Traditional Categories:
* Personal Pronouns: These refer to specific people or things. There are 15 in English:
* Singular: I, me, my, mine, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its
* Plural: we, us, our, ours, you, your, yours, they, them, their, theirs
* Reflexive Pronouns: These reflect back on the subject of the sentence. There are 15:
* Singular: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself
* Plural: ourselves, yourselves, themselves
* Intensive Pronouns: These emphasize the subject. They are the same as the reflexive pronouns.
* Demonstrative Pronouns: These point to specific things. There are four:
* this, that, these, those
* Interrogative Pronouns: These ask questions. There are five:
* who, whom, whose, what, which
* Relative Pronouns: These introduce relative clauses. There are five:
* who, whom, whose, which, that
* Indefinite Pronouns: These refer to nonspecific people or things. There are many, including:
* all, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, neither, nobody, none, nothing, one, several, some, somebody, someone, something
Modern Usage and Gender-Neutral Pronouns:
* The number of pronouns is expanding due to the increasing use of gender-neutral pronouns. Common examples include:
* They/them/their: Used as singular pronouns for individuals who don't identify as male or female.
* Xe/xem/xyr: Another set of gender-neutral pronouns.
* Ze/zir/zir: Another set of gender-neutral pronouns.
In summary:
There are 15 traditional personal pronouns, and many more if you include reflexive, intensive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, and indefinite pronouns. The number of pronouns continues to grow as language evolves and people embrace gender-neutral options.