Pronouns

Session 3

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Pronoun
 A word that takes the place of – or refers to –
a noun or noun equivalent.
 It must agree with the point of view (person),
number, gender and case of the noun it
replaces or refers to.

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 Cases of Nouns and Pronouns
Nominative Objective Possessive
The manager told the secretary about the engineer’s report.
Person-Number-Gender
1st Person-Singular-M/F I me my mine
1st Person-Plural-M/F We us our ours
2nd Person-S/P-M/F You you your yours
3rd Person-Singular-M He him his his
3rd Person-Singular-F She her her hers
3rd Person-Plural-M/F They them their theirs

BUSWRI/Medenilla The report is the engineer’s.3

Possessive Pronouns
 My, mine, our, ours, your, yours, his, her,
hers, its, their, theirs, and whose
 Are used in two situations:
 As adjectives to indicate possession
 The students turned in all their papers on time.
 As indications of possession without being used
as adjectives
 My report is comprehensive, but hers is better.
http://userwww.sfsu.edu

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Difference between “my” and “mine”?
 My: This is an adjective. It describes a noun.
 You have my notebook.
 "My" describes "notebook.”
 Mine: This word works like a pronoun, which
means it replaces a noun.
 Predicate nominative: The report is mine.
 Subject: Mine is over there.
 Object of the verb: Drop mine at the corner.
http://answers.yahoo.com/
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Reflexive Pronouns
 Reflexive pronouns indicate that the sentence
subject also receives the action of the verb.
 Students who cheat on this quiz are only hurting
themselves.
 You paid yourself a million dollars?
 She encouraged herself to do well.
 Whenever there is a reflexive pronoun in a
sentence, there must be a person to whom that
pronoun can "reflect."
BUSWRI/Medenilla http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar 6
Reflexive Pronouns
Nominative Reflexive

The boss rewarded the boss with a new car.

1st Person-Singular-M/F I myself
1st Person-Plural-M/F We ourselves
2nd Person-S-M/F You yourself
2nd Person-P-M/F You yourselves
3rd Person-Singular-M He himself
3rd Person-Singular-F She herself
3rd Person-Plural-M/F They
BUSWRI/Medenilla
themselves 7
Intensive Pronouns
 Intensive pronouns (such as myself, yourself,
herself, ourselves, themselves) consist of a
personal pronoun plus self or selves and
emphasize a noun.
 I myself will do the graphics for the presentation.
 Sarah complained to the president himself.
 The manager herself wrapped the gifts.

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Intensive Pronouns
 It is possible (but rather unusual) for an
intensive pronoun to precede the noun it
refers to.
 Myself, I don't believe a word he says.
 More common:
 I myself don’t believe a word he says.

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Common Errors to Avoid
 Using an objective or reflexive pronoun instead of a
nominative pronoun, usually with a compound subject

The manager told the secretary about the engineer’s report.

I told the secretary about the engineer’s report.
The manager and I told the secretary about the engineer’s report.

The manager and me told the secretary about the engineer’s report.

The manager and myself told the secretary about the engineer’s report.

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Spot the Error

Even me can do it.

Even me can do it.

Even I can do it.

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Common Errors to Avoid
 Using a nominative or reflexive pronoun instead of an
objective pronoun, usually with a compound object

The manager told the secretary about the engineer’s report.

The manager told me about the engineer’s report.
The manager told the secretary and me about the engineer’s report.

The manager told the secretary and I about the engineer’s report.

The manager told the secretary and myself about the engineer’s report.

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Common Errors to Avoid
 Using a nominative or reflexive pronoun instead of
an objective pronoun after a preposition

The manager gave the engineer’s report to the secretary.

The manager gave the engineer’s report to me.
The manager gave the engineer’s report to the secretary and me.

The manager gave the engineer’s report to the secretary and I.

The manager gave the engineer’s report to the secretary and

myself.
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Common Errors to Avoid
 Using an objective pronoun as a predicate
nominative (after a linking verb).
Subject Predicate Nominative

The manager is Mr. Cruz.

He is Mr. Cruz.
The manager is he.
The manager is him.
Another example: The meaning of my life is she.
The meaning of my life is her.
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Common Errors to Avoid
 Using an objective (instead of possessive) pronoun
before a gerund.
Objective
The boss did not like him.
Gerund (Noun equivalent)
Possessive
The boss did not like his coming in late at the meeting.
The boss did not like him coming in late at the meeting.

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Spot the Error
Do you mind him joining us for lunch?
Do you mind his joining us for lunch?

I enjoy them singing.

I enjoy their singing.

