Module 2, Pronouns, Lesson 1:

Personal Pronouns

Score:

What would you think if you heard something like this?

One day the doctor asked the doctor's assistant for the doctor's calendar. Then the doctor checked the doctor's calendar to see what appointments the doctor had that day. Then the doctor returned the doctor's calendar to the doctor's assistant for the doctor's assistant to use to schedule the doctor's patients' appointments.

It doesn't sound like we normally speak, does it? That's because this paragraph has no pronouns. We use pronouns to replace nouns to avoid unnecessary repetition.

One day the doctor asked her assistant, James, to hand her the appointment calendar. Then she checked it to see how many appointments she had that day. After that, she returned the calendar to James and asked him to use it to schedule her other patients' appointments.

That sounds a lot better.

Definition: The prefix pro means for or in place of. Pronouns stand in for or replace nouns. This lesson is about personal pronouns, which replace nouns that refer to people or things.

Personal pronouns have:

  • Number: They are singular or plural.
  • Person: 1st person is the person speaking, 2nd person is the person being spoken to, and 3rd person is the person being spoken about. You can look at the chart below for examples.
  • Case: Determines how a pronoun is being used in a sentence (subject, object, or possessive). We'll go over this more in the next lesson.
Personal Pronouns
Subject Object Possessive
Singular Plural Singular Plural Singular Plural
1st Person I we me us my, mine our, ours
2nd Person you you you you your, yours your, yours
3rd Person he, she, it they him, her, it them his, her, hers, its their, theirs

Practice What You've Learned

Exercises are reserved for account holders.
Please log in.
 

 Need an account?
Sign up to get started.

Directions:
Find and click on the personal pronouns in the following sentences.
1.
When Jerry visited his mother he found that her door was unlocked.
2.
The zebra in the tall grass is hidden from its predators by its stripes.
3.
I am glad you weren't hurt when your bicycle crashed into your neighbor's fence.
4.
Sandi's shoes are in her closet in her room beside the dresses she wears with them.
5.
The lawyer and his assistant carefully interviewed all their witnesses before they spoke to the judge.
6.
One of the race cars lost its tire when it ran into its neighbor.
7.
My sister and her best friend set up a fake ghost in my room one Halloween.
8.
Manatees love warm water, so they swim in our canals when the weather gets cold.
9.
You should not let your brother get away with hiding your homework in his backpack.
10.
I know you don't like the same movies I like.
Score: