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Pronominal adjectives are a type of adjective that takes the form of a pronoun but modifies a noun. They can be divided into subcategories such as demonstrative, relative, and distributive adjectives. They must agree in number with the noun they modify.
Pronouns and adjectives are two different parts of speech, but a pronominal adjective takes the form of a pronoun while serving the function of an adjective. The use of pronominal adjectives is governed by grammatical rules that help distinguish these adjectives from the pronouns they imitate. Furthermore, these adjectives can be divided into several common subcategories, including but not limited to demonstrative, relative, and distributive adjectives.
All adjectives modify nouns. Words that describe the appearance, characteristics, number, or other identifying characteristics of a person, place, thing, or idea are usually adjectives. In most cases within the English language, adjectives appear directly before the noun they describe. Rarely does an adjective appear on its own with no noun present.
Pronouns replace nouns. Typically, in everyday English speech or writing, the original noun under discussion is mentioned earlier in the discussion, providing the necessary context for the pronoun that is used later. Replacing that specific noun with a pronoun helps reduce repetitiveness, creating a smoother passage of speech or writing.
A pronominal adjective reduces redundancy similarly to how a pronoun does, but instead of replacing a repetitive noun, it usually replaces a determining term or phrase. For example, instead of saying “the orange cat,” you could say “that cat.” The “that” in “that cat” is a pronominal adjective. Pronominal adjectives modify nouns by determining the specific noun in question, so they are also occasionally referred to as determining adjectives.
In most cases, the pronominal adjective in use accompanies the noun it modifies. In the sentence “This is his book,” the word “this” is a pronoun because it serves as the subject of the sentence and replaces any noun phrase referring to the specific book in question. In the sentence “This book is his”, however, the word “this” is a pronominal adjective because it modifies and determines the subject noun “book”.
These adjectives and the nouns they modify must also agree in number. A singular noun requires a singular pronominal adjective and a plural noun requires a plural adjective. For example, writing “this pen” and “these pencils” are both correct. Writing “these pens” or “these pencils” is incorrect.
There are several sub-categories to further classify pronominal adjectives. Demonstrative pronominal adjectives – “this”, “that”, “these” and “those” – indicate a definitive object. Relative pronominal adjectives – “which” and “what” – identify an object in relation to other objects. Distributive pronominal adjectives – “each”, “each”, “or” and “none” – modify nouns that are distributed separately and singly. Many linguists also use additional subcategories.
