{"id":5596,"date":"2021-11-10T06:00:16","date_gmt":"2021-11-10T12:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/?p=5596"},"modified":"2021-11-11T11:51:17","modified_gmt":"2021-11-11T17:51:17","slug":"personal-pronouns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/pronouns\/personal-pronouns\/","title":{"rendered":"Personal Pronouns"},"content":{"rendered":"

A personal pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. It stands in for a particular person or thing after that person or thing (the antecedent) has been identified. We use personal pronouns to avoid redundancy that can become distracting.<\/p>\n

Redundant:<\/strong> Sheila goes to the library every other Saturday. Sheila returns old books and checks out new ones. Sheila also likes to browse the video section.<\/p>\n

Better with personal pronoun:<\/strong> Sheila goes to the library every other Saturday. She<\/u> returns old books and checks out new ones. She<\/u> also likes to browse the video section.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Personal pronouns are classified by person, number, gender, and case.<\/p>\n

Person<\/strong> identifies the individual or thing involved with the action (first, second, or third person).<\/p>\n

Number<\/strong> identifies whether the person is singular or plural.<\/p>\n

Gender<\/strong> identifies if the person is masculine, feminine, or neuter in the third person singular.<\/p>\n

Case<\/strong> identifies the person’s use and place in a sentence (subjective, objective, or genitive [possessive]).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
<\/td>\nfirst person singular<\/em><\/td>\nfirst person plural<\/em><\/td>\nsecond person singular<\/em><\/td>\nsecond person plural<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
subjective<\/em><\/td>\nI<\/td>\nwe<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
possessive<\/em><\/td>\nmy (mine)<\/td>\nour (ours)<\/td>\nyour (yours)<\/td>\nyour (yours)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
objective<\/em><\/td>\nme<\/td>\nus<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\nyou<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
<\/td>\nthird person singular<\/em><\/td>\nthird personal plural<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
subjective<\/em><\/td>\nhe, she, it<\/td>\nthey<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
possessive<\/em><\/td>\nhis, her (hers), its<\/td>\ntheir (theirs)<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
objective<\/em><\/td>\nhim, her, it<\/td>\nthem<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Let’s look at how personal pronouns are used in a sentence:<\/p>\n

After Wanda looked at the map, she<\/u> handed it<\/u> to me<\/u>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In this sentence, she <\/em>is a third person singular feminine pronoun in the subjective case (subject of an independent clause); the antecedent is Wanda.<\/em> The word it <\/em>is a third person singular neuter pronoun in the objective case (direct object); the antecedent is map.<\/em> The word me<\/em> is a first person singular pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition to<\/em>).<\/p>\n

Now let’s consider how personal pronouns function in this passage:<\/p>\n

John came with us<\/u> to France last summer. While we<\/u> were there, he<\/u> revealed to us<\/u> his<\/u> intention to own a vineyard in Alsace.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The word us <\/em>is a second person plural pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition with<\/em>). The word we <\/em>is a first person plural pronoun in the subjective case (subject of a dependent clause).<\/p>\n

The word he <\/em>is a first person singular masculine pronoun in the subjective case (subject of an independent clause); the antecedent is John.<\/em> The word us <\/em>is another second person plural pronoun in the objective case (object of the preposition to<\/em>). The word his <\/em>is a third person possessive masculine pronoun (adjective identifying ownership of intention<\/em>); the antecedent is John.<\/em><\/p>\n

Compound Personal Pronouns<\/h2>\n

Personal pronouns also have forms that are made compound by adding the suffix (ending) -self<\/em> or -selves<\/em>: e.g., myself, herself, yourselves, themselves<\/em>. These pronouns are known as reflexive<\/a> pronouns.<\/p>\n

Reflexive\u00a0pronouns<\/a>\u00a0are used when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same. They can act as either objects or indirect objects. Compare the following sentences:<\/p>\n

Jimmy made him<\/u> a chocolate shake. <\/em>(objective personal pronoun)<\/p>\n

Jimmy made himself<\/u> a chocolate shake. <\/em>(reflexive pronoun, indirect object)<\/p>\n

Karla gave a raise to her<\/u>. <\/em>(objective personal pronoun)<\/p>\n

Karla gave a raise to herself<\/u>. <\/em>(reflexive pronoun, object of preposition)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In both sentence pairs, we see the difference in meaning between using an objective personal pronoun and a reflexive pronoun. Without a reflexive pronoun, we could not know if Jimmy and Karla were performing an action for themselves or another person.<\/p>\n

Reflexive pronouns are also used to rename a noun to emphasize it:<\/p>\n

Tasha herself<\/u> will be responsible for organizing the family reunion.<\/em><\/p>\n

We believe that the one who should receive the honor is Akoni himself<\/u>.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In both sentences, the reflexive pronoun (herself, himself<\/em>) does not serve to clearly identify that the subject and the object are the same; rather it emphasizes the noun preceding it by referring (reflexing back) to it. In this context, the reflexive pronoun functions as an intensifier (intensive pronoun). Readers can still understand each sentence without it.<\/p>\n

Tasha will be responsible for organizing the family reunion.<\/em><\/p>\n

We believe that the one who should receive the honor is Akoni.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In English, there are different kinds of pronouns, such as indefinite<\/a>, demonstrative<\/a>, relative<\/a>, reflexive<\/a>, possessive<\/a>, and interrogative<\/a> pronouns. In this review, we’ve examined what personal pronouns are.<\/p>\n

Related Topics<\/h3>\n

Reflexive Pronouns<\/a>
\nPronouns<\/a><\/p>\n

Pop Quiz<\/h2>\n

Fill in the blanks with the correct personal pronoun according to its person, number, gender, and case. If needed for the sentence, the person, number, and gender are given in parentheses.<\/p>\n

1. Rhonda bought James a birthday present. ____ is going to give ___ to ____ today.<\/p>\n

2. (first person singular) _____ was sure they were going to ask ____ if the shoes were _____.<\/p>\n

3. The Carters are going to the lake this weekend. _____ will spend much of ____ time on _____ boat.<\/p>\n

4. (second person singular) Are ____ going to volunteer tonight, or did they give ____ the day off?<\/p>\n

5. (third person singular feminine) _____ has not cleaned ____ room yet, and if you ask ____, ____ will say no one can make ____ do it until ____ is ready.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Pop Quiz Answers<\/h3>\n

1. Rhonda bought James a birthday present. She <\/strong>is going to give it <\/strong>to him <\/strong>today.<\/p>\n

2. I <\/strong>was sure they were going to ask me <\/strong>if the shoes were mine<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

3. The Carters are going to the lake this weekend. They <\/strong>will spend much of their <\/strong>time on their <\/strong>boat.<\/p>\n

4. Are you <\/strong>going to volunteer tonight, or did they give you <\/strong>the day off?<\/p>\n

5. She <\/strong>has not cleaned her<\/strong> room yet, and if you ask her<\/strong>, she <\/strong>will say no one can make her <\/strong>do it until she <\/strong>is ready.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A personal pronoun is a word that replaces a noun. It stands in for a particular person or thing after that person or thing (the antecedent) has been identified. We use personal pronouns to avoid redundancy that can become distracting. Redundant: Sheila goes to the library every other Saturday. Sheila returns old books and checks […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5596","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pronouns"],"acf":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5596"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5596"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5596\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5629,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5596\/revisions\/5629"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5596"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5596"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.grammarbook.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5596"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}