Pronouns

Words that Take the Place of Names

Imagine telling a story about your friend, Tom. You might say: 'Tom went to the store. Tom bought an apple. Tom ate the apple.' It sounds a bit silly, doesn't it? We have special words that help us avoid repeating the same name over and over. Instead, we can say: 'Tom went to the store. He bought an apple. He ate it.' The words 'He' and 'it' are pronouns. They take the place of nouns to make our speaking and writing smoother and more interesting.

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun in a sentence.