Name:
Ms. Schiff
English 9 Section
Date:
Pronouns Packet
In addition to personal pronouns, there are several other types of pronouns: reflexive pronouns, relative pronouns, interrogative pronouns, demonstrative pronoun, and indefinite pronouns.
A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, a group of words acting as a noun, or another pronoun.
A reflexive pronoun is formed by adding –self or –selves to certain personal pronouns. Examples of reflexive pronouns are myself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves, yourself, and yourselves. The sentence, “I found it myself,” contains the personal pronoun I and the reflexive pronoun myself.
Hisself and theirselves are NOT real words.
A relative pronoun is used to begin some subject-verb word groups called subordinate clauses. These pronouns are who, whom, whose, whoever, whomever, which, whichever, that, what, whosever, whatever
An interrogative pronoun is used to ask a question. These pronouns are which, who, whom, and whose.
A demonstrative pronoun is used to point out a specific person or thing. These pronouns include this, that, these and those. In the sentence, “Theresa, is this yours?” this is the demonstrative pronoun, and yours is the personal pronoun.
An indefinite pronoun often does not refer to a specific or definite person or thing. It usually does not have a definite or specific antecedent as a personal pronoun does. In the sentence, “Everybody will select another to help with everything,” the three italicized words are all indefinite pronouns since they take the place of a noun and do not refer to a specific or definite person or thing.
These are all indefinite pronouns:
All another any anybody anyone anybody anything both each either enough everybodyEveryone everything few many most neither nobody none no one nothing one other(s)
Several some somebody someone something
A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more nouns.
We use pronouns to:
- Refer to a noun (called its antecedent) that usually comes before the pronoun
- Make our writing clearer, smoother, and less awkward
In the sentence, “Roberto feels that he can win the race,” he is the pronoun, and Roberto is the antecedent.
In the sentence, “Terry and Jim know that they are best friends,” they is the pronoun, and Terry and Jim are the noun antecedents.
Personal pronouns refer to people and things. They are divided into three categories called first person (referring to the person who is speaking: I went to the mall), second person (referring to the person spoken to: Joey, can you see the bus?), and third person (referring to anything else: Bob saw us do this assignment). The pronouns in the two example sentences above are personal pronouns.
Two at a Time (Pronouns)
Directions: Underline the two pronouns found in each sentence. Above each pronoun label its type using these abbreviations: personal (PER), reflexive (REF), demonstrative (DEM), interrogative (INT), or indefinite (IND) pronoun.
1. This is the way to do it.
2. He hurt himself during gym class.
3. Can you and they finish the cleaning by three o’clock?
4. Who is the person with her?
5. I held the door for them.
6. Please tell him that we said hello.
7. Ours is older than theirs.
8. Neither of them is the clear winner of the race as of now.
9. Will she watch someone while Sarah goes shopping?
10. Those are the best ones to buy.
11. Please bring yours to us.
12. After Jerry spotted the giraffe, he photographed it.
13. Everything has gone well for us.
14. Will they be able to move the belongings by themselves?
15. All of the students know both.
Name the Pronouns
1. Name four three-letter pronouns.
______
2. Name four pronouns that start with the letter t:
______
3. Name six indefinite pronouns:
______
______
4. Name three pronouns that end with –elves:
______
5. Name four pronouns that end with –self:
______
6. Name four interrogative pronouns:
______
7. Circle ten different pronouns in this paragraph. For the total of ten pronouns, if a pronoun appears more than once within the paragraph, count it only once.
I could not fall asleep last night. It felt as if somebody kept knocking on the window keeping me up most of the night.
This is pretty unusual. So I tried to calm myself down and think about other things besides being unable to sleep. All of
my work paid off when I finally fell asleep.
Directions: Underline each pronoun. In the blank, write int. if the pronoun is interrogative, rel. if it is relative, dem. If it is demonstrative, and ind. If it is indefinite.
______1. What is the longest river in the United States?
______2. The Missouri, which flows 2,540 miles, is the longest river.
______3. In fact, the Missouri is one of the longest rivers in the world.
______4. How many of the world’s rivers are longer than the Missouri?
______5. The Ohio River and the Missouri River, which are tributaries of the Mississippi River, flow into the Mississippi at Cairo, Illinois, and St. Louis, Missouri.
______6. Both are vital transportation routes.
______7. These, along with other smaller rivers, help make up the Mississippi River Basin.
______8. Statistics show that the Mississippi River carries almost two thirds of the country’s inland freight.
______9. St. Louis, Memphis, and New Orleans are several of the cities on the river.
______10. Which is the largest state bordering the Mississippi River?
______11. A famous writer who is associated with the Mississippi is Mark Twain.
______12. Twain wrote about whatever was around his hometown of Hannibal, Missouri.
______13. The bustling life of the river was something Twain described in book after book.
______14. Nothing was closer to the writer’s heart.
______15. Three books that are set on the river are Life on the Mississippi, Tom Sawyer, and Pudd’nhead Wilson.
______16. Twain’s most famous book is one many people love.
______17. Many literary critics believe that Huckleberry Finn is the finest American novel.
______18. What makes the story so popular?
______19. Perhaps there is a little bit of Huck Finn in everybody.
______20. Anybody interested in America’s greatest river should read Mark Twain’s books.
Directions: Complete each sentence by filling in an appropriate pronoun of the type indicated.
