Pronouns The Pinchhitters of the Grammar World What

Pronouns The “Pinch-hitters” of the Grammar World

What is a Pronoun? n A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun. n I asked my father to give me a ride.

Our Pronouns I He She They Me Him Her Them My, mine His Her, hers Their, theirs We You Us You Our, ours Your, yours It It its

Beware! Nouns cannot always be replaced with pronouns. Confusing: When there are onions on hamburgers, Yvette won’t eat them. Better: Whenever there are onions on hamburgers, Yvette won’t eat the onions.

Try these: Find the pronouns. Lenore strolled along the beach with him and me. ____ The waves washed over our ___ feet. Because the sand was so hot, __ it felt wonderful! I wanted to go for a swim, but _____ they _ didn’t. ______ They put _____ their shoes on and went home.

Try these: Use pronouns in place of the italicized words. n Katy washed Katy’s hair. her n When Katy left for school, Katy forgot Katy’s lunch. she her you Katy, will Katy give me your. Katy’s phone number, please. n

Subject Pronouns What is the subject of a sentence? These pronouns are used in the subject of a sentence: I saw a juggler. He juggled the balls. She watched the juggler. They enjoyed the show. We learned how to juggle. You can learn to juggle, too. It is a difficult skill.

Subject Pronouns Subject pronouns can also be found after a state of being verb. The announcer is he. He is the announcer. The state of being verb, is, joins the subject to the pronoun. Switching the sentence around does not change the meaning of the sentence.

Try these: Change each sentence below without changing the meaning of the sentence. The best player was she. She was the best player. The semi-finalists were Dan and I were the semi-finalists.

Beware!! Compound subjects can be tricky! Frank and she painted the mural. Frank and her painted the mural. Separate the subjects to find the correct usage. Frank painted the mural. She painted the mural.

Courtesy Counts! Whenever I is used with another noun or pronoun as the subject of a sentence, I comes last. The shark and I enjoyed the rain.

Let’s Try Some: Choose the correct pronoun. Lucy and (I, me) built a fort. Elena and (she, her) came to play. (My friends and I, I and my friends) sewed curtains for the windows. Josh and (he, him) raided our fort. (Me and Lucy, Lucy and I) chased them away.

Now Try These: Choose the correct pronoun. Heather and (I, me) played tennis. (She, Her) hit the ball over the fence. My partner and (I, me) practiced for doubles. (We, Us) planned to win. (Me and my friend, My friend and I) won the match!

Object Pronouns What is the object of this sentence? Stanley broke the glass pane. What pronoun could take the place of glass pane? Stanley broke it.

Object Pronouns The arrow was meant for me. Lucy loved him. The heart was above her. Cupid helped them. He didn’t help us. I sent a valentine to you. You’ll get it tomorrow.

Let’s Try Some: Andy visited Uncle John and (he, him). The boys went skating with (we, us). Uncle John bought drinks and gave (them, they) to (we, us). Andy asked (I, me) to skate. Uncle John helped (he and I, him and me) learn a figure 8.

Now try these: Identify the pronoun. Is it a subject pronoun or an object pronoun? The record is for you. Obj It was made at the concert. Subj You will enjoy the music. Subj The record delights me. Obj Karen told us about the violinists. Obj She likes violins the best. Subj

Using I and Me Correctly I is a subject pronoun. I rode the giant bug. Me is an object pronoun. It follows the action verb. He gave me the ride of my life!

Try These: Complete each sentence correctly with I or me. me n The tour was thrilling for Bill and _____. n He and ____ I learned about Washington, D. C. me n The guide walked along with him and _____. me around the n He took other tourists and ____ White House. n My friends and _____ I saw the Smithsonian. n Washington was very impressive to Bill and me ____.

Using We and Us Correctly You can use we and us with nouns to make your meaning clear. We is a subject pronoun. It can stand alone, or be used with a noun. We like pop singers. We girls like Us is an object pronoun. It follows the action verb. Tammy gave the music to us girls.

Let’s Try These: Complete each sentence correctly with we or us. We students plan our articles ____ carefully. us writers. It is hard work for ____ We journalists cover important ____ events. We writers interview people. ____ us journalists. Students speak to ____ We writers ask serious questions.

Possessive Pronouns A possessive pronoun shows who or what owns something. My spaceship is tiny. The spaceship is mine. Their spaceship is purple. The purple spaceship is theirs.

Let’s Try These: Identify the possessive pronouns in each sentence. His favorite game is golf. Soccer is hers. The children came to my game. Victory is ours!

Its and It’s Its without an apostrophe is the possessive pronoun. Its mother nursed the baby calves. It’s (with an apostrophe) means “it is”. It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood.

Pronoun Contractions A contraction is a shortened form of two words. Subject pronouns can be combined with some verbs to form contractions. He’s wiggling his ears! An apostrophe is used in place of the missing letters. He’s= He is

Making Contractions I am You are I’m I have I’ve She has You’re She’s He is He’s We are I will I’ll I had I’d It will It’ll It is It’s We’re

Let’s Review Read each sentence using a correct pronoun. The children’s grandmother supervises them ______. They lost a towel somewhere on the beach. ______ him a snack from the vendor. Dana buys ______ Janet and _____ she compare books with one another. They are both about horses. _____ We enjoyed our day at the beach.

Now Try These: Read each sentence using a correct pronoun. I _____ preferred the acrobats to the animals. She took a picture of the _____ lions. It was an exciting show. _____ we go again? When can _____ I Jill and _____ bought posters of the event.

Subject or Object? Find the pronouns. Tell whether it is a subject pronoun or object pronoun. Dad explained flight patterns to us. Obj He has experience as a pilot. Subj We have never been afraid of airplanes. The journey is a treat for me. Obj The pilot gave us a tour of the cockpit. Obj

Using Possessive Pronouns Replace the underlined words with the correct possessive pronoun. Mary’s favorite class is chemistry. Her The longest paper is Frank’s. His The one I did was the best It experiment. The teacher appreciates Mary and Frank’s work. their