PRONOUNS – PART ONE
Grade Eight
DEFINITION
• Pronouns are one of the eight parts of speech.
• Pronouns are words that take the place of a noun.
• There are many types of pronouns:
personal
possessive
compound personal
intensive
reflexive
demonstrative
relative
indefinite
interrogative
distributive
PERSONAL PRONOUNS
• Personal pronouns take the place of people.
• Personal pronouns have several qualities such as:
 person
number
gender
case
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -PERSON
• Pronouns can be described by the person they exhibit.
• First person pronouns are the speaker in the sentence.
• Second person pronouns refer to the person who is spoken to.
• Third person pronouns refer to someone or something that is spoken about.
The quality of “person” affects one’s writing. Writers must keep consistent the
person in a composition. First person narratives, for example, need to
consistently use pronouns such as I, we, me, my, mine, our, and ours.
The pronoun “you” should never be used in an essay since an essay never talks
to anyone. “You” can be used in letters or texts since they are written to
someone.
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -PERSON
• The first person pronouns are:
I
we
me
our
my
mine
our
ours
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -PERSON
• The second person pronouns are:
you
your
yours
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -PERSON
• The third person pronouns are:
he
she
It
they
him
her
them
his
her
hers
its
their
theirs
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES –NUMBER
• Pronouns have two numbers – singular and plural.
• Singular pronouns take the place of a singular noun. Remember, singular
means “one.”
• The singular pronouns are:
 I, you, he, she, it, me, him, her, my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its
• Plural pronouns take the place of a plural noun. Remember, plural means
“more than one.”
 we, you, they, us, them, our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs
• The second person pronouns – you, your, and yours – can be either
singular or plural depending on what nouns or nouns they replace.
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -GENDER
• Some pronouns refer to a specific gender.
• Masculine pronouns refer solely to males. The masculine pronouns are he,
him, and his.
• Feminine pronouns refer solely to females. The feminine pronouns are she,
her, and hers.
• Neuter pronouns have no gender. They refer to things rather than people.
The neuter pronouns are it and its.
• Other pronouns can be assigned a gender based on the noun the pronoun
replaces. For example, “them” would be feminine in this pair of sentences:
The girls worked hard preparing for the game, and that helped them win.
TEST YOURSELF –PERSON AND NUMBER
• For each of the following personal pronouns, give its person and number.
1. he
third person, singular
2. them
third person, plural
3. you
second person, singular or plural
4. me
first person, singular
5. our
first person, plural
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -CASE
• Pronouns are also classified by case. There are three cases of pronouns:
nominative
objective
possessive
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -CASE
• Nominative pronouns are also called subject pronouns.
• Nominative pronouns can function as the subject of the sentence or as a
predicate noun.
• Subjects are located by first finding the verb in the sentence and then asking
“Who?” or “What?” before that verb. The answer is the subject.
I am a teacher.
Mine is the book on the table.
• Predicate nouns follow a linking verb and rename the subject. Remember,
the predicate noun and the subject can be interchangeable.
The doctor is he. (He is the doctor.)
The spectators were they. (They are the spectators.
• The nominative pronouns are: I, we, you, he, she, it, and they.
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -CASE
• Objective pronouns are also called object pronouns because they function
as direct objects, indirect objects, or objects of the preposition.
• Direct objects follow an action verb and answer the questions “Who?” or
“What?”
 The family visited them in Philadelphia.
 The girls saw her in the mall.
• Indirect objects come in between an action verb and a direct object. They
answer the questions “To whom?” or “For whom?”
 Mom gave her a cookie.
 The mail man brought them a letter.
• Objects of the preposition follow a preposition and answer the questions
“Who?” nor “What?”
 The present was for him.
• The objective case pronouns are: me, us, you, him, her, it, and them.
PERSONAL PRONOUN QUALITIES -CASE
• Possessive pronouns are aptly named. They show ownership or possession.
• Sometimes possessive pronouns precede the noun they possess, and
sometimes they do not.
 My book is on the table.
 The book is mine.
• The possessive pronouns are: my, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her, hers, its,
their, and theirs.
TEST YOURSELF - CASE
• Identify the case of the following personal pronouns.
1. me
objective
2. they
nominative
3. ours
possessive
4. you
nominative or objective
5. him
objective
ANTECEDENTS
• An antecedent is the noun that the pronoun replaces.
• Look at the following sentence:
Mary said that Mary was interested in entering Mary’s poem in the
contest.
What a horrible sentence! It is very repetitive. This can be corrected by
using pronouns to replace the antecedent Mary.
Mary said that she was interested in entering her poem in the contest.
“She” and “her” can replace the antecedent Mary to make a much
better sentence!
TEST YOURSELF-ANTECEDENTS
• In each of the following sentences, identify the personal pronoun and its
antecedent.
1. Bob said that he would watch the game.
he - Bob
2. Mary and the girls gave their best effort.
their - Mary, girls
3. The student said that the book was hers.
hers - student
4. On his web site, Mark posted several pictures.
his - Mark
COMPOUND PERSONAL PRONOUNS
• Another type of personal pronoun is called the compound personal
pronoun.
• Like other personal pronouns, compound personal pronouns can be
explained by person, number, gender, and case.
• Singular compound personal pronouns end in the suffix “self.”
• Plural compound personal pronouns end in the suffix “selves.”
• There are eight compound personal pronouns:
 first person – myself, ourselves
 second person – yourself, yourselves
 third person – himself, herself, itself, themselves
• Hisself and theirselves are not words! Many people use them incorrectly!
INTENSIVE AND REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
• Compound personal pronouns are used in two different ways.
• When compound personal pronouns are intensive, the often follow the noun
they are emphasizing. They can also come later in the sentence but not
serve as an object.
 The goalie himself can be credited with saving the game!
 She wrote the essay herself.
• When compound personal pronouns are reflexive, they serve as an objective
pronoun and function as a direct object, indirect object, or object of the
preposition.
 They explained themselves very well.
 The man wrote himself a letter.
 She bought the gift for herself.
TEST YOURSELF – INTENSIVE AND REFLEXIVE
• Identify the compound personal pronoun and tell if it intensive or reflexive.
1. I gave myself an A on the practice project.
myself – reflexive
2. Mary saw herself in the mirror.
herself – reflexive
3. Sam contributed to the drive himself.
himself – intensive
4. You had yourself a good time at the amusement park.
yourself – reflexive
5. The class themselves played a review game.
themselves - intensive