{Pronouns

My father shot the elephant wearing his pajamas.

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Pronouns take the place of a noun

• common pronouns include he, she, it, they, me

Pronouns – a definition

Singular pronouns

Refer to one person, place, or thing

Examples: I, he, she, it, me, that, this, who, myself, himself

Plural pronouns

Refer to two or more people, places, or things

Examples: them, they, we, us, you, these, those, yours, theirs,

Why should I care?! Your pronoun and it’s partner (called an antecedent) have to AGREE

In other words, if you have a singular noun, you must replace it with a singular pronoun.

Let’s try some examples…

Examples A new senator is usually concerned with which committee they will join. Is this correct? Why/why not?

Sometimes you will meet a person who will offer to share her wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer. Is this correct? Why/why not?

Examples A new senator (singular) is usually concerned with which committee they (plural) will join. Is this correct? NO!!

Sometimes you will meet a person (singular) who will offer to share her (singular) wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer. Is this correct? YES!

Subjective pronouns

A subjective pronoun (also called a nominative pronoun) is the subject of the sentence (Think: subjective =

subject!) The subject is the

person, place, or thing DOING or BEING in a sentence

Subjective pronouns

Example: She went to the store for bread. She is the one

going, so she is the subject of the sentence.

Objective pronouns

An objective pronoun acts as the object in the sentence – the thing being acted upon

Objective pronouns include me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom, whomever

Objective pronouns

Example: Sally hit Tommy. Tommy is receiving

the hit, so Tommy is the object

Sally hit him. We’ve just replaced

Tommy with him, so now him is an objective pronoun.

Possessive pronouns

Possessive pronouns simply show ownership Possession =

ownership The possessive

pronouns are hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, and yours.

Possessive pronouns

Example: That is his book. Who owns the book? Him!

So his is a possessive pronoun, because it shows he owns the book.

Remember, for a possessive pronoun to be clear, you need to have a clear antecedent (partner noun). The sentence above does us

no good if we don’t know who his is referring to!

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn.

We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash.

I told them that they were too late! Is the underlined pronoun

subjective, objective, or possessive?

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. POSSESSIVE!

We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash. SUBJECTIVE!

I told them that they were too late! OBJECTIVE! Is the underlined pronoun

subjective, objective, or possessive?