Removing Pronouns

 

A couple of weeks back in the Tavistock Writers Group, Bob suggested an exercise to write a piece of poetry or fiction without using pronouns. After reaching for the bottle and a general slapping of heads, several of us gave it a go. What's that? What are pronouns - you know those words that take the place of a noun in a sentence. Pronouns are used to avoid repeating the same nouns over and over, making sentences less cumbersome and more fluid. Here are some common types of pronouns:

1. Personal Pronouns: Refer to specific people or things. Eg: I, you, he, she, it, we, they

2. Possessive Pronouns: Indicate ownership or possession Eg: my, your, his, her, its, our, their

3. Reflexive Pronouns: Refer back to the subject of the sentence. Eg: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

4. Demonstrative Pronouns: Point to specific things. Eg: this, that, these, those

5. Interrogative Pronouns: Used to ask questions. Eg: who, whom, whose, which, what

6. Relative Pronouns: Introduce relative clauses and relate to the noun that precedes them. Eg: who, whom, whose, which, that

7. Indefinite Pronouns: Refer to non-specific people or things. Eg: anyone, everyone, someone, nobody, each, few, many, some

Well, you can imagine, removing those words was a bit of a nightmare. But good news, I managed to create a short story which can be read here: #Reading Room Another  little old lady tale, weird.