Pronouns Parts of Speech

What Are Pronouns? Pronouns take the place of nouns. A personal pronoun refers to people or things. Tim went to Tim’s house to do Tim’s chores. Tim went to his house to do his chores.

Subjects and Objects A Subject pronoun take actions in a sentence. An Object pronoun take no action. Examples: He punched her. She told on him.

Pronouns take many forms called Cases The pronoun's function in a sentence determines which case to use. The English language has just three cases: subjective, possessive and objective. 

Pronoun Case Pronouns as Subjects Pronouns as Objects Possessive Pronouns 1st-Person → Plural → I We Me Us My, Mine Our, Ours 2nd-Person → You Your 3rd-Person → He, She They Him, Her Them His, Hers Their

Choosing the Correct Case Todd and I/me went to the swimming hole. She wants to talk to me/I and Todd. Us/We teachers love giving homework.

Some Other Pronouns Each other One another Who Whom Whomever That These Anyone It Its Everyone Everybody Many Several Both Few

Antecedents Antecedents are the nouns to which the pronouns refer. Chris went to the store by himself. The dog wagged his tail. Most students want lockers, but many are not responsible enough.

Vague Pronouns Vague Pronouns are those when the antecedent is not clear. Examples: Take the radio out of the car and fix it. The teachers told the students that they would have to come to school over break.

Reflexive Pronouns Myself - May only be used after I or me. Example: I will be going by myself. Do you want me to go by myself? Other Reflexive Pronouns include: yourself, himself, ourselves, themselves, itself…

Possessive Pronouns Possessive pronouns show who or what has/owns something. It may take the place of a possessive noun. A possessive pronoun does not take an apostrophe. Bob and Will said, “The jackets are Bob’s and Wills.” Should read… Bob and Will said, “The jackets are ours.”

Indefinite Pronouns An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that does not refer to a particular person, place or thing. Anyone can come to my birthday party. Everyone at school is sick today. Several people threw up.

Practice Write the sentence. Underline the pronouns. Circle the antecedents. Draw a line connecting the two.

1 Jacob had to walk to school by himself.

2 The dog happily wagged its tail.

3 Elisa said, “I will be going by myself.”

4 Bradley and Katie had to be nice to one another.

5 The day seemed like it would never end.

Pronouns Your Turn! Complete the three page booklet. Read each set of instructions carefully.