In this lesson we are going to learn the personal pronouns. At begining sounds a like hard.. but when you get it.. it´s really easy.. try it!
Personal pronouns take the place of specific nouns (the names of people, places or things). Basically, they are used instead of a specific name to avoid repetition and to help ease the flow of sentences.
We usually inject personal pronouns into a sentence when the name of the noun has been previously mentioned, so that the reader will know what is being referred to. For example:
- Richard bought a new laptop three months ago. He absolutely loves it.
In the second sentence, there are two personal pronouns. The personal pronoun "he" takes the place of "Richard" while the personal pronoun "it" takes the place of "laptop."
In this article you can review a list of personal pronouns, as well as examples of their various uses.
Types of Personal Pronouns
There are two types of personal pronouns: subject and object.
- Subject Pronouns - Subject pronouns (I, You, He, She, It, They, We) replace the name of the subject in the sentence. Example: Mrs. Yen did not come to school yesterday. She had to go to the doctor. "Mrs. Yen" is the subject and "she" is the subject pronoun.
- Object Pronouns - Object pronouns (Me, You, Him, Her, It, Us, Them) take the place of the object in the sentence (the noun that receives the action in a sentence). Example: After Colleen bought a bike, it got stolen within a week, "it" is the object pronoun used to replace "bike."
Selecting Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns help us to avoid constantly repeating the same noun over and over. The noun that is replaced is called the antecedent. Paying close attention to the antecedent will help you choose the correct personal pronoun.
- Example: President Obama delivered a speech on health care reform. He spoke for more than an hour. "President Obama" is the antecedent to the personal pronoun "he."
To avoid confusion in sentences, it is important to choose the right personal pronoun that agrees in number (singular or plural), person (first, second, or third person), gender (masculine, feminine, neuter), and case (subject, object, possessive).
