PRONOUNS

Cristopher S . Hervas

Whats a Pronoun?
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a
noun or other pronoun.

It can take the place of a subject

word.
(I, you, he, she, it, we, they)

It can take the place of an object

word.
(me, you, him, her, it, us, them)

It can take the place of a

possessive word.
(my, mine, your, yours, his, hers, its, our,
ours, their, theirs)

 Alexis is a great friend. She is so funny!

Alexis reads her jokes to the class.

Personal Pronouns
Pronoun such as we, I, he, them, and it are called personal
pronouns.
Unlike nouns, personal pronouns change their forms to
reflect person, number, and case
Person and Number personal pronouns have different forms
for first person, second person, and third person. Pronouns
can be singular or plural in number
Singular
Plural
First person:
I went out.
We left
early.
Second person: You left too.
You are all
leaving.
Third person :
He came by bus.
They came by
car.

Case Personal pronouns change their forms, or cases,

depending on how are used in a sentence. Each pronoun has
three cases: subject, object, and possessive.
Subject: He just started middle school.
Object: Scott met him on the first day.
Possessive: Now Scott is his best friend.
Personal Pronouns
Subject
Singular
First person
mine
Second person
yours

Object

Possessive

me

my,

you

you

your,

Subject
Possesive
Third person
he, she, it
his, her, hers, its

Plural
First person
our, ours
Second person
your, yours
Third person
their, theirs

Object
him, her, it

we

us

you

you

they

them

WHY IT MATTERS IN WRITING?

Without personal pronouns, the narrator of
the passage below would need to repeat
her friend's names and her own name
several times! Instead, she uses forms of
I and you.
Literary Model
Dont invite me to your birthday
party because Im not coming. And
give back the Disneyland sweatshirt
I said you could wear. If Im not good
enough to play on your team, Im
not good enough to be friends with.

SUBJECT PRONOUNS
A subject pronoun is used as the subject of a sentence
or as predicate pronoun after a linking verb.
Singular-I, you, he, she, It
Plural- We, you, they
Pronoun as Subject
Use the subject case of the pronoun when the
pronoun is the subject of a sentence. Remember, a
pronoun can be a part of a compound subject.
Friends often play on opposing teams. They
compete hard against each other. (They replaces
noun subject Friends)
Charlene and I play on different teams.
We stay friends no matter what.

Predicate Pronouns
A predicate pronoun follows a linking verb
and renames or refers to the subject. Use
the subject case for predicate pronouns.
Mrs. Sands is the coach. The coach is
she.
The best players are Aaron and I.
Remember, the most common linking
verbs are forms of the be verb: they
include is, am, are, was, were, been, has
been, have been, can be, will be, could
be, and should be.

WHY IT MATTERS IN WRITING?

Sometimes, subject pronouns may sound
strange even though they are correct.
As many writers have discovered, you
cant rely on sound to choose the
correct case.
Model
Michael Jordan is a close friend of
Charles Barkley. However, on court
the fiercest competitors were he
and Charles. Off the court,
Hermano and I saw them laughing
and playing golf together.

OBJECT PRONOUNS
Object pronouns are personal pronouns used as direct
objects, as indirect objects, or as objects of
preposition.
Singular- me, you, him, her, it
Plural-us, you, them
Direct Object: receives the action of a verb and answers
the question whom or what?
True animal stories fascinate Jen. (fascinate whom?
Jen)
Do you like them?
Indirect Object: tells to whom or what of for whom or
what an action is performed.
Jen gave me a book about dolphins.
People gave him a heros welcome.

Object of preposition: follows a

preposition (such as to, from, for,
against, by, or about).
We would like to hear more about
him.
Can you tell the story to her and
me?

WHY IT MATTERS IN WRITING?

Using the pronouns I and me allows the
writer to be up close and personal. In the
passage below, Helen Keller uses these
pronouns to describe when she first felt
loved.
Literary Model
I stretched out my hand. Someone
took it, and I was caught up and held
close in the arms of her who had
come to reveal all things to me, and,
more than all things else, to love me.

Possessive Pronouns
Heres the idea
Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns
used to show ownership or relationship.
The possessive pronouns my, your, her, his, our, and their
come before nouns.
Some of my best friends live in other countries.
All our correspondence is by e-mail.
Even their old computers are on-line now.
The possessive pronouns mine, ours, yours, his, hers, and
theirs can stand alone in a sentence.
The blue mouse pad is theirs. Ours is red.
Is that video game yours? Mine is broken.
Is his any good? Or should we play hers?

