Language Network
Pronouns
Pronouns
What is a Pronoun?
Here’s the Idea
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
Here’s the Idea
Pronoun
A pronoun is a word that is
used in place of a noun or
another pronoun.
Here’s the Idea
A pronoun can refer to a person,
place, thing, or idea.
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The word that a pronoun refers
to is called its antecedent.
Ramon visited Death Valley, and he
was impressed.
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Pronouns such as we, I, he,
them and it are called
personal pronouns.
Personal pronouns
have a variety of
forms to indicate
different persons,
numbers, and
cases.
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There are first-person,
second-person, and
third-person personal
pronouns, each having both
singular and plural forms.
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Singular
I went out.
Plural
We left early.
FIRST PERSON
FIRST PERSON
You left too.
You are leaving.
SECOND PERSON
He came by bus.
THIRD PERSON
SECOND PERSON
They came by car.
THIRD PERSON
Here’s the Idea
Each personal pronoun
forms three cases:
subject, object, and
possessive.
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Choose the pronoun form depending on
the pronoun’s function in the sentence.
He read about Death Valley.
SUBJECT
Julie asked him about the rocks.
OBJECT
Ramon bought his book.
POSSESSIVE
Why It Matters
Pronouns help you talk about people concisely
when you’re telling a story.
Practice and Apply
Write the personal pronoun in the
sentence below.
1. Death Valley is famous for its
strange moving boulders.
Practice and Apply
Write the personal pronoun in the
sentence below.
2. The rocks slide and leave long
tracks behind them.
Practice and Apply
Write the personal pronoun in the
sentence below.
3. Do you know why this happens?
Pronouns
Pronoun Agreement
Here’s the Idea
Why It Matters
Practice and Apply
Here’s the Idea
Antecedent
The antecedent is the noun or
pronoun that a pronoun
replaces or refers to.
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Use a singular pronoun to refer to a
singular antecedent.
One story has its setting in Egypt.
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Use a plural pronoun to refer to a
plural antecedent.
The characters have their motives for murder.
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The pronoun must agree in person
with the antecedent.
Louis likes his mysteries to
have surprise endings.
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The gender of the pronoun must be the
same as the gender of its antecedent.
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Personal pronouns have three gender forms:
• masculine he, his, him
• feminine she, her, hers
• neuter it, its
Here’s the Idea
Agatha Christie sets many of her
her
stories in England.
The hero has to use all his
wits to solve the crime.
Why It Matters
In your writing, you will
sometimes refer to several
people or groups of people.
Correct pronoun-antecedent
agreement will help your
readers keep track of who is
who in your writing.
Practice and Apply
Write the pronouns and their antecedents
in these sentences.
4. Agatha Christie loved real-life
mysteries of the past. She helped to
investigate them in the Middle East.
Practice and Apply
Write the pronouns and their antecedents
in this sentence.
5. Agatha Christie and her husband
went on many archaeological trips
and found them exciting.
Practice and Apply
Write the pronouns and their antecedents
in this sentence.
6. A mystery writer may use exotic
places and backgrounds for his or
her stories.
Practice and Apply
Write the pronouns and their antecedents
in this sentence.
7. Christie started Murder in
Mesopotamia in the desert, but she
finished it in England.