Personal Pronouns

Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. We use them depending on:

number: singular (eg: I) or plural (eg: we) person: 1st person (eg: I), 2nd person (eg: you) or

3rd person (eg: he) gender: male (eg: he), female (eg: she) or neuter

(eg: it) case: subject (eg: we) or object (eg: us)

We use personal pronouns in place of the person or people that we are talking about. My name is Josef but when I am talking about myself I almost always use "I" or "me", not "Josef". When I am talking direct to you, I almost always use "you", not your name. When I am talking about another person, say John, I may start with "John" but then use "he"or "him". And so on.

Here are the personal pronouns, followed by some example sentences:

number

person

gender personal pronouns

subject

singular

1st male/female I

2nd male/female you

3rd male he

female she

neuter it

plural

1st male/female we

2nd male/female you

3rd male/female/neuter

they

Examples (in each case, the first example shows a subject pronoun, the second anobject pronoun):

I like coffee. Do you like coffee? He runs fast. She is clever.

We often use it to introduce a remark:

It is nice to have a holiday sometimes. It is important to dress well.

We also often use it to talk about the weather, temperature, time and distance:

It's raining. It will probably be hot tomorrow. Is it nine o'clock yet? It's 50 kilometres from here to Cambridge.

Exercise 1: Personal Pronouns

Replace the nouns for the corresponding personal noun

1. The boy is fat. ___ is fat.

2. The girl is tall. ____ is tall.

3. I go to school with my friends. ____ go to school.

4. The horse is strong. ___ is strong.

5. Lek is a policeman. ____ is a policeman.

6. Mary and John come from England. ____ come from England.

7. Malee is a teacher. ___ is a teacher.

8. My family and I go to Pattaya. ____ go to Pattaya.

9. The dog runs fast. ___ runs fast.

10. The students study English. ___ study English.

Key answer:

1. He 2. She 3. We 4. He 5. He 6. They 7. She 8. We 9. He/It 10. T

hey

Object Pronouns

An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functionsas the object of a verb or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the subject of a verb.

Examples:

He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is the object of the preposition with)

She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)

Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know what the object is.

She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her. I like this film. I saw it last week.

Object pronouns in English are the following:

me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Examples:

I like you but you don't like me. Do you really hate her? She loves sitting next to him. She always writes e-mails to us. He's talking to her about it.

Exercise 2: Object Pronoun

Fill in the blanks with the correct object pronoun

1. "Is he marrying Leila?""Yes, he is in love with ____ !"

2. "Your son is making a lot of noise!""I'll ask ____ to be quiet."

3. "Please will you ask Robert to come in.""Sorry, I don't know ____."

4. "Where are my glasses?""You are wearing _____!"

5. "Do you like apples?""I love _____!"

6. "Why is he always talking about Liza?""He obviously likes _____!"

7. "Where is my book? Oh, dear! I've lost _____!"

8. "Is that Nancy's new boyfriend?""Don't ask me, ask _____!"

9. "What is the title of that article?""I'm afraid I can't remember ______."

10. "Look at John! He seems so happy?""His friends offered ______ a guitar for his birthday!"

Key answer:

1. Her 2. Him 3. Him 4. Them 5. Them 6. Her 7. It 8. Her 9. It 10. H

im

Possessive Pronoun + noun

Possessive adjectives - my, your, his, her, its, our, your,their - modify the noun following it in order to show possession.

Examples:

I'll get my bag. Is this your luggage?

Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.

Examples:

Why didn't you clean your room?(your modifies the noun room)

Mary doesn't like her dress.(her modifies the noun dress)

The chameleon can change its color.(its modifies the noun color)

Things to remember:

1. Possessive adjectives are different from   possessive pronouns .

This is your (possessive adjective) book and this is mine (possessive pronoun).

2. its ,   their   are possessive adjectives.

Its color is beautiful. Their car is in their garage.

Exercise 3: Possessive Pronoun + Noun

Fill in the blanks below to complete the sentences. Use thewords in the above box.

1. Where is _______ classroom? We can’t find it.

2. Susan, is that _______ pen on the table?

3. A: What is _______ name? B: My name is Thomas.

4. I think this is _______ book. She dropped it on

the floor.