REFLEXIVE AND INTENSIVE PRONOUNS

Heres the Idea
Pronouns that end in self or selves are
myself
yourself
herself, himself, itself
ourselves
Yourselves
themselves

Reflexive Pronouns
A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject and directs the
action of the verb back to the subject. Reflexive pronouns
are necessary to the meaning of a sentence.
The winners considered themselves lucky.
How do you prepare yourself for a game?
Notice that if you drop the reflexive pronoun, you change the
meaning of the sentence. (The winners considered lucky)
Intensive Pronouns
An intensive pronoun emphasizes the noun or pronoun in the
same sentence. Intensive pronouns are not necessary to
the meaning of the sentence.
I myself just keep saying Well win!
The players themselves designed their uniforms.
Notice that when you drop the intensive pronoun, the
sentence still makes sense. (I just keep saying Well
win!)

WHY IT MATTERS IN WRITING

Notice how the student sportswriter uses
reflexive and intensive pronouns to
emphasize key words and ideas.
Student Model
The U.S. womens soccer team won the
1999 World Cup in a final shootout. In
the end, the players themselves were
screaming for joy. Injured player
Michelle Akers said: I found myself
hobbling out to the field to join my
team. The 90. 185 fans were going
crazy. I was struggling to soak it all in
and keep myself together.

INTERROGATIVES AND
DEMONSTRATIVES
Interrogative Pronouns
An interrogative pronoun is used to
introduce a question. Interrogative
pronouns include who, whom, what,
which, and whose.
Who has an animal for a friend?
What do you like best about animals?
Writers often confuse who and whom.
The following guidelines can help you
decide which from to use in your
sentences.

Using Who and Whom

Who is always used as a subject or a predicate
pronoun.
Subject: Who gave you the parakeet?
Predicate pronoun: It was who?
Dont confuse whos with whose. Whos is a contraction
that means who is or who has. (Whos missing?)
Whose is an interrogative or possessive pronoun.
(Whose is this?)
Whom is always used as an object.
Direct object: Whom do you ask about pet stories?
Indirect object: You gave whom a turtle?
Object of preposition: From whom did you buy it?

WHY IT MATTERS IN WRITING

Knowing when to use who and whom can be tricky

because many people use these pronouns
incorrectly. Be careful to use the correct pronouns
when you create questionnaires or surveys, like
the one below.
Questionnaire for friends
Who is you oldest friend? Subject
Who talks more--you or your best friend?
Subject
With whom would you share your deepest secret?
Object of Preposition
Whom would you trust for advice?
Direct
Object

Correct the Errors:

Over a third of the tomato plants died
because we forgot to water it.
Each finalist will have to pay their own
airfare and other expenses.
Not one of the boys in that family has to
be reminded to make their bed in the
mornings.
Every member of the graduating class
should congratulate themselves for
having passed all of their final exams.
Whats the common error in these
sentences?

What do you need to

understand about pronounantecedent agreement errors?

Whats an antecedent?
Whats a pronoun-antecedent
agreement error?

Whats an
antecedent?
The word that the pronoun replaces.

Hermione Granger threw her

wand onto the floor
(her renames Hermione Granger).

When Ron Weasley saw the

wand drop, he picked it up and
handed it to her.
(it renames the wand)

Then Ron and Hermione went to

their Defense Against the Dark
Arts class.
(their renames Ron and Hermione)

Basically, its this:

All pronouns and their antecedents need to
agree in person and number.
AGREE IN PERSON
I hate to proofread my paper because
proofreading is such a boring thing for you to
do.
(disagreement in person--first person
antecedent I, second person pronoun
you)
AGREE IN NUMBER
Singular antecedents get singular pronouns.
The boy tossed his hat on the table.

Plural antecedents get plural pronouns.

The boys tossed their hats on the table.

Youll generally run into

problems in two cases:
When the antecedent is an
indefinite pronoun and
When the antecedent is a singular
noun that could refer to a man or
a woman.

