PERSONAL PRONOUNS
There are several kinds of PRONOUNS: Demonstrative Pronouns, Interrogative Pronouns, Indefinite Pronouns, Distributive Pronouns, Reciprocal Pronouns, Relative Pronouns and Personal pronouns.
Though all these kinds of Pronouns are used frequently in our sentence building, some of them are not so complicated as the PERSONAL PRONOUNS are, because these PERSONAL PRONOUNS have different forms and they change their forms depending on the position they are placed in a sentence.
Of these kinds, the last two, Relative Pronouns and Personal Pronouns, are more important than the other kinds at this basic level.
{The ‘Relative Pronouns’ are dealt with in detail in the topic “SENTENCE” – Kinds of Clauses.}
The topic of PERSONAL PRONOUNS is even more important because we need to use them in other topics, such as DEGREES OF COMPARISON, ACTIVE-PASSIVE VOICE and DIRECT-INDIRECT SPEECH.
Therefore, here we are given a chance to know some important rules and points that are very, very essential in making decent and correct sentences.
Person =
1st person – the person speaking or narrating something
2nd person – the person spoken to (the person listening to the speaker)
3rd person – the rest of all the persons, animals and things that are talked about, excluding the 1st and the 2nd persons
Number =
singular – only one person, animal or thing;
plural – more than one person, animal or thing (two, ten, a hundred, a million, etc.)
Gender =
{masculine gender & feminine gender} (the sex of the person or animal)
male or female = boy or girl, man or woman
neuter – very young babies of people; all the animals when spoken in general and all the things; not man, not woman
common gender – either man or woman; for example, A teacher is a person who teaches. “A teacher” can be a man or a woman, so it is ‘common gender’
CASE:
nominative (subjective) case = person, animal or thing that comes before the verb and does an action, state of being, etc. in a sentence
e.g. He is a good boy. [‘He’ is the subject in this sentence.]
objective (accusative) case = person, animal or thing that comes after the verb or preposition in a sentence (expression)
e.g. He gave her a book. [‘Her’ is the object of the verb ‘gave’.]
He gave a book to her. [‘Her’ is the object of the preposition ‘to’]
possessive (genitive) case = used to show that something belongs to somebody or something
e.g. This is my book. [‘My’ and ‘mine’ show that the book belongs to me.]
This book is mine.
‘My’, ‘our’, ‘your’, ‘your’, ‘his’, ‘her’, ‘its’, ‘their’, ‘their’ and ‘their’ are called POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES because they are always used before nouns.
“Mine”, “ours”, “yours”, “yours”, “his”, “hers”, “its”, “theirs”, “theirs”, and “theirs” are called POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS because they are used without nouns after them; the nouns whose possession they show are placed some where else in the sentence (expression).
Reflexive pronouns = the action of a subject in the sentence comes back to Subject (the doer of the action) when we use these Reflexive pronouns.
{They are also called reciprocal pronouns, but the function is different.}
e.g. I painted this picture myself.
[‘Myself’ in this sentence shows that the subject ‘I’ did the action of painting the picture, not bought or had somebody paint for ‘me’. The action does not pass to any other object but comes back to the subject]
They taught themselves. [‘Themselves’ in this sentence shows that the subject ‘they’ did not get their education from any teacher or they did not teach anybody else, but got their education on their own.]
How to identify the personal pronouns?
