PES/ENG/VIII/033

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SUBJECT – EnglishCLASS – VIIICHAPTER – PRONOUNS

Opening sequence

Anchor1

“If language is not correct, then what is said is not what is meant; if what is said is not what is meant, then what must be done remains undone. So it is very important that our thoughts are clear and we empower ourselves with a strong hold over the language. Because when we fail to express ourselves in words then what is the use of conversing? If I seem to confuse you then I better make myself more clear to you. I am here to make things easy and not more difficult for you. Now just listen to this conversation and find out who is talking about whom and to whom.

For MM (The sentence should first appear without highlight and then all text in red should be highlighted)

Ravi said that Ravi is going for a meeting and no one should call Ravi because Ravi will not be available. So, please call Ravi when Ravi is free so that Ravi can take your calls.

This type of repetitive language can be quite confusing. Don’t you think so?Let us try to make what we heard just now, simpler.

For MM The above sentence should be replaced with all highlighted pronouns

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Ravi said that he is going for a meeting and no one should call him because he will not be available. So, please call Ravi when he is free so that he can take your calls.

What did we do to make the sentence clearer? We stopped repeating the name Ravi and in the place of Ravi, we used words like – he, him. Today we are going to find out many more such options which make a sentence simple to understand. And these words which we are going to use in place of the noun – Ravi are called Pronouns.

VO with text on board 1

Learning Objectives

At the end of this lesson, children will be able to:

Explain the meaning of Pronouns. List the different kinds of pronouns. Describe the usage of Pronouns.

Anchor 2

Today we are going to learn about pronouns and its different kinds. And how to use these different kinds of pronouns. So, to begin with, what are Pronouns? Pronouns are words used in place of nouns to make a sentence less complicated. Instead of saying, Gurjot likes to play hockey. Gurjot has joined coaching classes so that Gurjot can play better hockey. We can say, Gurjot likes to play hockey. She has joined coaching classes so that she can play better hockey.

We find that we have used the word She in the place of Gurjot . This word is called a pronoun, because it is used in the place of a noun. We use pronouns to avoid repetition of nouns. A pronoun is, therefore, equivalent to a noun.

VO with text on board 2

Kinds of Pronouns

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There are eight kinds of Pronouns. They are as follows:

1. Personal pronoun 2. Reflexive pronoun 3. Emphatic pronoun 4. Interrogative pronoun 5. Demonstrative pronoun 6. Distributive pronoun 7. Reciprocal pronoun8. Indefinite pronoun

1. Personal pronoun

When a pronoun refers to a person it is called a personal pronoun. But there are three kinds of personal pronouns. For example – first person pronouns. That is I, me, mine, we, our, us. Here we talk about our self or ourselves.

Example - Today we will borrow books from our class library. After I have read mine, I shall request our library Sir to give me another one.

Anchor

Here, all the time I am talking about I, me and ourselves. It is we who are speaking. But when we talk to a person, we use pronouns like you, your, yours. And these are called second person pronouns.

Example – Please make sure that you have completed your work before you go home.

But when we speak of a person or persons we use he, she, it, they, him, his, her, them, their, etc. These are all third person pronouns.

Example –

1. They had to run home because it started raining.2. He likes to play tennis while she likes to play badminton.3. Please give them their notebooks so that they can study for the

exams.

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In all these sentences people were being spoken of – they, he, she, them, their.

But an important thing to remember is that a personal pronoun may be in Singular or Plural. And personal pronouns have three cases. That is Personal pronouns have different forms in different number and case. Now we can understand what numbers are, isn’t it? Like singular or plural.

But what is a case? They are the different forms of the personal pronoun. They come in three different cases: Subject Pronouns, Object Pronouns, and Possessive Pronouns.

Examples:Subject Pronouns: I you, she, he, they, we, it, whoObject Pronouns: me, you, him, her, them, us, it, whomPossessive Pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours, its, whose

Subjective Objective Possessive Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural

First Person I we me us my, mine our, ours

Second Person you you you you your, yours your, yours

Third Person he, she, it it, they him, her, it it, them his, her its, their

Anchor 3

Let’s now study about the use of ‘It’.

It is a pronoun which is used for

1. ‘For things without life: Here is your book; take it away. 2. For animals unless we want to refer to them as male or female:

He loves his dog and takes it for a walk every evening. 3. For a young child unless we want to refer to its sex: When I saw

the child it was crying. 4. To refer to some statement going before: She is not telling the

truth; as she knows it.

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5. To ask a question. Who is it?6. To give emphasis to the noun or pronoun following: It was you

who began the argument. 7. In speaking of the weather or the time: It is summer. 8. As an indefinite nominative of an impersonal verb: It rains.

Here, It does not stand for any noun though this can be readily supplied from the verb. Thus, 'It rains' means 'The rain rains'. It so used is called an impersonal pronoun. Similarly the verb rains is called an impersonal verb.

