{ Pronouns My father shot the elephant wearing his pajamas.

{ Pronouns take the place of a noun common pronouns include he, she, it, they, me Pronouns – a definition

Singular pronouns  Refer to one person, place, or thing  Examples: I, he, she, it, me, that, this, who, myself, himself

Plural pronouns  Refer to two or more people, places, or things  Examples: them, they, we, us, you, these, those, yours, theirs,

Why should I care?!  Your pronoun and it’s partner (called an antecedent) have to AGREE  In other words, if you have a singular noun, you must replace it with a singular pronoun.  Let’s try some examples…

Examples  A new senator is usually concerned with which committee they will join.  Is this correct? Why/why not?  Sometimes you will meet a person who will offer to share her wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer.  Is this correct? Why/why not?

Examples  A new senator (singular) is usually concerned with which committee they (plural) will join.  Is this correct? NO!!  Sometimes you will meet a person (singular) who will offer to share her (singular) wisdom with you, and you must decide whether to accept her offer.  Is this correct? YES!

Subjective pronouns  A subjective pronoun (also called a nominative pronoun) is the subject of the sentence  (Think: subjective = subject!)  The subject is the person, place, or thing DOING or BEING in a sentence

Subjective pronouns  Example: She went to the store for bread.  She is the one going, so she is the subject of the sentence.

Objective pronouns  An objective pronoun acts as the object in the sentence – the thing being acted upon  Objective pronouns include me, you, him, her, it, us, them, whom, whomever

Objective pronouns  Example: Sally hit Tommy.  Tommy is receiving the hit, so Tommy is the object  Sally hit him.  We’ve just replaced Tommy with him, so now him is an objective pronoun.

Possessive pronouns  Possessive pronouns simply show ownership  Possession = ownership  The possessive pronouns are hers, his, its, mine, ours, theirs, and yours.

Possessive pronouns  Example: That is his book.  Who owns the book? Him! So his is a possessive pronoun, because it shows he owns the book.  Remember, for a possessive pronoun to be clear, you need to have a clear antecedent (partner noun).  The sentence above does us no good if we don’t know who his is referring to!

 Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn.  We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash.  I told them that they were too late! Is the underlined pronoun subjective, objective, or possessive?

 Our neighbors’ dog is constantly digging up their lawn. POSSESSIVE!  We wish they wouldn’t keep it on a leash. SUBJECTIVE!  I told them that they were too late! OBJECTIVE! Is the underlined pronoun subjective, objective, or possessive?