Each of these PERSONAL PRONOUNS is given with description of its Person, Number, Gender and Case:
I
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: subjective/nominative
me
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: objective/accusative
my
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
mine
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
myself
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: reflexive
we
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
case: subjective/nominative
Us
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: objective/accusative
our
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
ours
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
ourselves
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: reflexive
you (1)
Person: second
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: subjective/nominative
you (2)
Person: second
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: objective/accusative
your (1)
Person: second
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive (genitive) – possessive adjective
yours (1)
Person: second
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive (genitive) – possessive pronoun
yourself
Person: second
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: reflexive
you (3)
Person: second
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: subjective/nominative
you (4)
Person: second
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: objective/accusative
your (2)
Person: second
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
yours (2)
Person: second
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
yourselves
Person: second
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female)
Case: reflexive
he
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: subjective/nominative
him
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: objective/accusative
his (1)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
his (2)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
himself
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: reflexive
she
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: subjective/nominative
her (1)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: objective/accusative
her (2)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
hers
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
herself
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: reflexive
it (1)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & very young babies)
Case: subjective/nominative
it (2)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & very young babies)
Case: objective/accusative
its (1)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & very young babies)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
its (2)
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & very young babies)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
itself
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & very young babies)
Case: reflexive
they (1)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: subjective/nominative
them (1)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: objective/accusative
their (1)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
theirs (1)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
themselves (1)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: reflexive
they (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: subjective/nominative
them (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: objective/accusative
their (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
theirs (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
themselves (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: reflexive
they (3)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & young babies)
Case: subjective/nominative
them (3)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & young babies)
Case: objective/accusative
their (3)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & young babies)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive adjective
theirs (3)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & young babies)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
themselves (3)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: neuter (not male; not female – things, animals & young babies)
Case: reflexive
You may have noticed that the word “you” is used for 2nd person singular and plural; subjective case and objective case. In old or Biblical Englishthere used to be different words for these forms and cases, but in modern English the same word “you” is being used.
Clarification:
thou – you (nominative case)
thee – you (objective case)
thy – your (possessive case – possessive adjective)
thine – yours (possessive – possessive pronoun)
As we are not using the Biblical words these days, we must use the word “you” in nominative and objective cases and for singular and plural numbers.
But how to know whether a particular ‘you’ in a particular sentence is nominative or objective or …?
The answer is simple: The sentence itself will tell us …
*You are a boy. [‘a boy’ is singular, male and the sentence starts with ‘you’ so it is the subject]
Therefore, “You” in this sentence is in nominative case, singular and male gender.
*You are a girl. [‘a girl’ is singular, female and the sentence starts with ‘you’]
Therefore, ‘you’ in this sentence is in nominative case, singular and female gender.
*I told you my secret because you are my friend.
[the first ‘you’ is in objective case because the subject of the first part of this sentence is “I” and ‘you’ comes after the verb, and the second ‘you’ is in nominative case because there is no other word that comes after the conjunction -- 'because'; and both these words are singular because ‘my friend’, which they refer to, is singular]
Therefore, the first ‘you’ in this sentence is in objective case, singular and common gender; the second “you” is in nominative case, singular and common gender.
*The teacher said to all the boy students, “Complete your assignments.”
In this sentence the word “your” is in possessive case, plural number because it is used for ‘all the boy students’ which is plural in number and male (masculine) gender because ‘the boy’ represents male. It is possessive adjective because ‘assignments’, a noun, follows it.
Nominative (subjective) Case or Accusative (objective) Case or Possessive (genitive) Case?
There is a chance of our getting confused when using personal pronouns after ‘than’ in comparative degree because the personal pronouns take different forms in different cases. For instance, the First Person Personal Pronoun in the Nominative Case is ‘I’, the same pronoun word in the Objective case (Accusative Case) is ‘me’ and again in the Genitive Case it is ‘my/mine’. Therefore, while using them after the conjunction ‘than’ in the comparative degree, we are bound to make some mistakes in placing the case of the pronoun in its right form.
The following rules may clear some of the confusion:
a) When we compare two persons with one adjective or adverb in Comparative Degree, the PRONOUN used after ‘than’ must be in Nominative Case (subjective case). This is considered formal English.
e.g. He speaks more fluently than I. [‘I’ is the nominative case]
= He speaks more fluently than I speak.
In this sentence “He speaks more fluently than me speak.” sounds silly
[‘me’ is the Objective Case of the pronoun ‘I’]
Nevertheless, the Objective Case form of the pronoun is also used by many people, including some grammarians. This is considered informal or spoken English.
