Tag: impersonal pronouns

Questions Related to impersonal pronouns

Fill in the blanks with suitable pronouns:
Ms. Ginny is my secretary. ____ brings her laptop to meetings. ____ has cracked at the edge.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. It, She

  2. She, It

  3. She, What

  4. What, She

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:

A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated with a particular person, like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. While an impersonal pronoun is commonly used to speak about inanimate objects/things. 'It’ is an impersonal pronoun that is used for this purpose. Since the second sentence speaks about a person and the third sentence highlights an object, ‘it’ and ‘she’ cannot be used in the first and second blank respectively. Thus option A is incorrect. The first blank should be filled with ‘she’ since it denotes ‘Ginny’ and the second blank should be filled with ‘it’ as it replaces the noun ‘laptop’. Thus option B is correct. Further ‘What’ cannot be used in both blanks because it is an interrogative pronoun that is used to pose a question. Since the sentence doesn’t pose any questions ‘what’ is unsuitable. Thus options C and D are incorrect.

Fill in the blank with a suitable pronoun:

I bought a new album. _______ is by a new band.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. He

  2. She

  3. It

  4. Hers

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated with a particular person, like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. While an impersonal pronoun is commonly used to speak about inanimate objects/things. ‘It’ is an impersonal pronoun that is used for this purpose. In the given sentence, the noun is an ‘album’ therefore ‘it’ would be the apt answer. Thus option C is correct. On the other hand, ‘He’ and ‘She’ cannot be used since an ‘album’ is not a person. Thus options A and B are incorrect. ‘Hers’ is a possessive pronoun that is used to talk about things that belong to people. Since the sentence doesn’t speak about belonging, option C is incorrect. 

Choose the correct option that answers the question:

What is the time?

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. She is six o'clock.

  2. Mine is six o'clock.

  3. It is six o'clock.

  4. This is six o'clock.

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:

An impersonal pronoun is commonly used to speak about impersonal things/ideas. ‘It’ is an impersonal pronoun that is used for this purpose. ‘It’ is used while speaking of the time, distance, weather or temperature. Since the given question is about the time, ‘It’ would be the apt pronoun. So the answer should be ‘It is six o’clock’. Thus option C is correct. On the other hand, the pronoun ‘she’ is a personal pronoun that is associated with a particular person. As we are speaking about time and not a person ‘she’ cannot be used. Hence option A is incorrect. Similarly, we cannot use ‘Mine’ because it is a possessive pronoun that is used to talk about things that belong to people. Since the sentence doesn’t speak about belonging, option B is incorrect. While ‘This’ is an example of demonstrative pronoun that points out the object/person that is near someone/something. It is not used to denote time. Thus option D is incorrect. 

Replace the underlined noun with the appropriate pronoun.

Jim used a spade to dig the garden. The spade was heavy.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. It

  2. He

  3. She

  4. Who

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

A pronoun takes the place of a noun in a sentence. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated with a particular person, like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. While an impersonal pronoun is commonly used to speak about inanimate objects/things. ‘It’ is an impersonal pronoun that is used for this purpose. In the given sentence the noun is a ‘spade’ therefore ‘it’ would be the apt answer. Thus option D is correct. On the other hand, ‘he’ and ‘she’ cannot be used since ‘spade’ is not a person. Thus options A and B are incorrect. ‘Who’ is an interrogative pronoun that is used to for asking questions. Since the sentence doesn’t pose a question, option C is incorrect.  

State whether the following statement is true or false:

'What', 'who' and 'which' are impersonal pronouns.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: B
Explanation:

The subject pronouns can be divided into two general categories – Personal and impersonal pronouns. A personal pronoun is a pronoun that is associated with a particular person, like ‘he’, ‘she’ and ‘they’. While an impersonal pronoun is commonly used to speak about inanimate objects/things. ‘It’ is an impersonal pronoun that is used for this purpose. On the other hand ‘what’, ‘who’ and ‘which’ are interrogative pronouns that are used for asking questions. They are not impersonal pronouns. Thus the given statement is false.

State whether the following statement is true or false:

The distributive pronoun 'each' is used to see the members of a group as individuals. 

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Distributive pronouns refer to people or things, one at a time. Each is a distributive pronoun which is used to see the members of a group/class as individuals. For example, in the sentence “Each of the kids in the class received a gift” we are trying to convey that each individual received a gift in spite of being a part of a class/group. It focuses on each person one at a time. Thus the given statement is true.

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate option:
_______________ poverty in the world. 

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. There are always

  2. It has always

  3. It has always been

  4. There has always been

Show answer
Correct Option: D
Explanation:
Option A: This option leaves the sentence incomplete. The main verb 'to be' is not present in the option. Also, 'poverty' is a singular noun whereas the verb 'are' is plural.
Option B: Similarly, 'it has always' does not have the main verb 'to be' as well. Without a main verb, the sentence is left incomplete.
Options C and D: 'It has always been' and 'there has always been' are not interchangeable. One may often get confused between the two.
We use 'it is' to talk about the weather, time or a situation. We use 'there is' to talk about something that exists in a particular place.
In the given sentence, 'poverty' is something that exists in the world. Hence the latter is more suitable.
So, options A, B and C are wrong, and option D is correct.

State whether true or false.


The following sentence is non-erroneous.
It was I who finished all the work.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. True

  2. False

Show answer
Correct Option: A
Explanation:

Personal subject pronouns act as the subject of a clause. We use them before a verb to show who is doing the verb. Like in this case, I did the verb of finishing task. Hence, the statement is non-erroneous and Option A is correct. 

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.


Look at that house. All ______ windows are broken.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. their

  2. his

  3. it

  4. its

Show answer
Correct Option: D
Explanation:

The sentence indicates possession in third person singular subjective neuter, that is, the house's windows, hence "its". Hence, Option D is correct. The rest of the options do not adhere to this rule, hence incorrect. 

Fill in the blank with the most appropriate word.


The army lost the battle because ________ was not strong.

impersonal pronouns pronoun english

  1. they

  2. them

  3. it

  4. its

Show answer
Correct Option: C
Explanation:
Since the reference is to a group of people as a single entity irrespective of their gender, the army, third person neuter singular pronoun "it" must be used.  Hence, Option C is correct. The rest of the options do not adhere to this rule, hence incorrect.