5. _______ names are Kevin and Stewart. They are my

friends.

6. He forgot to write _______ name on the test!

7. A: What is your phone number? B: _______ phone

number is 555-9826.

8. Did the cat eat all of _______ food?

9. The children are crying because they can’t find

_______ toys.

10. Mariam and Jennifer like _______ new teacher.

Possessive Pronouns

We use possessive pronouns to refer to a specific person/people or thing/things (the "antecedent") belonging to a person/people (and sometimes belonging to an animal/animals or thing/things).

We use possessive pronouns depending on:

number : singular (eg: mine) or plural (eg: ours) person: 1st person (eg: mine), 2nd person (eg: yours)

or 3rd person (eg: his) gender: male (his), female (hers)

Notice that each possessive pronoun can:

be subject or object refer to a singular or plural antecedent

Number Person

Gender (of "owner")

Possessive Pronouns

singular

1st male/female mine

2nd male/female yours

3rd male his

female hers

plural 1st male/female ours

2nd male/female yours

3rd male/female/neuter

theirs

Examples:

Look at these pictures. Mine is the big one. (subject = My picture)

I like your flowers. Do you like mine? (object = my flowers) 

All the essays were good but his was the best. (subject = his essay)

John found his passport but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her passport)

John found his clothes but Mary couldn't find hers. (object = her clothes) 

Here is your car. Ours is over there, where we left it. (subject = Our car)

Your photos are good. Ours are terrible. (subject = Our photos) 

Exercise 4: Possessive Pronoun

Reflexive Pronouns

We use a reflexive pronoun when we want to refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. Reflexive pronouns end in "-self" (singular) or "-selves" (plural).

There are eight reflexive pronouns:

  Reflexive

Pronoun

singular

myselfyourselfhimself, herself, itself

plural

ourselvesyourselvesthemselves

Look at these examples:

I saw myself in the mirror.

John sent himself a copy.

Why do you blame yourself?

They cannot look after themselves.

Exercise 5: Reflexive Pronouns

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun is a pronoun that introduces a relative clause. It is called a "relative" pronoun because it "relates" to the word that its relative clause modifies. Here is an example:

The person who phoned me last night is my teacher.

In the above example, "who":

relates to "The person", which "who phoned me last night" modifies

introduces the relative clause "who phoned me last night"

There are five relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that*

Who (subject) and whom (object) are generally only for people. Whose is for possession. Which is for things. That can be used for things and people only indefining relative clauses.

Relative pronouns can refer to singular or plural, and there is no difference between male and female.

Look at these examples showing defining and non-defining relative clauses:

  example sentences S=subject, O=object, P=possessive

notes

definingrelativeclauses

S - The person who phonedme last night is my teacher.- The person that phoned me last night is my teacher.

That is preferable

- The car which hit me was yellow.- The car that hit me

That is preferable

was yellow.

O - The person whom I phoned last night is myteacher.- The people who I phoned last night are my teachers.- The person that I phoned last night is myteacher.- The person I phoned last night is my teacher.

Whom is correct butformal. The relative pronoun isoptional.

- The car which I driveis old.- The car that I drive is old.- The car I drive is old.

That is preferable to which. The relative pronoun isoptional.

P - The student whose phone just rang should stand up.- Students whose parents are wealthy pay extra.

 

- The police are looking for the car whose driver was masked.- The police are looking for the car of which the driver was masked.

Whose can be used with things. Of which is also possible.

non-defining

S - Mrs Pratt, who is very kind, is my

 

relativeclauses

teacher.

- The car, which was a taxi, exploded.- The cars, which were taxis, exploded.

 

O - Mrs Pratt, whom I like very much, is my teacher.- Mrs Pratt, who I likevery much, is my teacher.

Whom is correct butformal.Who is common in spoken English and informal written English.

- The car, which I was driving at the time, suddenly caught fire.

 

P - My brother, whose phone you just heard, is a doctor.

 

- The car, whose driverjumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed.- The car, the driver of whichjumped out just before the accident, was completely destroyed.

Whose can be used with things. Of which is also possible.