For example:
He is taller than me.
The famous grammarian, John Silverlight, accepted the use of Objective Case of the Pronoun even when the context demands a nominative case in his book “More Words” (page 123) quoting a letter from Mr. Gideon Cohen Jerusalem, himself a famous person.
Therefore, we can say: She has more money than he. [‘he’ in nominative case form] She has more money than he has.
Or
*She has more money than him. [‘him’ in objective case form]
b) But the objective case form is the only form to be used in cases like this one:
Peter likes his books more than her. [here ‘her’ could be a girl he knows]
Explanation:
Peter likes his books — 80%
Peter likes her — 20% only
This sentence, if written in full, is:
Peter likes his books more than he (Peter) likes her.
Therefore, in this expression only the objective case ‘her’ should be used.
Let’s analyse another sentence:
James talked more about drinks than them. [here ‘them’ could be his friends or associates]
‘them’ is the objective case of pronoun ‘they’
James talked about drinks — 80%
James talked about them — 20% only
_____________________
James talked about drinks more than they.
[more than they talked about drinks]
‘they’ is the nominative case form
James talked about drinks — 80%
They talked about drinks — 20% only
_____________________
{Therefore, it is to be understood that the case of the pronoun in comparatives changes the meaning of the sentence.}
c) When the former (the first of the two persons, animals or things) in Comparative Degree is in the POSSESSIVE CASE,
the latter (the second of the two persons, animals or things) must be in the possessive case:
For example,
1. Abe’s book is more expensive than Jessica. [wrong]
[“Abe’s” is in the possessive case, but ‘Jessica’ is not in possessive case]
Therefore, this sentence should be…
Abe’s book is more expensive than Jessica’s (book).
2. His car is bigger than them. [wrong]
[‘His car’ is in possessive case, but ‘them’ is in objective case]
Therefore, this sentence should be…
His car is bigger than their car. OR His car is bigger than theirs.
The Agreement is between the Pronoun used in the Subject part and the corresponding pronoun that is to be followed in the Predicate part, if the context demands:
1. The complement of the Verb ‘to be (is, am, are, was & were), when it is expressed by a personal pronoun , should be in the Nominative (subjective) case…
e.g. I was he. (not him)
I am she whom you want.
It is I that give away the prizes.
It might have been he. (not him)
2. The Objective of a Verb or of a Preposition, when it is a Pronoun, should be in the Objective case…
e.g. Between you and me, matters seem bleak.
Let her and me do it. [ In this sentence the real or main subject is “you” which is not mentioned but understood: ‘You let her and me do it.’]
Please, let Liz and him go home. [In this sentence, too, the real or main subject is “you”.]
3. A pronoun must agree with its Antecedent in Person, Number and Gender…
(‘antecedent’ = the noun that a relative pronoun refers to; please, see rule No. 8 of sub-topic ‘subject-verb agreement’)
e.g. All passengers are requested to show their tickets to the conductor.
Every man is expected to carry his own bag.
Each of the girls got her answer sheet in time.
4. The Personal Pronoun that follows expressions such as ‘everybody’, ‘every one’, ‘anyone’, ‘each’, etc. is used according to the context…
e.g. A good father shall be glad to help every one of his boys in his studies. [The word ‘his’ refers to every one of the boys individually, not to the ‘father’!]
Each of the ladies is spending her own money.
Compare:
He helped each of his sons with his home-work.
[‘sons’ – male gender; ‘his’ – male gender]
He helped each of his children with their home-work.
