Pronoun Case Lesson  This presentation will review the basics of pronoun case and selection.  Take careful notes and feel free to ask questions during the presentation.  Parts of this presentation are compliments of Professor Les Hanson of Red River College

Pronoun Case  Case tells whether a pronoun shows possession or acts as subject or object in the sentence  Writers use the following four terms Subjective (Nominative) Objective Possessive Reflexive

Subjective  Use the subjective case when the pronoun is either the subject or the complement of the sentence (The doer of the action) She gave her goldfish to the boy next door. It was he who called me a bad name. I, you, he, she, we, they, who

Use the Subjective Case  At the beginning of sentences I /me hate grammar  After any form of the verb “to be” (is, was, will be) The one who ate the most pizza is he/ him.  When referring to the subject of an implied clause following “as” or “than” My brother is more agile than I / me ( am ).

Objective  Use the objective case when the pronoun is an object of the sentence (the receiver of the action) Arnold sent flowers to her. (Object of Preposition) Betty phoned him tonight. (Object of Verb) Alex hates Garth more than (he hates) me. (Object in an implied clause) Me, you, him, her, us, them, whom

Use the Objective Case  After action verbs Arnold bought ( her, she ) a new toaster  After prepositions (joining words) Several of ( us, we ) girls are going to Cancun for our holidays in March

Possessive  Use possessive case pronouns to show ownership Possessive case pronouns do not use an apostrophe Example: The goldfish was ours, but Sam gave it to his cat. Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs

Use the Possessive Case  With words that modify gerunds (a gerund is an ing word that functions as a noun) I knew that ( his / him / he ) smoking in the toilet would make the flight attendants angry. The chances of our / we / us winning the World Cup are not very good

Reflexive  Use reflexive pronouns when one pronoun has already been used to refer to someone He hit himself with a hammer She bought herself a new car Myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves, themselves

Using the Reflexive Case  Only use the reflexive if the other cases do not work The minister and me/ myself/ I toured the mill. He kept looking at he/ him/ himself in the mirror.

Using Who and Whom  Remember which pronouns are subjective and which are objective: IMeYou HeHim SheHer WeUs TheyThem WhoWhom

Choosing Who or Whom  Check to see whether the word is subjective or objective __________ is going to baseball practice? Subject of the sentence Subjective = Who She gave the award to ___________? Object of the preposition Objective = whom

Still trying to choose?  Try substituting a different pronoun Who/Whom should we give the money to?  Instead, think of it as We should give the money to he/him. Him is objective, so should we choose who or whom?  Try again Who/Whom wrote this book? Change to “He/Him wrote this book?” He is subjective, so our answer is WHO

Rules of Thumb  Don’t automatically use the word “I” at the end of sentences  John spread the virus to Martha and I John spread the virus to Martha and me  Reduce sentences to their simplest forms Rod and (I / me) ate three pizzas (I / me) ate three pizzas (delete the words “Rod and”) I / me ate three pizzas Rod and I ate three pizzas (replace the words “Rod and”)

Try a few as practice...  My friend Jim and I both enjoy going to baseball games, but I enjoy eating hotdogs much more than (he/him).  Jack and (he/him) should stop wasting their money.  I am often less patient than (she/her).  They heard (them/themselves) on the radio.  (Who/Whom) was the first president?  Either you or (me/I) need to get a new television.  Out of all the people in the world, (who/whom) would you choose to marry?  I can swim much farther than (he/him).