 'we', 'who', or 'this' — used to point back to a name, an object, or a longer wording already mentioned, so the speaker does not have to repeat it.
Rodrigo asked the class to underline every pronoun in the short story.
common collocation: underline / circle a pronoun
The word 'they' is a pronoun that can stand for one person or many people.
metalinguistic frame: 'the word X is a pronoun'
In the sentence 'Marta lost her keys', the pronoun 'her' refers back to Marta.
Chinese learners often skip the pronoun at the start of an English sentence.
Yasmin highlighted each pronoun in green to see how often they appeared.
用法筆記
Subject is usually a teacher, learner, or grammar text; the word being labelled is named in single quotes or italics. Often paired with verbs like 'use', 'replace', 'refer to', 'stand for'.
常見錯誤
2. The set of words like 'he/him', 'she/her', or 'they/them' that someone wants oth
The set of words like 'he/him', 'she/her', or 'they/them' that someone wants other people to use when talking about them, matching how that person sees their own gender.
Quinn put their pronouns on the name badge so new colleagues would get it right.
typical context: pronouns on a badge / email signature
Before the meeting, Eli quietly told the team that their pronouns were they/them.
collocation: someone's pronouns are X/X
Many schools now ask new students which pronouns they would like teachers to use.
Omar updated the pronouns in his work email signature after coming out to his family.
It is polite to ask about someone's pronouns rather than guess from how they look.
用法筆記
Almost always plural ('my pronouns are', 'her pronouns are'). Distinguish from sense 1: this sense is about a person's chosen pronouns as a social marker, not about the grammatical category as a whole.