[‘children’ – common gender, ‘children’ can be boys or girls or both – ‘their’ – common gender, ‘their’ can be boys or girls or both]
But when the gender is not determined clearly, we use the Pronoun of male (masculine) gender, as there is no singular pronoun of the Third Person to represent both male and female:
e.g. If anybody wants to say something, let him say it now. (male)
Anyone can buy it if he has enough money. (male)
OR
Anyone can buy it if he/she has enough money. (male and female)
However, with the strong protest from the Feminist Groups (female supporters) the use of the male gender pronoun ‘he’ or ‘him’ is discontinued, and the plural pronoun ‘they’ or ‘them’ or ‘their’ is used as the best alternative. And they are given a new name ‘Zero Plural’…
e.g. Everyone is asked to show their ID cards at the entrance. [‘Everyone’ is common gender, so ‘their’ common gender pronoun in plural is used.]
5. The Indefinite Pronoun ‘one’ (representing ‘everybody’, anybody’, ‘you’, ‘me’ or ‘they’) should be used throughout. When it is used in the Subject part, it must be used in the predicate part if the context demands:
e.g. One should not be careless about what one says.
[‘one’ = any person -- Every person should be careful about what he/she says]
Compare:
One should not be careless about what he says. [wrong] do not agree
6. Care should be taken while using the relative pronouns ‘who’ and ‘who
e.g. This is Mr. Smith, who they say is a great philosopher. [not ‘whom’]
They are a gang of thieves whom you should avoid meeting. [not ‘who’]
Whom does she wish to meet? [not ‘who’]
Who did they believe her to be? [not ‘whom’]
Examples of CORRESPONDING PERSONAL PRONOUNS:
We need to understand this rule perfectly well because in the topic DIRECT-INDIRECT SPEECH, we need to relate one Personal Pronoun to its corresponding pronoun in a different PERSON quite often.
The following examples show us how to indentify ‘corresponding Personal Pronouns’:
I
Person: first
Number: singular
Gender: common (male or female)
case: subjective/nominative
= (correspond)
he
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: masculine (male – boy or man)
Case: subjective/nominative
= (correspond)
she
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: subjective/nominative
In this example, the 1st person singular in nominative case ‘I’ corresponds to “HE” when the person referred to is male and when the person referred to is female, it corresponds to “She”.
Therefore, what we understand is that the personal pronouns of different Persons may correspond to one another when the CASE and NUMBER are the same.
I = case – nominative; number – singular
He = case – nominative; number – singular
She = case – nominative; number – singular
_______
us
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: objective/accusative
=
them (1)
person: 3rd
number: plural
gender: male (common)
case: objective
In this example ‘Us’ and ‘them’ correspond to each other because both are Plural in Number and both are in Objective Case.
Compare:
hers
Person: third
Number: singular
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
= (do not correspond)
Me
Person: 1st
Number: singular
Gender: common
Case: objective
In this example, ‘hers’ and ‘me’ do not correspond because, though the Number is singular in both pronouns, the CASE is different – ‘hers’ is in POSSESSIVE CASE and ‘me’ is in OBJECTIVE.
In this example either ‘me’ must be ‘mine’ or ‘hers’ must be ‘her’!
______
ours
Person: first
Number: plural
Gender: common (male or female, or male & female mixed)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
= (do not correspond)
their (3)
person: 3rd
number: plural
gender: neuter
case: possessive
(possessive adjective)
= (correspond)
theirs (2)
Person: third
Number: plural
Gender: feminine (female – girl or woman)
Case: possessive/genitive – possessive pronoun
In the above example, ‘ours’ and ‘their’ do not correspond though the Number and Case are the same because the possessive case has two kinds in it –– one is POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE and the other is POSSESSIVE PRONOUN —- and ‘ours’ is POSSESSIVE PRONOUN but ‘their’ is POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVE.
However, the other pair ‘ours’ and ‘theirs’ correspond to each other because both are of the same Number, Case, and both are POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS.
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About the Author:BC Kumar
BC Kumar, an English Language Teacher, taught in numerous countries including Ethiopia, Oman and India, shares his knowledge and passion for the English Language. Disclaimer: This is a free educational website and all content has been compiled by the author. All copyrights to images and videos belong to their respective owners.
