Grammar Basics (Pronouns) Resource: Advanced English Grammar for ESL Learnershttp://www.writingcentre.uottawa.ca/hypergrammar/pronouns.html

C/LtCol Genieve M. Martínez

Lesson Objectives Review grammar basics:

Parts of Speech Noun Pronoun Verb Adjective Adverb Preposition Conjunction

Test Knowledge

Parts of Speech NOUN a person, place, or thing. Can be the subject or object of a

sentence.

PRONOUN a word that replaces or stands for ("pro" = for) a noun.

VERB an action word.

ADJECTIVE a word that describes or modifies a noun. Answers the questions "how many," "what kind," etc.

ADVERB a word that describes or modifies a verb.

PREPOSITION (literally "pre-position") a word that indicates the relationship of a noun (or noun phrase) to another word.

PronounsA pronoun can replace a noun or another pronoun. You use pronouns like "he," "which," "none," and "you" to make your sentences less repetitive.

Types of pronouns: • Personal pronoun• Demonstrative pronoun• Interrogative pronoun• Indefinite pronoun• Relative pronoun• Reflexive pronoun• Intensive pronoun.

Pronouns A personal pronoun refers to a specific person or thing and

changes its form to indicate person, number, gender and case.

Subjective Objective Possessive

1st person singular I Me My/mine

2nd person singular You You You/yours

3rd person singular He Him His/his

3rd person singular She Her Her/hers

3rd person singular It It Its/its

1st person plural We Us Our/ours

2nd person plural You You Your/yours

3rd person plural They Them Their/theirs

Subjective Personal Pronouns A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the

subject of the sentence. The subjective personal pronouns are "I," "you," "she," "he," "it," "we," "you," "they."

In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is a subjective personal pronoun and acts as the subject of the sentence: I was glad to find the bus pass in the bottom of the green knapsack. You are surely the strangest child I have ever met. He stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him. When she was a young woman, she earned her living as a coal miner. After many years, they returned to their homeland. We will meet at the library at 3:30 p.m. It is on the counter. Are you the delegates from Malagawatch?

Objective Personal Pronouns An objective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as an object

of a verb, compound verb, preposition, or infinitive phrase. The objective personal pronouns are: "me," "you," "her," "him," "it," "us," "you," and "them."

In the following sentences, each of the highlighted words is an objective personal pronoun:

Seamus stole the selkie's skin and forced her to live with him. The objective personal pronoun "her" is the direct object of the verb "forced" and

the objective personal pronoun "him" is the object of the preposition "with."

After reading the pamphlet, Judy threw it into the garbage can. The pronoun "it" is the direct object of the verb "threw."

The agitated assistant stood up and faced the angry delegates and said, "Our leader will address you in five minutes.” In this sentence, the pronoun "you" is the direct object of the verb "address.”

Possessive Personal Pronouns A possessive pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as a marker of

possession and defines who owns a particular object or person. The possessive personal pronouns are "mine," "yours," "hers," "his," "its," "ours," and "theirs.”

In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a possessive personal pronoun: The smallest gift is mine.

Here the possessive pronoun "mine" functions as a subject complement. This is yours.

Here too the possessive pronoun "yours" functions as a subject complement. His is on the kitchen counter.

In this example, the possessive pronoun "his" acts as the subject of the sentence. Theirs will be delivered tomorrow.

In this sentence, the possessive pronoun "theirs" is the subject of the sentence.

Test your knowledge (Personal pronouns) Identify the type of pronoun:

I just joined the new chess club. (subject) The boys will help you with the gardening. Who gave him all that money? Jim danced with her all night long. Our daughter is going to her first prom. Is yours a good dancer, too?

Personal Pronouns Only the third person singular and plural pronouns can replace

nouns in a sentence. A form of he replaces masculine nouns; a form of she replaces feminine nouns; a form of it replaces neuter nouns; and a form of they replaces all plural nouns:

The young actor suddenly forgot his lines. He suddenly forgot his lines. Have you met Ms. Brown? Have you met her? I was never interested in science. I was never interested in it. The mountains’ ravines were hidden beneath the snow. Their ravines

were hidden beneath the snow.

Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstrative pronouns make up a small group. They are this,

that, these, those , and such. This and that are singular, these and those are plural, and such can be either singular or plural. They can act as modifiers of a noun.

Determiner Pronoun

This old house belongs to my uncle. This belongs to my uncle.

Are you going to wear that funny hat? Are you going to wear that?

Who took those new DVDs? Who took those?

These nursery rhymes make me laugh. These make me laugh.

Such ideas are my firm beliefs. Such are my firm beliefs.

Demonstrative Pronouns Demonstrative pronouns functioning as determiners can be used

with both animate and inanimate nouns. When used as pronoun replacements, they retain the animate or inanimate meaning of the nouns they replace:

This boy is my nephew. This is my nephew.

That pen was a gift from Jean. That was a gift from Jean.

