Pronouns

Takes the place of a noun, and makes the sentence less repetitive or

cumbersome.

Subjective Pronoun Case• A subjective pronoun acts as the subject of a

sentence—it performs the action of the verb.

heIit

shetheyweyou

Objective Pronoun Case• An objective pronoun acts as the object of a

sentence—it receives the action of the verb

Meyouhimheritus

them

Personal

• These pronouns replaces people.– First person– Second person– Third person

• Broken into subjective and objective in most sentences

Personal PronounsFirst/Second/Third Person

Singular PluralFirst Person I, me, my, mine,

myselfwe, us, our, ours, ourselves

Second Person you, your, yours, yourself

you, your, yours, yourself

Third Person he, him, his, himselfshe, her, hers, herselfit, itself

they, them, their, theirs, themselves

Reflexive

• Ends with –self or -selves• Used when the subject and the object of the

sentence are the same.• They clarify the meaning of the sentence• Cannot be removed from the sentence

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itselfourselves, yourselves, themselves

Intensive

• Ends in –self or –selves• Is used to add emphasis in the sentence• Can be removed from the sentence

myself, yourself, himself, herself, itselfourselves, yourselves, themselves

Numbers Shift in Pronouns

• Make sure that the pronouns you are using in agreeing with the number of persons, places, or things you are referring.

• Check to make sure whether the pronoun is singular or plural.

Indefinite

• Used to refer to unspecified person, place or thing.

• Can be singular or plural– Indefinite pronoun singular=third person singular– Indefinite pronoun plural=plural pronoun

• Used when:– We don’t know exactly the person, place or thing– We don’t know how many– We want to speak in general terms

Indefinite PronounsSingular Pluralanother all

anybody, anyone, anything more

each most

either, neither some

everybody, everyone, everything such

nobody, no one

somebody, someone

Nothing, one, other, both, few, many, others, several, more, most, none, some

Possessive• Pronouns which show possession

General Possessive Absolute Possessivemy mine

your yourshis hisher hersits theirsourours

Antecedent

• The word, phrase, or clause that determines what a pronoun refers to.

• Example: The teacher asked the children where they were going.

AntecedentPronoun