Pronouns
Use personal, possessive, and indefinite pronouns correctly (e.g., I/me/my, they/them/their, anyone/everything), replacing nouns to avoid repetition
What a learner can do afterwards
- Replace a repeated noun with a pronoun: 'The dog was happy. He wagged his tail.'
- Use I/me correctly in subject and object position in a sentence
- Choose the correct possessive pronoun (my/his/her/their) to match the noun it replaces
1 · Read
A pronoun is a small word that stands in for a noun. It saves you from repeating the same name again and again. He, she, it, they, we, and I are all pronouns.
The dog was happy. The dog wagged the dog's tail. That sounds bumpy. Try this instead: The dog was happy. He wagged his tail. He stands in for dog, and his shows whose tail it is.
I and me are both pronouns for yourself, but they work in different spots. Use I when you are doing the action, like I petted the dog. Use me when the action happens to you, like The dog licked me.
Zoe was hungry. Zoe asked her mom for a snack. Her mom gave Zoe an apple. Zoe said, Thank you. Now watch what happens with pronouns: Zoe was hungry. She asked her mom for a snack. Her mom gave her an apple. She said, Thank you.
Three more pronouns are handy. My shows that something belongs to you: This is my pencil. Their shows that something belongs to more than one person: The twins forgot their ball. And them works like me, but for a group. Use it when the action happens to more than one person: I thanked the twins. I thanked them.
Possessive pronouns like my, his, her, and their show who something belongs to. Pick the one that matches the owner: a boy's ball is his ball, a girl's ball is her ball. Words like anyone and everything are pronouns too. They just do not point to one exact person or thing.
Pronouns like he, she, they, I, me, my, and his stand in for nouns, so pick the one that matches exactly who or what you mean.
More to read
Indefinite pronouns
Some pronouns do not point to one exact person or thing. We call these indefinite pronouns. You use them when you do not know exactly who or what you mean, or when it just does not matter.
Words like everyone, everybody, and everything talk about every single person or thing. Words like someone, somebody, and something talk about just one person or thing you cannot name. Words like no one, nobody, and nothing mean not even one.
Try it: "Everyone finished their homework." Here, everyone stands in for a whole group of kids without naming each one.
Possessive pronouns
Possessive pronouns tell us who owns something, so we do not have to say the owner's name again and again.
If something belongs to you, you say it is mine. If it belongs to a friend, you say it is his or hers. If it belongs to a group, you say it is ours or theirs.
Try it: "The red backpack is mine. The blue one is yours." Each pronoun shows who the backpack belongs to, without repeating any names.
Glossary: Pronouns
Here are some pronoun words worth knowing.
An antecedent is the noun a pronoun stands in for. Example: "The cakes looked yummy, and I wanted to eat all of them." Here, them replaces cakes.
A demonstrative pronoun points to something specific, like this, that, these, or those.
An indefinite pronoun talks about people or things in a general way, like everyone, all, or someone.
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