Pronouns My father shot the elephant wearing his

{ Pronouns take the place of a noun • common pronouns include he, she,

Refer to one person, place, or thing Examples: I, he, she, it, me, that,

Refer to two or more people, places, or things Examples: them, they, we, us,

Why should I care? ! Your pronoun and it’s partner (called an antecedent) have

Examples A new senator is usually concerned with which committee they will join. Is

Examples A new senator (singular) is usually concerned with which committee they (plural) will

A subjective pronoun (also called a nominative pronoun) is the subject of the

Example: She went to the store for bread. She is the one going, so

An objective pronoun acts as the object in the sentence – the thing being

Example: Sally hit Tommy is receiving the hit, so Tommy is the object

Possessive pronouns simply show ownership Possession = ownership The possessive pronouns are hers, his,

Example: That is his book. Who owns the book? Him! So his is a

The trick to figuring out if a sentence should use I/me, he/him, or she/her

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. We wish they wouldn’t keep

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. POSSESSIVE! We wish they wouldn’t

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Pronouns { My father shot the elephant wearing his pajamas.

{ Pronouns take the place of a noun • common pronouns include he, she, it, they, me Pronouns – a definition

Refer to one person, place, or thing Examples: I, he, she, it, me, that, this, who, myself, himself Singular pronouns

Refer to two or more people, places, or things Examples: them, they, we, us, you, these, those, yours, theirs, Plural pronouns

Why should I care? ! Your pronoun and it’s partner (called an antecedent) have to AGREE In other words, if you have a singular noun, you must replace it with a singular pronoun. Let’s try some examples…

Examples A new senator is usually concerned with which committee they will join. Is this correct? Why/why not? Sometimes you will meet a person who will offer to share her wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer. Is this correct? Why/why not?

Examples A new senator (singular) is usually concerned with which committee they (plural) will join. Is this correct? NO!! Sometimes you will meet a person (singular) who will offer to share her (singular) wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer. Is this correct? YES!

A subjective pronoun (also called a nominative pronoun) is the subject of the sentence (Think: subjective = subject!) The subject is the person, place, or thing DOING or BEING in a sentence Subjective pronouns

Example: She went to the store for bread. She is the one going, so she is the subject of the sentence. Subjective pronouns

An objective pronoun acts as the object in the sentence – the thing being acted upon Objective pronouns include me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whomever Objective pronouns

Example: Sally hit Tommy is receiving the hit, so Tommy is the object Sally hit him. We’ve just replaced Tommy with him, so now him is an objective pronoun. Objective pronouns

Possessive pronouns simply show ownership Possession = ownership The possessive pronouns are hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, and yours. Possessive pronouns

Example: That is his book. Who owns the book? Him! So his is a possessive pronoun, because it shows he owns the book. Remember, for a possessive pronoun to be clear, you need to have a clear antecedent (partner noun). The sentence above does us no good if we don’t know who his is referring to! Possessive pronouns

The trick to figuring out if a sentence should use I/me, he/him, or she/her is to take away part of it. For example… My friend and (I/me) go to the movies every Friday night. Take away “my friend and” Would you say “Me go to the movies every Friday night? ” – NO! My friend and I go to the movies every Friday night. I/Me, he/him, she/her

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash. I told them that they were too late! Is the underlined pronoun subjective, or possessive?

Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. POSSESSIVE! We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash. SUBJECTIVE! I told them that they were too late! OBJECTIVE! Is the underlined pronoun subjective, or possessive?