THE READING / WRITING CONNECTION: AN ONLINE READING AND WRITING LAB


Personal Pronouns

Pronouns in English display case according to their function in the sentence.

Subjective Pronouns: They act as the subject of independent or dependent clauses.
example:


In this example both I and you are pronouns but I is a subjective pronoun because it functions as a subject, the person or thing who realizes the action.
example:


In this example he is a subjective pronoun because he is the person who realizes the action (he travels.)

Possessive Pronouns: They show possession of something else.
example:


Hers is a possessive pronoun because it indicates that the art book belongs to her.
 

Mine is also a possessive pronoun because it states that the flowers belong to me.

Objective Pronouns: They function as the recipient of the action.
 

In this example Kristen is the person who realizes the action and "Eric and me" are the recipients of the action. In this example the bandits are the ones who realize the action (they release the hostages) and "her and her sister" are the recipient of the action, they are released by the hostages.

Pronouns change form when they change case. These changes are illustrated in the chart bellow:
 

singular
subjective
possessive
objective
1st person
I
my, mine
me
2nd person
you
your, yours
you
3rd person
he
 she
it
his
her, hers
its
him
her 
it

 
 
plural
subjective
possessive
objective
1st person
we
our, ours
us
2nd person
you
your, yours
you
3rd person
they
their, theirs
them

 
 
 
 

back to main