Basic definition of a pronoun: it takes the place of a noun.

Because Dr. Carter's mother faints at the sight of medical instruments, Dr. Carter has to drug Dr. Carter's mother secretly every time Dr. Carter takes Dr. Carter's mother's temperature.

Obviously, this sentence is WAY too long and cumbersome and could use some help with pronouns. How would you fix it?

Because Dr. Carter's mother faints at the sight of medical instruments, he has to drug her secretly every time he takes her temperature.

Now, you might say that none of you would produce such a sentence in your papers--you're probably right. But you can use pronouns to help rewrite repetitive sentences into more complex and interesting ones.

Mary had a little lamb. The little lamb's fleece was white as snow.

Susan Sarandan won an Oscar for best actress. The best actress Oscar was Susan Sarandon's first after five nominations.

I have a strange cat. My cat's name is Buford. Buford loves to eat bagels.

• personal (stands in for a person or thing) ex.: He is a fabulous specimen of the modern-day iconoclast.

 
• possessive (shows possession) ex.: His hair is bright purple.

 
• intensive (emphasizes using a "self" word) ex.: He has made a pact with himself never to wear natural fibers.

 
• reflexive (refers to self as an object; bouncing back) ex.: He pierced his nose himself.

 
• relative (relates to antecedent, introduces clause) ex.: This is what he told his boss, who has implemented a restrictive dress code.

 
• demonstrative (points out) ex.: These are the issues of their disagreement.

• indefinite (noncommital; refers to no one in particular) ex.: No one wants to step in to settle it.

 
• reciprocal (involves an exchange) ex.: Their respect for each other has kept them from becoming violent.


• interrogative (poses questions) ex.: What will happen now?

Each of my brothers has their own tarantula.

Now, what about this next sentence? It brings up a unique problem inherent in the English language.

If a person is going to commit a crime, they should be prepared to face the consequences.

What would you replace "they" with so that it agrees with "a person"? Traditionaily, a writer might have replaced it with "he"; but the conventions are changing here, because we don't want to imply that only male people commit crimes. Or to look at it from another angle, work with this passage:

When an Emory student graduates, he feels a great deal of pride. Finally, he can look back at his years of work, and at his parents' years of financial support, and know that they contributed to his achievement.

Here, we don't want to imply that the only Emory graduates who feel pride are male, or even that all Emory graduates are male (which was certainly true at one time but isn't any more!).

• using "or": he or she, him or her, his or her
• using a slash: he/she; sometimes s/he
• alternating use of he and she
• using a gender-neutral pronoun: one, one's

Any of these methods are acceptable in your papers, but let me add a cautionary note. We could make any sentence sound practically ridiculous if we overuse any of these options; the point is to use them in moderation. If you find yourself putting too many in one sentence or one paragraph--that the reader's attention is going to be distracted by them--try rewriting your sentence or paragraph so that you don't depend on them so heavily.