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Comparative Expressions
 Use a nominative pronoun after the comparative expressions
than or as if it is the subject of the unexpressed verb.

With expressed verbs:

The manager is young. She is young.

Unexpressed verb
Comparison:
The manager is younger than she. [is young.]
The manager is younger than her.

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Comparative Expressions
 Use a nominative pronoun after the comparative expressions
than or as if it is the subject of the unexpressed verb.

With expressed verbs:

His brother is competent. He is competent.

Unexpressed verb
Comparison:
His brother is as competent as he. [is competent.]
His brother is as competent as him.

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Comparative Expressions

With expressed verbs:

The president trusts the treasurer.
The president trusts him.

Comparison:
The president trusts the treasurer more than him.
The president trusts the treasurer more than he.

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Possessive Pronouns & Contractions
 Your the best person to talk about your work.
You’re [You are]
 His not authorized to discuss his salary.
He’s [He is]
 Its the duty of the company to develop its people.
It’s [It is]]

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 Interrogative Pronouns
The manager called the secretary.
Who called the secretary?
The manager called whom?
Recast: Whom did the manager call?
Who did the manager call?

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Relative Pronouns
 Relative pronouns link (relate) a subordinate clause
with their own antecedents.
The customer who wrote the complaint letter is here.

The department that won the award received a cash

prize.

We attended the international trade show, which

opened opportunities for us.

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Reciprocal Pronouns
 Don’t use reflexive for reciprocal pronouns.

Pacquiao and Morales hit themselves.

Pacquiao and Morales hit each other.

All employees know one another.

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That and Which
Essential or restrictive clause:
The bank account that was opened last month
has a balance of P55,000.

Nonessential or nonrestrictive clause:

The bank account, which was opened last
month, has a balance of P55,000.

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Who
Essential or restrictive clause:
The employees who meet the annual work
targets will receive performance bonuses.

Nonessential or nonrestrictive clause:

The employees, who meet the annual work
targets, will receive performance bonuses.

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Demonstrative Pronouns
Modifier

 This report is comprehensive.

Pronoun

This is comprehensive.

 These [chairs] are made of narra.
 That [building] will be demolished.
 Those [cars] are illegally parked.
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 Pronoun-Antecedent
Agreement

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Antecedent
 The antecedent of a pronoun is the word
(noun) or group of words (noun phrase or
clause) to which the pronoun refers.
The managers are required to report the gifts they
receive from suppliers.
Sarah missed her flight to Cebu, so Carlos was
left on his own to meet with the client.

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Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Identify the wrong or unclear pronoun and replace it to
agree with the antecedent.
 The company will change their marketing strategy this year.
its

Or: The company executives will change their marketing strategy this year.

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 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
his or her
 Everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

 According to the report, some 86 out of 96 active non-life insurance companies are
in danger of losing its businesses unless they meet capitalization requirements.

their
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Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
 Alice talked with Jane about her son.
Alice talked about her son with Jane.
 The senior officers met to discuss the
performance records of the branch
managers all over the Philippines. They
brainstormed on ways to motivate them to
increase their sales.
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Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Since the show was scheduled for the same
night as the election, it had to be postponed.
Clear: Since the show was scheduled for the
same night as the election, the show
had to be postponed.
Or: Since the show was scheduled for the
same night as the election, the election
had to be postponed
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 Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement
Every officer should bring his wife to the company party.

Gender-sensitive:
Every officer should bring his or her spouse to the company party.
Or: All officers should bring their spouses to the company party.

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Exercise
 My grandmother really loved Juan. She left
all her money to Federico and _______ .
 A student in that all-women's college should
have no fears about ________ future.
 He was so worried about ________ he should
ask to the big dance, that he ended up not
asking anyone.
http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar
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Exercise
 Neither Ricardo nor _____ am responsible for
this mess.
 This is a matter for you and _______ to
decide.
 Everybody in this class has completed
________ homework already.
 No one on this bus seems to know ______
way around this part of the city.
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Exercise
 People ________ live in glass houses shouldn't
throw stones.
 She prefers to watch movies ______ make her cry.
 In the crowd were several recruits _______ are
regarded as excellent prospects for next year's team.
 The police were able to find no evidence against her,
_____ surprised no one who knows her well.

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar
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Exercise
 Predictably, the students _____ did best were
not the ones who stayed up all night studying.
 The answers, ________ you can find in the
back of the book, are sometimes incorrect.
 She wanted to buy a dress ________ would
complement her hazel eyes.
 Her children, ______ all graduated from
college, came home for her eightieth birthday.
BUSWRI/Medenilla
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