Here's a breakdown:
* Nouns: These are words that name people, places, things, or ideas. Examples: *dog, city, happiness, book*
* Pronouns: These are words that replace nouns to avoid redundancy. They refer back to a noun that has already been mentioned, or that is understood. Examples: *he, she, it, they, we, you, I, this, that, these, those*
Here's an example:
"The dog barked at the cat. It ran away."
In this sentence, "it" is a pronoun that replaces the noun "cat". Using the pronoun "it" avoids repetition and makes the sentence smoother.
Types of pronouns:
* Personal pronouns: refer to specific people or things (e.g., *I, you, he, she, it, we, they*)
* Possessive pronouns: indicate ownership (e.g., *mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs*)
* Reflexive pronouns: refer back to the subject of the sentence (e.g., *myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves*)
* Demonstrative pronouns: point to specific nouns (e.g., *this, that, these, those*)
* Indefinite pronouns: refer to non-specific people or things (e.g., *someone, anyone, everybody, nothing, something*)
In essence, pronouns act as shortcuts in language, allowing us to refer to nouns without having to repeat them.