PRONOUNS

Pronouns

Are used to refer to people.

Subjective Personal Pronouns/Subject Pronoun

A subjective personal pronoun indicates that the pronoun is acting as the subject of the

sentence.

Examples:

1.When she was a young woman, she earned her living as a coal miner.

2. We will meet at the library at 3:30 p.m.

Objective Personal PronounsMe Us

You Them

Him

Her

It

For example:

She does her work.

Subject

Object

Exercise: 1. He/Him is hiding under the house.

2. What did you say to she/her to make she/her change her mind?

3. I/Me cannot remember meeting he/him before.

4. They/Them are starting to make we/us angry.

5. Why cant they/them be quiet?

6. If you want I/me to help you, all you have to do is ask.

7. Come and see we/us soon.

8. When will we see you/he/she again?

9. He/Him told I/me that he/him was not going to the party.

10. They/Them are angry with we/us because we/us did not meet they/them.

Answer: 1. He/Him is hiding under the house.

2. What did you say to she/her to make she/her change her mind?

3. I/Me cannot remember meeting he/him before.

4. They/Them are starting to make we/us angry.

5. Why cant they/them be quiet?

6. If you want I/me to help you, all you have to do is ask.

7. Come and see we/us soon.

8. When will we see you/he/she again?

9. He/Him told I/me that he/him was not going to the party.

10. They/Them are angry with we/us because we/us did not meet they/them.

A reflexive pronoun shows that when someone or something

affected by an action is the same as the person or thing doing it.

Reflexive Pronouns

The forms of reflexive pronouns

Personal Pronoun Reflexive Pronoun I myself

you (singular) yourself

you (plural) yourselves

he himself

she herself

it itself

we ourselves

they themselves

Examples:

1. She looked at herself in the mirror.

2. He washed himself.

When to use a reflexive pronoun

When the subject and object are the same

I hurt myself.

The band call themselves "Dire Straits".

I bought a present for myself.

As the object of a preposition, referring to the subject

That man is talking to himself.

I'll do it myself. (No-one else will help me.)

When you want to emphasize the subject

They ate all the food themselves. (No-one else had any.)

Exercise: Fill in the blanks in the sentences below, using reflexive forms.1. I went to see for _____ what the college was

like.

2. He wanted to see the place for _____.

3. You should try it _________.

4. We are going to Singapore _________.

5. She turned _______ into a bitter woman.

myself

himself

yourselves

ourselves

herself

Forms of Possessive Pronouns and Adjectives

Person Possessive Adjective

1st singular mine my

2nd yours your

3rd (female) hers her

3rd (male) his his

3rd (neuter) its its

1st plural ours our

3rd plural theirs their

Possessive pronouns

Are used to show ownership and are usually placed at

the end of a sentence.

Example:

This is her house .

This house is hers.

Possessive Pronoun.

Possessive Adjective

Exercise: Underline suitable pronouns.

She was walking back to (her/hers) house when she heard the sound of a

car behind her. It sounded familiar, ‘Wasn’t it (her/hers)? Why was

(her/hers) car not in (it/its/it’s) usual place under the tree?’

She turned around. It was indeed (her/hers) car. But there were two men driving it. Who were they?

WHO, WHOM, WHOSE, WHICH, THAT

To show person

WHO

WHOM

WHOSE

Example:

The student, who won the competition, is my best friend.

To show creatures and things

WHICH

THAT

Example:

The house, which/that looks old

and grey, is haunted.

Exercise:

1. That man, ______ is standing by the fence, is my teacher.

2. The couple, ______ daughter is graduating as a doctor, are my neighbours.

3. To _______ should I give these test papers?

whom

whose

who

4. There was so much talk in the film ______ I was bored to tears.

5. The book _____ has a torn cover is mine.

6. Oh dear! The laptop ____ was on the table is now missing!

7. I know _______ girl in the brown dress.

which

which

that

that

THIS, THAT, THESE and THOSE

We can use this, that, these and those as pronouns. We use one

of these words depending whether the thing we are referring

to is near or far.

Near Far Usually refers to things

Usually refers to people

Can be used when

identifying

people or

saying who

they are

Singular This That This, That

- This, That

Plural These Those These, Those

These, Those

These, Those

Example:

1. This is my father.

2. These are delicious

3. That is fantastic idea. It will surely sell a lot of palm oil.

4. Those are not to be touched.

‘NEAR’ and ‘FAR’ in time:

Present Tense

This

These

Past Tense

Those

When a thing is near/close to you, use:

THIS

Example: This is my handbag

‘NEAR’ and ‘FAR’ in Distance:

When thing is far from you, you use:

That

Example: That is your book.

Exercise: Fill in the blanks below with pronouns. Make sure that the pronoun

agrees with the noun which is being referred to.

1. Mrs Koh lived a hard life. ______ had no money to spend on luxuries.

2. Susan felt very tired. What _______ needed was sleep.

3. I told the man that ____ should forget about doing business here.

She

she

he

4. The walls are now green. ______ have just been painted.

5. Rashid has a Siamese kitten. ____ has blue eyes.

6. I wish the baby would stop crying. ____ kept me up all night.

7. Malaysia is a prosperous country. _____ has a fast-growing economy.

They

It

It

It/She

8. Mangosteens are delicious but, be careful, ______ may stain your clothes.

9. I need to sleep more. _____ am feeling tired.

10.Mr Singh, the lecturer, is late. I don’t think we should wait for _____.

11.The kittens are playing under the house. I hope no one disturbs ________.

they

I

him

them