Pronouns » Super ELA!

What is a pronoun? It’s one of the eight parts of speech! Keep reading to learn about personal, possessive, subject, and object pronouns.

1st Person

I hope that chimp doesn’t want to kiss me.

The pronouns I and me indicate the speaker, so these are first-person pronouns.

2nd Person

You can’t imagine how strong chimps are.

This example uses a second-person pronoun, as it indicates the person being addressed by using you.

3rd Person

Jane Goodall studied chimps; she found them fascinating.

In this example, she and them refer to Jane Goodall and chimps, respectively. She is singular, as it indicates the sole Jane Goodall, and them is plural, as it refers to multiple chimps. These are third-person pronouns.

Now that you’ve mastered the basics, let’s dive in to the finer details of pronouns!

Personal Pronouns: Subject and Object

Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns are used when a pronoun is the subject of a sentence. (The subject is the who or what that does something in the sentence.) Subject pronouns include I, you, he, she, it, we, and they.

For Example

Marcy ate three servings of hamburger helper for dinner.

Marcy is the subject of the sentence because she takes the action of eating hamburger helper. We can replace Marcy with a subject pronoun that is singular and feminine.

She ate three servings of hamburger helper for dinner.

Subject pronouns are also used if they rename the subject and follow to be verbs (see examples of to be verbs here).

For Example

This is Jorge.

This is called an inverted sentence in which the subject follows the verb. Jorge is the subject and is (a to be verb) is the verb. Thus, if we replace Jorge with a pronoun, it should be a subject pronoun that is singular and masculine.

This is he.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are used when the pronoun is not the subject of the sentence. Object pronouns include me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.

For Example

Ira talked to Emmanuel.

In this example, Ira is the subject, and Emmanuel is the object of preposition. Therefore, Emmanuel should be replaced with a singular and masculine object pronoun.

Ira talked to him.

A Discussion of the Singular "They"

For centuries, people have used they and them as singular pronouns. Many people do this when they don’t know the gender of the person about whom they are speaking or writing.

For Example

The doctor performed emergency surgery in the morning, and they checked on their intensive care patients in the afternoon.

Though it was, and still is, incredibly common to use they in this way, it was considered grammatically incorrect by grammar sticklers until recently. That changed in 2019 when Merriam-Webster added an entry for they as a singular, gender-neutral third person pronoun. Included in this new definition is the pronoun for a person whose gender identity is nonbinary.

For Example

This is my friend, Grant. They are a doctor.

In this example, Grant’s gender identity is nonbinary, so the speaker uses their preferred pronoun they.

Subject vs. Object Pronouns Quick Quiz

You may not believe it, but there’s even more to master when it comes to pronouns… You can do it!

Than vs. As Rule

Than vs. As

When a pronoun follows than or as, it can be tricky to decide whether to use a subject pronoun or an object pronoun. You can figure out which to use by mentally completing the sentence.

For Example

Garrison is as tall as he/him.

If we mentally complete the sentence, we would say

Garrison is as tall as he is.

Therefore, he is the correct answer.

Garrison is as tall as he.

Another Example

Lilly would rather dance with her than with I/me.

If we mentally complete the sentence, we see that me is the correct answer because it is part of a prepositional phrase (with me), and it is not the subject of any sentence or clause.

Lilly would rather dance with her than with me.

☓ Lilly would rather dance with her than with I.

Than vs. As Pronouns Quick Quiz

You’re almost there… just one more concept to master: possessive pronouns.

Possessive Pronouns

In the example above, the possessive noun chimp’s is replaced by the possessive pronoun his. Both are used to indicate ownership of selfishness. (Chimps tend to be that way.)

Additionally, the possessive pronoun mine is used without a noun, but it tells us that the chimp is claiming ownership of the tree.

Finally, the plural their is used to indicate that all chimps possess selfishness.