Pronoun: a word used as a substitute for another word—usually a noun
Antecedent: a noun that refers back to a pronoun
· Ex: Mrs. Hood gave her students a lecture on tardiness.
Two types of pronouns:
· Nominative
o I, he, she, they, we, and you
§ Also called SUBJECT pronouns
§ Used as the subject of a sentence
§ Paired w/ “being” verbs
§ Perform the action in a sentence
· Objective
o Me, him, her, them, us, you
§ OBJECTIVE pronouns
§ NEVER used as the subject of a sentence
§ Receive the action
§ Occur in prepositional phrases
TIPS and TRICKS to USING THE RIGHT PRONOUNS
· Pairs
o If you know one pronoun for sure, choose another from the same group
§ Ex. “He and I,” not “Him and I”; “him and her” not “she and him”
· Comparison using “than” or “as”
o Complete the comparison using the verb that would follow naturally
§ Ex: Carol is as tough as he (is)
§ Jackie runs faster than she (runs)
ú It might not “sound” correct, but it is grammatically correct
· Noun/Pronoun Combos
o When a pronoun appears side-by-side w/ a noun, deleting the noun will usually help you pick the correct pronoun
§ We seniors decided to take a day off from school in late May (take “seniors” out of the sentence, and “we” is correct!)
PRONOUN “PERSON”
· First Person pronouns
o I, we, me, us, mine, our, our—refer to speaker/s or writer/s
· Second-person
o You, your, yours—refer to reader/listener. Both singular and plural
· Third-person
o She, he, it, one, they, him, her, them, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs—refer to people and things written or spoken about (sing and plural)
o Also include indefinite pronouns such as all, any, anyone, each, none, nothing, one, several, many, etc.
RULES:
· PRONOUNS MUST AGREE WITH THEIR ANTECEDENTS IN NUMBER AND GENDER
· WORDS SUCH AS: NEITHER, EVERYBODY, EVERYONE, NOBODY, NO ONE, SOMEONE, SOMEBODY, ANYBODY AND ANYONE—ARE SINGULAR AND MUST, MUST MUST HAVE ANTECEDENTS THAT ARE SINGULAR!!!
o If a sentence just seems to awkward when using “he or she” together, consider re-writing the sentence so it doesn’t have to include those pronouns (see ex. box on page 11 of packet)
· Context determines whether the rule for pronoun-antecedent agreement applies to collective nouns
· Pronouns should also refer unambiguously to their antecedents
o Double-check that every pronoun you use refers to only one antecedent
§ Ex: The teacher, Ms. Taylor, told Karen it was her responsibility to hand out composition paper
ú Uh, whose? Who is “she”?
§ Corrected ex: Ms. Taylor told Karen it was her responsibility as the teacher to hand out composition paper.
ú See how much clearer that is?
OTHER TYPES OF PRONOUNS
· Possessive
· Relative
· Reflexive
· Interrogative
· Demonstrative
Possessive
· My, mine, his, her, hers, your, yours, our, ours, their, theirs
o Indicate OWNERSHIP
§ Answer the question “whose?”
o Are NOT spelled with apostrophes, unlike possessive nouns
o Use a possessive pronoun before a gerund, which is a noun that looks like a verb because of its –ing ending
Relative
· Which, that, who, whom, whose, what
o Used within clauses
§ Ex: those dishes, which one belonged to my grandmother, need to be put away.
ú The clause is offset by commas, meaning 2 things: that it is DEPENDENT and not essential to the meaning of the sentence (in this case)
§ Ex: the store that sold used bikes went out of business.
ú “that sold used bikes” cannot stand alone, and is essential to the sentence in that it clarifies which store.
· Using Who or Whom?
o Who is used as the grammatical subject of the sentence or as a pronoun that stands for the subject
§ Ex: Who ordered a pizza to go?
§ That is the woman who ordered it.
o Whom follows a preposition or functions as the object of a verb
§ Ex: To whom should this fish be given?
§ The detective found the thief whom he’d been seeking.
o Ask yourself whether the pronoun is performing the action
§ If so, use who
· Who. That. Which.
o Who/whom—refer to PEOPLE
o That—things, animals, people, but who refers to a specific person
o Which—things and non-human creatures, NEVER to people.
Reflexive/Intensive
· End in –self or –selves
· Reflexive help to clarify a pronoun
· Intensive reinforce, but are not necessary to the clarity or understanding of the sentence
Interrogative
· Ask a question
· Who, what, which, whom—most popular
· Others include whose, when ,where, why, and how
Demonstrative
· “point to” nouns, phrases, clauses, even whole sentences
· this, that, these, those