What are Pronouns?

I She
He

Us
We
We
What are pronouns?
Pronouns take the
place of nouns. The
word or phrase
replaced by a pronoun
is called an
antecedent.
Example:
Halloween is one of
America's holidays. It is
celebrated in October.
(Halloween is a noun.
It is a pronoun that
refers to the
antecedent, Halloween.)
Example:
When Robert was fixing
the car, he cut his
hand.
(Robert is a noun. He is
a pronoun that refers to
the antecedent,
Robert.)
 Personal Pronouns
Refer to people or things
Include: I, me, my,
mine, you, your,
yours, he, him, his,
she, her, hers, it, its, ME!
they, them, their,
theirs, we, us, our,
ours.
Examples:
1. He took her place
in the game.
2. Their main
objective is to
scare students.
 What does the word relative make you
think of?

RELATIVE

Relative pronouns are pronouns that connect parts of sentences.

Underline relative pronouns in the following sentences:
What do these pronouns refer to?

• Tom is the boy who always wears blue.

the boy who
• This is the book that I read this summer.
the book that
• The morning is when I eat breakfast.
the morning when
• The gym is where I go to work out.
the gym where
• The candidate whom I chose for the job has a BSc in
agronomy.
the candidate whom
• I’ve invited everyone whose work is relevant to this project.
everyone whose
• The salad, which had avocado in it, was superb.
the salad which
What can these pronouns refer to?
How are they translated into Croatian?
WHO
- people (koji, što)
WHOSE
- people, animals, objects (čiji)
WHOM
- people (koga)
WHICH
- things , animals (koji, što)
THAT
- people, things (koji, koga, što)
What is the difference between the two
sentences?

The athletes who failed the drug test

were disqualified.
- DEFINING (necessary for the sentence to make sense);
no commas

The athletes, who failed the drug

test, were disqualified.
- NON-DEFINING (it may be interesting, but not necessary);
use commas)
 Non-defining clause
Which one would you use in writing(speaking)?

The salesman, who was very helpful, said this

model was in stock.

The salesman was very helpful. He said this model

was in stock.

- more common in writing.

- in speech, we often use two short sentences
instead
Defining relative clauses
Which who can be ommitted?

The technician who Tony spoke to

said the network was working fine.
The technician who spoke to Tony
said the network was working fine.

- we can leave out (who, that, which; not whose) in a

defining relative clause if they are followed immediately
by a noun or pronoun - 1)

- we must keep the relative pronoun if it is followed

immediately by a verb – 2)
Which of these is appropriate?
The person who I got these plants from said
they were healthy.
The person from whom I got these plants said
they were healthy.

- normally prepositions are at the end of the

relative clause

- in formal English it is possible to put

prepositions in front of whom, which ,
whose
 QUESTIONS
1. … just left ten minutes ago. (He, His, Hi)
2. My brother told me not to touch … when he wasn't at home. (he, his,
him)
3. Reny and … are going to visit a new born baby this weekend. (me,
mine, I)
4. … is the cheapest watch ever sold at the store. (Your, Yours, You)
5. This pink laptop case is … (she, hers, her)
Add the phrase in brackets to the sentence using ‘that’ or ‘who’ and a
relative clause.
6. She worked for a man (the man used to be an athlete)
7. They called a lawyer (the lawyer lived nearby)
8. I sent an email to my brother (my brother lives in Australia)
9. The customer liked the waitress (the waitress was very friendly)
10. We broke the computer (the computer belonged to my father)