1. Pronoun Cases

2. Here’s the idea:
Personal pronouns take different forms depending on how they’re used in sentences. The form of a pronoun is called its CASE.
There are three pronoun cases: nominative, objective, and possessive. The chart on the following slide lists all of the personal pronouns and organizes them by case, number, and person.

3. Personal Pronouns Nominative Objective Possessive Singular
First person
Second person
Third person I
You
He, she, it Me
Him, her, it
My, mine
You, yours
His, her, hers, its
Plural
First Person We
They Us
Them
Our, ours
Your, yours
Their, theirs

4. Why does this matter?
When writers create first person dialogue in a narrative, they use all forms of pronouns, just as people do when they speak. Notice how many pronouns are used in the following excerpt from “The Odyssey”:
I would not heed them in my glorying spirit,
but let my anger flare and yelled:
Cyclops, if ever mortal man inquire
how you were put to shame and blinded, tell him
Odysseus, raider of cities, took your eye:
Laertes’ son, whose home’s in Ithaca!
-Homer, “The Odyssey”

5. Nominative and Objective Case
Personal pronouns change their case depending on whether they function as subjects or objects.
Nominative Case
Personal pronouns that function as subjects or as predicate nominatives are in the nominative case.
EX: I like the legends of King Arthur. He united the knights.
The words “I” and “He” are both functioning as subjects.

6. Nominative Case
Be particularly careful to use the nominative case when the pronoun is part of a compound subject.
EX: Queen Guinevere and he were wife and husband.
The subject, “Queen Guinevere and he” is compound.
A predicate pronoun also takes the nominative case. A predicate pronoun follows a linking verb and renames the subject of a sentence.
EX: It was he who gathered the knights of the round table.
“He” is a predicate pronoun that renames the subject “It”.

7. Nominative Pronoun Forms
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Singular I
You
He, she, it
Plural We
They

8. Objective Case
Personal pronouns that function as direct objects, indirect objects, or the objects of prepositions are in the objective case.
EX: Merlin the Wizard, Arthur’s friend, helped him.
“Him” is the direct object.
Merlin gave him loyalty.
“Him” is the indirect object.
Most of Arthur’s knights were also loyal to him.
“Him” is the object of the preposition.

9. Objective Case
Also use the objective case of the pronoun when it is a part of a compound object construction.
EX: The knights pledged allegiance to both Guinevere and him.
“Guinevere and him” is the compound object of the preposition “to”.
Objective Pronoun Forms:
First Person
Second Person
Third Person
Singular Me
You
Him, her, it
Plural Us
them

10. Compound Construction
To make sure you are using the correct case in a compound construction, look at each part separately.
EX: Lancelot loved both Arthur and (she, her).
(She, Her) and Arthur both loved Lancelot.
Try each pronoun from the compound construction alone in the sentence.
Lancelot loved she. -> Lancelot loved her.
She loved Lancelot. -> Her loved Lancelot.
Choose the correct case for the sentence.
Lancelot loved both Arthur and her.
She and Arthur both loved Lancelot.

11. Practice Choose the correct form from the pronouns in parenthesis.
1. Although King Arthur is a legendary hero, (he, him) probably existed as a real person as well.
2. While historians think that a real King Arthur existed, (they, them) know little about him.
3. It is (them, they) who say that his legend may be based on a real leader from the fifth or sixth century.