pronouns

Personal Pronouns, Reflexive Pronouns, Relative Pronouns, Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

PRONOUNS REPLACE NOUNS. They are NOT a type of noun.

1. Personal pronouns as the subject of the verb

	Singular	Plural
1st	I	we
2nd	you (thou)	you
3rd	he, she, it	they

Example: Queen Victoria came to the throne in 1837. She reigned until 1901

To use these forms as the object of a verb (e.g. You gave Alan and I a surprise) is non-Standard.

2. Personal pronouns as the object of a verb

	Singular	Plural
1st	me	us
2nd	you (thee)	you (ye)
3rd	him, her, it	them

Example: Are you receiving me?

To use these forms as the subject of a verb (e.g. Alison and me saw it) is non-Standard.

3. Reflexive pronouns

REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS ARE USED WHEN THE OBJECT OF THE VERB IS THE SAME AS THE SUBJECT.
IT CAN ALSO BE USED FOR EMPHASIS.

	Singular	Plural
1st	myself	ourselves
2nd	yourself	yourselves
3rd	himself, herself, itself	themselves

Examples: John spilled coffee on himself. I wouldn't do that to myself. They had only themselves to blame.

To use these forms as the subject of a verb (e.g. David and myself will see to it. ) or as the object where the subject is different (e.g. Listen to Valerie and myself) is non-Standard.

4. Relative pronouns

RELATIVE PRONOUNS JOIN A RELATIVE CLAUSE TO THE MAIN CLAUSE.

a) Human

Subject	who
Direct object	whom
Possessive	whose
Indirect object	to whom

Examples: You're the one WHO told me. That is the person WHOM I saw. Do you know WHOSE car that is? They didn't know TO WHOM it belonged.

b) Non-Human

WHICH and THAT. They always retain the same form in all cases. THAT is generally regarded as slightly less formal than WHICH.

Examples: He decided WHICH horse to back. That was the one THAT he picked.

5. Possessive pronouns

POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS REPLACE A NOUN OR NOUN PHRASE. Since they are pronouns, not nouns, they DO NOT TAKE AN APOSTROPHE!

	Singular	Plural
1st	mine	ours
2nd	yours (thine)	yours
3rd	his, hers, its	theirs

Examples: That folder is yours. This one is mine. Theirs is over there.

6. Possessive adjectives

POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES ALWAYS GO BEFORE NOUNS (THEY ARE NOT PRONOUNS - THEY JUST LOOK LIKE THEM!)

	Singular	Plural
1st	my	our
2nd	your (thy)	your
3rd	his, her, its	their

Example: They tore their hair. I put your hat on the table. His car is in the garage.
Note: The cat had its tail docked. NOT The cat had it's tail docked. Lose the apostrophe! Possessive adjectives don't have an apostrophe in 3rd person singular form.