These people should be arrested. These should be arrested.

Those logs should be removed. Those should be removed.

Demonstrative Pronouns Just using this, that, these, or those alone does not always make

sense. By adding one(s) to these pronouns, a more specific meaning is derived and an awkward statement is avoided:

This girl threw the snowball. This one threw the snowball.

I want that big candy bar. I want this one.

These pancakes don’t taste right. These ones don’t taste right.

Mark chose those black slacks. Mark chose those ones.

Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns are not substitutes for specific nouns. Instead

they stand for people or things in general. Some of the commonly used indefinite pronouns are:

Anybody, everybody, and somebody can be said as anyone, everyone, and someone. All and some are singular and plural, depending upon to what or to whom they refer. The others are always singular:

All Everybody One

Anybody Everything Some

Each None Somebody

Indefinite Pronouns Singular or plural All was spent on a big party. (all the money=singular)All are accounted for. (all the soldiers=plural) There is some on the table for you. (some bread=singular)Some were forced to pay higher taxes. (some citizens=plural) Always singular Is somebody at home?Each has to get up and sing a song. Everybody knows that she’s the most competent in our department. Everything was finally repaired. One fell off a swing and was injured.Somebody wants to go out with Laura.

Relative Pronouns Relative pronouns are used to connect two clauses in which the same noun

or pronoun appears. A relative pronoun replaces one of the nouns or pronouns in the two clauses. For example:John is my best friend. John moved to Miami. John, who moved to Miami, is my best friend.

The English relative pronouns are who (whom, whose), which, and that. The forms of who refer to people, which refers to things, and that usually refers to things but can also refer to people.

In each of the following sentences, the highlighted word is a relative pronoun. You may invite whomever you like to the party. The relative pronoun

"whomever" is the direct object of the compound verb "may invite." The candidate who wins the greatest popular vote is not always elected.

Reflexive Pronouns You can use a reflexive pronoun to refer back to the subject of the clause or

sentence.

The reflexive pronouns are "myself," "yourself," "herself," "himself," "itself," "ourselves," "yourselves," and "themselves." Note each of these can also act as an intensive pronoun. Each of the highlighted words in the following sentences is a reflexive pronoun:

Diabetics give themselves insulin shots several times a day. The Dean often does the photocopying herself so that the secretaries can do more

important work. After the party, I asked myself why I had faxed invitations to everyone in my office

building. Richard usually remembered to send a copy of his e-mail to himself. Although the landlord promised to paint the apartment, we ended up doing it

ourselves.

Reflexive Pronouns The reflexive pronouns are counterparts to the personal

pronouns. They are:

Subjective Objective Reflexive

1st person singular I Me myself

2nd person singular You You Yourself

3rd person singular He Him Himself

3rd person singular She Her Herself

3rd person singular It It Itself

1st person plural We Us Ourselves

2nd person plural You You Yourselves

3rd person plural They Them Themselves

3rd person singular One One Oneself

Intensive Pronouns An intensive pronoun is a pronoun used to emphasize its antecedent.

Intensive pronouns are identical in form to reflexive pronouns.

The highlighted words in the following sentences are intensive pronouns: I myself believe that aliens should abduct my sister. The Prime Minister himself said that he would lower taxes. They themselves promised to come to the party even though they had a

final exam at the same time. I myself don’t believe he committed the crime. Ms. Brown herself waited in the rain for the train to arrive. Five-year-old Sarah made her bed herself. Why did Michael want to go to the library by himself?

Reciprocal Pronouns The reciprocal pronouns are one another and each other. A

reciprocal pronoun is a pronoun used to combine two sentences in which the action of the verb is identical to both. The verbs in sentences with reciprocal pronouns are always plural. For example: My girlfriend loves me. I love my girlfriend. My girlfriend and I love each other. My girlfriend and I love one another.

John buys Mary some new gloves. Mary buys John some new gloves. John and Mary buy one another some new gloves. John and Mary buy each other some new gloves.

Interrogative Pronouns An interrogative pronoun who, which, and what ask,

respectively, about a person, about a choice, and about a thing. The answer can be in a noun or pronoun form:

Who ordered the steak? I did.

Whom did you meet in Toledo? We met John.

Which should I choose? Take the one covered in chocolate.

Which do you prefer? I really prefer the silk scarf.

What on earth is that? That’s a tropical beetle.

What did you buy? An overcoat.

Interrogative Pronouns An interrogative pronoun can also function as a determiner. For example:

There is a difference between which and what that is not always clear. Which is used to distinguish people or things: Which man? The one in the blue coat. Which painting? The one by Rembrandt.

What inquires into the kind or the category of something: What books do you read? I read science fiction What foods can’t she eat? Anything with dairy in it.

Whose car did he borrow? He borrowed Mary’s car?

Which words did he misspell? He misspelled neighbor and trophy.

What problems gave you trouble? The problems on geometry?