VO with text on board 3

Just have a look at the Possessive case of the Personal pronoun

Possessive Singular Plural my, mine our, ours

your, yours your, yours

his, her its, their

From the above table it is seen that the possessive cases of most of the personal pronouns have two forms. Of these the forms my, our, your, her and their are called Possessive Adjectives because they are used with nouns and do the work of adjectives.

Possessive Adjectives and Possessive Pronouns

Let us consider the following sentences.

1. That is my house. 2. This is her watch. 3. That house is mine. 4. This watch is hers.

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In the expression my house , the word my is an adjective because it qualifies the noun house ; similarly in the expression her watch , the word her is an adjective as it qualifies the noun watch . So my and her are called possessive adjectives while mine and hers do not qualify any noun; so they are possessive pronouns . Possessive adjectives are sometimes called pronominal adjectives as they are formed from Pronouns.

Both possessive adjectives and possessive pronouns denote possession.

Note:

1. The word his is used both as a possessive adjective and a possessive pronoun as shown in the following sentences.

a. This is his book. (Possessive Adjective) b. This book is his. (Possessive Pronoun)

Anchor 4

Before we proceed any further let us do some exercises to find how much we have understood and how much we remember.

Let us use pronouns instead of nouns wherever we can.

For MM (The sentence should first appear without highlight and then all text in red should be highlighted)

1. Kulwant wanted to buy a cycle. So, Kulwant went to the shop with Kulwant’s brother.

Ans – Kulwant wanted to buy a cycle. So, he went to the shop with his brother.

Let me explain what we did here. We are talking about Kulwant. So it is the third person and we used – he for Kulwant. Then we were talking about Kulwant’s brother. Whose brother? Kulwant’s brother. So, we used a possessive pronoun – his. Possessive means

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something that belongs to you. That you possess. And this case it was Kulwant’s brother. I am sure we have understood what we did. So, let us move on to the next sentence.

2. Mohan please do not disturb me. I am getting angry with Mohan.

Ans. Mohan please do not disturb me. I am getting angry with you.

Here I have been talking to Mohan. So, it is in the second person and thus next time I wanted to use the noun Mohan, I used you. We will do some exercise where we are going to fill up the blanks with Personal Pronouns.

VO with text on board 4

First the question with blank will appear and then after 3 seconds, the answers given in bracket will be filled in the blank provided

Let us read the sentences and try to complete them. (Answers in the bracket)

1. Ravi could not do his homework. So, _____(he) went to _______(his) friend’s place. ______(they) sat down together and completed the work.

2. The children lost the ball while playing cricket. ______(they) were very sad because ___(it) got lost .

3. My friends are coming to my house today. ____(we) will watch a movie.

4. New Delhi is the capital of _______(our) country.

5. _______(those/these) birds are migratory birds. When the winter is over, _____( they) will fly away.

6. He goes home at 6 o’clock. _____(it) is _______(his) study time.

7. Please can ______ (you)lend me _____(your) pen . I forgot to bring _______(mine).

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8. ______ (she/he) went with _______(her/his) mother to see _______(their) grandfather.

This exercise must have refreshed your mind and made things more clear. Let us now move on to the other different kinds of Pronouns.

2. Reflexive Pronouns

When the action done by the subject reflects (turns back) upon the subject itself, the pronoun is called a reflexive pronoun.

Examples

1. The dog bit itself . 2. The child hurt himself . 3. They themselves are responsible for it.

In the above sentences are words itself , himself and themselves . Adding self or selves to the personal pronouns form these words. In the first sentence the word itself denotes that the dog does the action to the dog. In other words, the action is reflected on the subject itself. So it is called a reflexive pronoun. Similarly the pronoun himself in the second sentence and themselves in the third sentence is also a reflexive pronoun.

3. Emphatic Pronoun

When a pronoun is used for emphasis, it is known as an emphatic pronoun. Emphatic pronouns are also sometimes called emphasizing pronouns.

Examples

1. I myself saw him doing it. 2. He himself saw him doing it. 3. They themselves are responsible for it.

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In the above sentences words myself, himself and themselves are used for the sake emphasis or force. So they are called emphatic pronouns.

4. Interrogative Pronouns

Pronouns that are used for asking questions are called interrogative pronouns.

Examples

1. What is your name? 2. Who gave you the purse? 3. Which is your coat? 4. To whom does it belong?

The words what, who, which and whom are pronouns. They are used to ask questions. So they are called interrogative pronouns. (Interrogate - ask).

Note:

Which, what, whose can also be used as adjectives as shown in the sentences below.

1. Which pencil did you buy? 2. What article is that? 3. Whose letter is that?

These words qualify nouns and they are used to ask questions. They are interrogative adjectives.

5. Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun is one that points to some noun going before. (In Latin demonstrate means , to show clearly) .