Exercise 6: Relative Pronoun

Choose the correct answer.

Q1 - The people ....... moved in next door seem very friendly

whowhomwhich

Q2 - The man ..... answered the phone was rather rude

whichthatwhom

Q3 - Where are the people ........ ordered the taxi?

thatwhich----

Q4 - I've lost the paper ...... I had written her phone number on

----whosethat

Q5 - The day ...... I started work there was a disaster

whichthatwhere

Q6 - The man ....... interviewed you is the boss

that----which

Q7 - The man ....... house was robbed has still not been paid by the insurance company

whichthatwhose

Q8 - He's got three dogs, all of ..... are aggressive

whichthat----

Q9 - Who's moved the papers ...... I left on my desk?

whowhomthat

Q10 - You should complain to the people ....... supplied it

----whowhich

Answer Sheet: Relative Pronouns

Q1 - The people ....... moved in next door seem very friendly

whowhomwhich

Q2 - The man ..... answered the phone was rather rude

whichthatwhom

Q3 - Where are the people ........ ordered the taxi?

thatwhich----

Q4 - I've lost the paper ...... I had written her phone number on

----whosethat

Q5 - The day ...... I started work there was a disaster

whichthatwhere

Q6 - The man ....... interviewed you is the boss

that----which

Q7 - The man ....... house was robbed has still not been paid by the insurance company

whichthatwhose

Q8 - He's got three dogs, all of ..... are aggressive

whichthat----

Q9 - Who's moved the papers ...... I left on my desk?

whowhomthat

Q10 - You should complain to the people ....... supplied it

----whowhich

Demonstrative Pronouns

The demonstrative pronouns are this ,   that ,   these , and those. Like all pronouns, they replace nouns. Demonstrative pronouns are used to replace specific people or things thathave been previously mentioned (or are understood from context).

A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:

near in distance or time (this, these) far in distance or time (that, those)

  Near

Far

singular

this

that

plural

these

those

Examples:

This tastes good. Have you seen this? These are bad times. Do you like these?

That is beautiful. Look at that! Those were the days! Can you see those?

This is heavier than that. These are bigger than those.

Exercise 7: Demonstrative Pronouns

Choose the correct option: This, That, These, Those1. _____game was a lot of fun.ThatThose

2. _____book belongs to Mike.ThatThose

3. ____coat is black.ThisThose

4. __________ ear rings are beautiful.ThatThose

5. _____books belong to me.ThatThese

6. ____sweaters are all brown.This These

7. ____exercise is probably too easy.TheseThis

8. ____book is difficult to understand.TheseThis

9. _____pencils belong to me.ThisThese

10. _____pencil belongs to Mike.ThatThose

Key answer:

1. That 2. That 3. This 4. Those 5. These6. These 7. This 8. This 9. These 10. T

hat

Interrogative Pronouns

We use interrogative pronouns to ask questions. The interrogative pronoun represents the thing that we don't know (what we are asking the question about).

There are four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which

Notice that the possessive pronoun whose can also be an interrogative pronoun (an interrogative possessive pronoun).

  subject

Object

 

Person who Whom  

Thing What  

person/thing

Which  

Person Whose (possess

ive)

Notice that whom is the correct form when the pronoun is the object of the verb, as in "Whom did you see?" ("I saw John.") However, in normal, spoken English we rarely use whom. Most native speakers would say (or even write): "Who did you see?"

Look at these example questions. In the sample answers, thenoun phrase that the interrogative pronoun represents is shown in bold.

Question Answer  

Who told you? John told me. subject

Whom did you tell?

I told Mary. object

What's happened?

An accident's happened.

subject

What do you want?

I want coffee. object

Which came first?

The Porsche 911 came first.

subject

Note that we sometimes use the suffix "-ever" to make compounds from some of these pronouns (mainly whoever, whatever, whichever). When we add "-ever", we

use it for emphasis, often to show confusion or surprise. Look at theseexamples:

Whoever would want to do such a nasty thing? Whatever did he say to make her cry like that? They're all fantastic! Whichever will you choose?

