One of the most common parts of speech used in everyday conversation and writing, whether formal or informal, is the pronoun. Here, the most common type of pronoun “personal pronoun“ will be discussed.
What Are The Personal Pronouns?
Personal pronouns can be defined as the type of pronouns used to replace a specific noun in a sentence. It can be used to take the place of a person, an animal, a thing, or a place, to avoid stating the same noun over and over again in the same text.
The subsequent sentences give examples of personal pronouns used with antecedents (remember, an antecedent is a noun that a pronoun refers to!): For example:
- That boy looks as if he wants new socks. (the noun phrase that boy is the antecedent of he)
- Sandra arrived yesterday. I met her at the motor park. (Sandra is the antecedent of her)
- When it saw us, the lion began roaring. (the lion is the antecedent of it)
- Obama and I were assuming no one would see us. (Obama and I is the antecedent of us)
Types of Personal Pronouns
The personal pronouns are grouped according to their function in the sentence.
- Subjective Personal Pronouns
Subjective pronouns are used as subjects of verbs and replace the name of the subject in the sentence. They include him, her, me, you, it, them, and us.
For example:
- I am making a phone call
- You are shaking my hand.
- I live in New York.
- Mary, do you like playing tennis? (NOTE: you as singular)
- He doesn’t want to come this evening.
- She works in London.
- It won’t be easy.
- We are studying pronouns at the moment.
- Marie and Jacques, you went to Paris last year, didn’t you? (NOTE: you as plural)
- They bought a new car last month.
- He is drinking a cup of coffee.
- She is drinking a cup of tea.
- It was costly.
- We are having breakfast.
- You were having dinner together.
- They are shaking hands.
- You seem happy about your favorite team winning the rugby match.
- We were furious about losing the contract to a less deserving company.
- Objective Personal Pronouns
Objective pronouns are also used as objects of verbs and represent the object in the sentence. They include me, you, it, him, her, us and them.
For example:
- Jane is pointing at me.
- I love you.
- Give me the book.
- Antonio, he told you to come tonight. (NOTE: you as singular)
- She asked him to help.
- They visited him when they came to France.
- She bought it at the store.
- He picked us up at the airport.
- Students, the teacher asked you to finish your homework. (NOTE: you as plural
- I invited them to a party.
- Jane is helping him.
- Mark is annoying her.
- John made it this morning.
- “Come to see us in London!”
- I saw you last night at the club.
- John is not with them.
- I knew her to be a miser.
Avoid the error that even native speakers commit. The object pronoun for the first person is me NOTI! You even hear this error on television, “between you and I”. That is wrong! The correct form is “between you and me”.
Brought to you by the KidsEnglishCollege™ Editorial Team.
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