Indefinite Pronouns:
Theyre usually
singular
Another

Anybody

Anyone

Anything

Each

Either

Everybody

Everyone

Everything

Little

Much

Neither

Nobody

Someone

No one

Nothing

One

Other

Somebody

Something

Except when theyre

plural
Both

Few

Others

Several

Many

Or when theyre singular or plural,

depending on context
All
All of the gas is gone.
All of the kids are
gone.
(All refers to gas in
the first sentence and
kids in the second)

Most
Most of the cake was
gone when I got home.

Any

More

Any of the jewelry is

yours for the taking.

More of the plot is

revealed in act three.

Any of my cousins are

right for the part

More of our plans are going

towards breaking him out
of jail.

(Any refers to
jewelry in the first
sentence and cousins
in the second)

None

None of the material

was covered in the test
But most of the cookies review.
were still there.
None of the students
were happy about that.
(Most refers to
cake in the first
sentence and cookies
in the second)

(More refers to plot in

the first sentence and
plans in the second).

Some

Some of the fault was the

teachers for being
disorganized.
Some of the students were
so angry they complained
to her boss.

(None refers to
material in the first
(Some refers to fault in
sentence and students the first sentence and
in the second)
students in the second)

When you can, just

make the antecedent
plural

A person should be able to make up their

own mind about prayer in schools
(incorrect).
People should be able to make up their own mind
about prayer in schools (correct).

A teacher should show their students love

and compassion (incorrect).
Teachers should show their students love and
compassion (correct).

Often, a doctor will leave their patients

waiting for a ridiculously long time
(incorrect).
Often, doctors will leave their patients waiting for a
ridiculously long time (correct).

General PronounAntecedent Agreement

Rules
Compound antecedents
are usually plural;
Joey and Melissa think their kids are
brilliant.

If two antecedents are joined by either/or,

neither/nor, the pronoun agrees with the
antecedent closest to it;

Either Michael or his friends will

bring their video games to the party.
The pronoun agrees with the
antecedent, not the object of the
prepositional phrase;
Each of the dogs needs its own crate .

General Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement Rules

Collective noun can be either singular or plural,

depending on the context.
The jury took only two hours to reach its
verdict. (Emphasizes the singularity of the
jury)
The jury took only two hours to reach their
verdict. (Emphasizes the jury as a group of
individuals)
Avoid sexism
Not A doctor should listen carefully to his
patients.
But rather (1) making the pronoun and its
antecedent plural, or (2) reword the sentence.
Doctors should listen carefully to their
patients.
Doctors should listen carefully to patients .

In the following sentences, circle

the antecedent, and underline the
pronoun.
This superficial wound should heal itself.
These girls recalled their passwords.
The last time that I spoke with Luca, he
said that he would be here on time.
When Jim and Joe play their guitars in
school, they attract a large crowd.
Since we called our cousins on the
telephone, they have been more friendly
towards us.

 _____Go over to Mr. Torres house

and find out if he is home.
_____Jonathan ran so fast that Glenn
could not catch him.
_____Dick has only himself to blame.
_____My children like to stay up late
even if they are exhausted.
_____Nancy Ann, as well as he, is
the artist of the family.

E. Choose the correct pronoun that agrees with its

antecedent.
1.Each of the suspects had (his, their) own alibi.
2 . Neither the nails nor the hammer was returned to (its,
their) proper place.
3. All of the students turned in ( his or her, their )
projects on time.
4. Both of the women have made (her, their) opinions
known.
5. Before the guests began arriving, Sally asked Tim
whether everything was in ( its, their ) place
6. Either my brother or sisters will reveal (his and their,
their) plans at the family reunion.
7 . Jeff and Isabel planned (his, their) wedding.
8. Some of the girls sang (their/her) favorite song.
9. Most dogs are loyal to (their, his or her) owner.
10. Some of the sugar fell out of (its, their) bag.

F.
1. The members of the choir of St. Joachim
Parish lostits/theirvoices two days before
the spring concert.
2. Minne, Sandra Bullock's cat, was hit by a
car last week and brokeher/itsleg.
3. TheBayluhay tribe got lost
onits/theirway back from the street dancing
competition.
4. The people in the highland of Bad-as resort
to maarams or soroanos to cure illnesses of
its/theirfamilies.
5. The rafflesia, world- renowned biggest
flower, is San Joaquins pride.It/They/Their
inhabits the lofty Mt. Balutinao.

THANK YOU!!!