Exercise 8: Interrogative pronouns

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite". Some typical indefinite pronouns are:

all, another, any, anybody/anyone, anything, each, everybody/everyone, everything, few, many, nobody, none, one, several, some, somebody/someone

Most indefinite pronouns are either singular or plural. However, some of them can be singular in one context and plural in another. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed below, with examples, as singular, plural or singular/plural.

Notice that a singular pronoun takes a singular verb AND that any personal pronoun should also agree (in number and gender). Look at these examples:

Each of the players has a doctor. I met two girls. One has given me her phone number.

Similarly, plural pronouns need plural agreement:

Many have expressed their views.

Pronoun meaning example

Singular

Another an additional or different person or thing

That ice-cream was good. Can I have another?

anybody/anyone

no matter what person

Can anyone answer this question?

Anything no matter what thing

The doctor needs to know if you have eaten anything in the last two hours.

Each every one of two or more people orthings, seen separately

Each has his own thoughts.

Either one or the other of two people or things

Do you want tea or coffee? / I don't mind. Either is good for me.

Enough as much or as many as needed

Enough is enough.

everybody/everyone

all people We can start the meeting because everybody has arrived.

Everything all things They have no house or possessions. They losteverything in the earthquake.

Less a smaller amount "Less is more" (Mies van der Rohe)

Little a small amount Little is known about hisearly life.

Much a large amount Much has happend since wemet.

Neither not one and not the other of two people or things

I keep telling Jack and Jill but neither believesme.

nobody/no-one no person I phoned many times butnobody answered.

Nothing no single thing, not anything

If you don't know the answer it's best to say nothing.

One an unidentified person

Can one smoke here? | Allthe students arrived but nowone is missing.

Other a different person or thing from one already mentioned

One was tall and the otherwas short.

somebody/someone

an unspecified orunknown person

Clearly somebody murderedhim. It was not suicide.

Something an unspecified orunknown thing

Listen! I just heardsomething! What could it be?

You an unidentified person (informal)

And you can see why.

Plural

Both two people or things, seen together

John likes coffee but nottea. I think both are good.

Few a small number ofpeople or things

Few have ever disobeyed him and lived.

Fewer a reduced number of people or things

Fewer are smoking these days.

Many a large number ofpeople or things

Many have come already.

Others other people; notus

I'm sure that others havetried before us.

Several more than two butnot many

They all complained andseveral left the meeting.

They people in general(informal)

They say that vegetables are good for you.

singular or plural

All the whole quantity of something or of some things or people

All is forgiven.All have arrived.

Any no matter how much or how many

Is any left?Are any coming?

More a greater quantity of something; a greater number ofpeople or things

There is more over there.More are coming.

Most the majority; nearly all

Most is lost.Most have refused.

None not any; no They fixed the water so

person or persons why is none coming out ofthe tap?I invited five friends butnone have come.*

Some an unspecified quantity of something; an unspecified number of people or things

Here is some.Some have arrived.

Such of the type already mentioned

He was a foreigner and hefelt that he was treated assuch.

Exercise 9: Indefinitive Pronoun

Works Cited:

http://www.grammar-monster.com/glossary/demonstrative_pronoun.htm

http://www.agendaweb.org/grammar/personal-pronouns-exercises.html

http://www.english-room.com/quiz/02_pronouns_1.htm

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-exercise-object-pronouns.php#.VEsH_yKG-uI

http://www.myenglishpages.com/site_php_files/grammar-lesson-object-pronouns.php

https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pronouns-personal.htm

http://www.learnenglishfeelgood.com/esl-possessive-pronouns2.html

http://www.grammarbank.com/relative-pronouns-exercises.html

http://www.worksheetworks.com/pdf/f5d/ab26da3b1f45a/WorksheetWorks_Identifying_Indefinite_Pronouns_1.pdf

http://www.usingenglish.com/handouts/234.html

http://www.pdfmgr.com/index.php?m=Index&a=down&type=pdf&title=Name%3A%20Interrogative%20Pronouns%20-%20K12Reader&src=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.k12reader.com%2Fpronouns%2FPronoun10_Interrogative_Pronouns.pdf

http://www.allthingsgrammar.com/uploads/2/3/2/9/23290220/atg-worksheet-possadj.pdf