Examples

1. This is my book. 2. These are our books.

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3. That is my umbrella. 4. Those are our umbrellas. 5. One of those are as lazy will not be rewarded. 6. One of those pencils is mine

This , These , That , Those , and One in the above sentences are pronouns. They point out or demonstrate some noun. They are therefore, called demonstrative pronouns.

Note:

The same words can be used either pronouns or as adjectives. This, that, these and those can also be used as adjectives as shown in the sentences below.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUN DEMONSTRATIVE ADJECTIVEThis is my book. This book is mine.That is the pencil I bought yesterday.

That pencil was bought yesterday

Those are beautiful colours. Those colours are beautiful. These are our new friends. These friends are our new

friends.

In the above sentences This, That, these and Those qualify some nouns. They are adjectives. They also point out nouns and so they are demonstrative adjectives.

6. Distributive Pronouns

When a pronoun refers to persons or things one at a time, it is called a distributive pronoun.

Examples

1. Each of the boys was given an orange. 2. Either of the boxes is sold out. 3. Neither of the candidates is suitable.

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Each, Either, Neither refers to one person or thing at a time. They are distributive pronouns.

A distributive pronoun is always singular in number and so takes a singular number as they always refer to persons or things one at a time.

7. Reciprocal Pronouns

We use the reciprocal pronouns to indicate that two people can carry out an action and get the consequences of that action at the same time. There are two reciprocal pronouns:

Each other, one another are Reciprocal Pronouns. They enable you to simplify sentences where the same general idea is expressed two or more times.

Example

1. On their wedding day Sam gave Mary a gold ring and Mary gave Sam a gold ring.

We can say – On their wedding day, Sam and Mary gave each other a gold ring.

If you need to refer to more than two people, say the students in a classroom, then we could use the reciprocal pronoun, "one another".

Example

1. The students in this classroom cooperate with one another.

2. The students gathered to congratulate one another after the results were declared conclusion.

8. Indefinite Pronouns

Pronouns that refer to persons or things in a general way without referring to any person or thing in particular are called indefinite pronouns.

Examples

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1. Some are born great. 2. A few do not like tomatoes. 3. One does not know the future. 4. They say that the king was murdered. 5. None of the articles is cheap. 6. We do not need any of them.

The words some , a few , one , they , none and any are pronouns. They do not refer to any particular individual or thing. They refer to persons or things in a general way. They are indefinite pronouns.

Anchor 4

Let us have a recap of what we just learnt.

Summary

Pronouns are words used in place of nouns. There are eight different kinds of Pronouns. They are –

1. Personal Pronoun 2. Reflexive Pronoun3. Emphatic Pronoun4. Interrogative Pronoun5. Demonstrative Pronoun6. Distributive Pronoun7. Reciprocal Pronoun8. Indefinite Pronoun

Children, this completes our learning session. Let us check our understanding with a short Q&A session.

We will now read these sentences and fill in the blanks with the correct form of Pronoun.

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First the question with blank will appear and then after 3 seconds, the answers given in bracket will be filled in the blank provided

1. Will ________ come to my house today? ( I, our, you )

2. _____ ( I, our) take a bath everyday.

3. Please lend ________ (they, me) your bicycle for a moment.

4. Did _________ (him, he) complete his work?

5. ______ (our, I ) hope _________ (you, your ) will help ____ ( me, he) to learn how to cycle.

6. __________ ( every, either) you give it to me or you take it home)

7. It rained so heavily that __________( none, some) of the rooftops flew away in the villages.

8. We should always help _____________( one another, each other)

9. Please pick up ____________( that, these) books and keep them on _____________( that, these) shelf.

10. To ____________( who, whom) did you give the house keys?

II. Select the Reflexive pronouns and complete the sentences.

(Itself, himself, myself, themselves, yourself, herself, ourselves.)

1. He ____________ said that he lost your new storybook. ( himself)

2. I will bake a cake by ______________.(myself)

3. She will knit a sweater for _____________.(herself)

4. You should not blame _____________ for not doing well in the exams. The questions were very difficult.( yourself)

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5. When they saw that their team won the soccer match, they could not stop ___________ from running into the field to cheer them.( themselves)

III. Select the interrogative pronouns and complete the sentences.

( who, whom, whose, which, what, whose, why)

1. _______________ book is lying on my table? (whose)

2. Do you know ____________ lesson to study? ( which)

3. _________ are you doing and _________ are you doing it ? ( what, why )

4. ________ will be the chief guest on our sports day? ( who)

5. With _________ will you go to watch the movie? ( whom)

With these exercises we come to the end of today’s lesson and that is PRONOUNS. I am sure we have understood what we just learnt. It is through regular usage of these words that we will become more thorough with this part of speech. I am sure you will make good use of what you just learnt.

Name of the teacher

Signature

Date

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