1. The Zaire River, ______was known as the Congo River until 1971, flows through west- central Africa. (relative)
2. ______is the river that drains an area of the African continent known as the Congo Basin. (demonstrative)
3. The area, ______is fed annually by as much as 100 inches of rainfall, covers 1.5 million square miles. (relative)
4. The Zaire River, ______is 2,900 miles long, is of great importance to the people of the area. (relative)
5. ______of the rivers in Africa is the longest? (interrogative)
Case of Personal Pronouns
Key InformationNominative case pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) function as subjects or as predicate nominatives.
They have finally won It is he who sambas so well.
Objective case pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, and them) function as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of the prepositions.
Shasta sent it to him on Valentine’s Day. The manager gave them the donation. I found a fantastic picture of her.
Possessive case pronouns (my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their and theirs) replace possessive pronouns.
This is my guitar. No, it isn’t. It’s hers.
Identifying the Case of Pronouns
Directions: Identify the case of each underlined pronoun in the following sentences. Above each, indicate whether it is nominative (nom.), objective (obj.), or possessive (poss.).
1. What they said about him was outrageous.
2. I wouldn’t have believed it but my cousin Francesca said that every word of it was true.
3. Frankly I wish she hadn’t told me.
4. I wonder what he would do if he knew that we knew.
5. My heart skips a beat when I think about it.
Directions: In each of the following sentences, circle the correct pronoun.
1. It is (I/me).
2. Between you and (I/me), I think something is dreadfully wrong.
3. Her parents were proud of (she/her) being a quarterback.
4. The dog licked (its/it’s) wounds, turned around, and went home.
5. I had no idea that they had complained about (me/my) practicing at home.
Directions: Write a sentence of your own using each of the following pronouns: I, she, him, its, me. Try to include colorful descriptions and interesting verbs in your sentences.
1. ______
2. ______
3. ______
4. ______
5. ______
Pronouns- I, Me, My, Mine and Myself
Directions: Fill in the blanks with the appropriate choices- I, me, my, mine or myself.
1. To complete our Egyptian mummy costumes, Lou Ellen and ______bought a 12 pack of toilet paper.
2. It was ______who ate your leftover slices of pepperoni pizza.
3. Grandma asked my brother and ______to buy cherry cough drops while we were at the drugstore.
4. That’s not what happened! It was ______who shoved straws up my nose and began barking like a walrus!
5. When I was a child, Grandpa was unhappy with ______excavating his rose garden in the hopes of finding dinosaur bones.
6. Don’t ask Josephine for her sloppy and ill-prepared homework! It is ______who can give you all the correct answers to Mr. Nguyen’s calculus homework.
7. In his sternest voice, Professor Cohen told Matthew and ______that he wanted to see us after class.
8. When Richard started eating my French fries, I pulled the plate closer and told him they were all ______.
9. Our boss called both Shane and ______, hoping that we would work an extra shift that evening. When we saw the number on caller ID, we decided not to answer.
10. I admit that I ate your last two eggs. Consider it payback for ______finding an empty cereal box and milk carton this morning.
11. If you must have anchovies, order your own pie. Loretta and ______prefer plain cheese pizza.
12. It is important to Julie and ______that Dad offers a vegetarian alternative to the pork fest that is his current menu for the family reunion picnic.
13. Don’t drag me into the argument! ______choosing one side over the other will just make everyone mad at me!
14. Although Dr. Grayson shot us several looks, Tawana and ______continued knitting during the boring lecture on the French Revolution.
15. Judi brought a tray of perfect cupcakes to the bake sale. ______, on the other hand, were lopsided with drippy frosting and stale sprinkles.
16. Just between you and ______, Selena should dump Fred the nose picker and date that cute track star in our chemistry class.
17. If you don’t like ______criticizing your sappy poetry, then don’t ask for an honest opinion!
Recognizing Antecedents
Directions: Write the antecedent of each underlined pronoun.
1. Carnivals have varied their images over time.
2. Many carnivals developed from festivals in Europe that were held every year.
3. They included markets where merchants sold their wares.
4. Eventually, these carnivals adopted rides, games, shows, and exhibits that often included sideshows.
5. Another type of carnival is made up of merrymaking; it is celebrated just before a traditional time of fasting.
6. Rottweil, Germany, has its carnival in February or March.
7. There, the people dress themselves in fabulous costumes.
8. Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, as has a grand carnival; it is famous all over the world.
9. To prepare for it, samba dancers teach their skills in classes.
10. New Orleans, Louisiana, hosts Mardi Gras during February or March; thousands of people flock to it each year.
Writing With Pronouns and Antecedents
Directions: Write a sentence of two using each of the following nouns, accompanied by a pronoun that uses the noun as an antecedent.
1. clowns
2. festivals
3. dancer
4. New York City
5. fireworks
Identifying Personal Pronouns and Their Antecedents
Directions: Write the personal pronouns and their antecedents. HINT: The antecedent may be in a previous sentence.
Example: Liz handed her brother his coat.
Answer: her, Liz; his, brother
1. Keiko and her family went to the carnival in the city this weekend.
2. Her father went straight toward the Ferris wheel.
3. He told them that the first Ferris wheel was built by George W.G. Ferris.
4. It was 250 feet in diameter and had 36 cabs that held 60 people each.
5. Keiko was astounded when she thought of 2,160 people on one Ferris wheel.
Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns