Use Pronouns

Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence so that the nouns are not repeated too often. There are many different types of pronouns, including personal pronouns, possessive pronouns, interrogative pronouns, relative pronouns, and reflexive pronouns. These pronouns all have different rules. In general, all pronouns must agree with their antecedent and take the proper verb form. This is a general overview of how to use pronouns.

Steps

Using Personal Pronouns

1. Identify the antecedent. The antecedent is the noun that a pronoun is replacing. Every pronoun must have a clear antecedent. The antecedent usually appears before the pronoun in a sentence or in the previous sentence.
   • “Gabby always wanted to go to the zoo, and now she had her chance.”
     • In this example, Gabby is the antecedent of she.
   • "The gulls were chattering as they flew.”
     • Gulls is the antecedent of they.
2. Memorize the personal pronouns. Personal pronouns are pronouns that refer to people or things. They are the most basic form of pronouns. Personal pronouns should always be the same number (singular or plural) and gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter) as their antecedent. There are three types of personal pronouns: subject, object, and possessive.
   • First person singular: I, me, mine
   • First person plural: we, us, ours
   • Second person, singular and plural: you, yours
   • Third person masculine singular: he, him, his
   • Third person feminine singular: she, her, hers
   • Third person neuter singular: it, its
   • Third person plural (all genders): they, them, theirs
3. Choose subject pronouns if the pronoun is performing the action. The subject pronouns are I, we, you, he, she, it, and they. Subject pronouns are usually used at the beginning of sentences or clauses. They will usually come before a verb. If your pronoun is doing the action, you should use a subject pronoun.
   • “She drives to work every day.”
     • She is doing the action of driving. Therefore, she is the subject.
   • “They practice basketball in the morning.”
     • They are doing the action of practicing. Therefore, you use a subject pronoun.
4. Choose object pronouns when the pronoun is receiving the action. The object pronouns are me, us, you, him, her, it, and them. If the pronoun is receiving the action, it is called a direct object. Object pronouns are always used when the antecedent is a direct object.
   • “Bob threw it across the room.”
     • It is receiving the action of throwing. Therefore, you use an object verb.
   • “Dad patted him on the back.”
     • Him is receiving the action of patting. Therefore, you use an object verb.
5. Put object pronouns after prepositions. Object pronouns also come after prepositions. In this case, the pronouns are replacing the indirect object. Prepositions are words like “before,” “to,” “after,” “through,” and “above.” They indicate position. After prepositions, always use the object pronouns.
   • “Mark passed the ball to him.”
   • “Alice walked in between them.”
   • “The teacher walked in front of her.”
6. Show ownership with possessive pronouns. Possessive pronouns are pronouns that indicate that something belongs to someone or something else. The possessive pronouns are mine, ours, yours, its, his, hers, and theirs.
   • “The car is hers.”
   • “The blue house is theirs.”
   • ”That book is a favorite of mine.”

Using More Advanced Types of Pronouns

1. Ask questions with interrogative pronouns. Sometimes you don’t know who or what is doing something. In those cases, you use the interrogative pronouns. These include who, whom, what, whose, and which. Interrogatives lack an antecedent.
   • ”Who is going to the movie?”
   • ”Whose car is that parked out front of our house?”
   • ”I don’t understand what is going on.”
2. Refer to nouns with demonstrative pronouns. Demonstrative pronouns include this, that, these, those, and such. These words refer to a specific noun that is being referred to in a conversation. The speaker or reader should understand exactly what the antecedent is.
   • She looked at a red car. "That is a nice car,” she said.
     • In this example, that is a demonstrative pronoun which is clearly referencing the red car.
3. Define nouns with relative pronouns. Relative pronouns are used after nouns to provide more information about that noun. They can tell us which person or thing we are talking about, or they give more information about that person or thing. Relative pronouns are who, whom, which, whose, and that.
   • Who is the subject pronoun. You use it when it is performing the action. It is only used to refer to people. For example, “We visited my grandmother, who lives down the street.”
   • ”Whom” is an object pronoun. Again, this means we only use it when it is receiving the action or after a preposition. For example, “To whom am I speaking?”
   • “Which” is used when you are providing non-essential information. For example, ”I put ketchup on my pasta, which is how I like it.”
   • “That” is used when providing essential information about an object. For example, ”I like pasta that is covered in ketchup.”
4. Emphasize with intensive pronouns. Intensive pronounces end in either –self (if it is singular) or –selves (if it is plural). They are myself, ourselves, herself, himself, itself, themselves, yourself, and yourselves. You can use these pronouns to add emphasis to a sentence.
   • ”He himself will carry the torch to the podium.”
   • ”They can do it themselves.”
5. Show that the subject is also receiving the action with reflexive pronouns. The reflexive pronouns are the same pronouns as the intensive. They end in –self (for singular) or –selves (for plural). They indicate that the subject and the object are the same person or thing.
   • “I helped myself to the buffet.”
     • In this sentence, the subject (I) and the object (myself) refer to the same person.
6. Indicate a general or non-specific object with indefinite pronouns. These pronouns are often used to describe a general antecedent without specifying exactly who or what is .being discussed. Indefinite pronouns are almost always singular. The exceptions to this rule are both, all, few, many, or all. These are plural. Indefinite pronouns include:
   • Each
   • Anybody
   • Somebody
   • Nobody
   • Everybody
   • One
   • Anyone
   • Everyone
   • Someone
   • Neither
   • Either
   • Nothing
   • Anything
   • Everything
   • Something

Checking Your Pronoun Agreement

1. Say the sentence out loud. Your ear is very good at catching mistakes. Speak the sentence. If something sounds off, check the pronouns. You may not have written them correctly.
2. Check that the pronouns agree with the verbs. Singular pronouns should take singular verb forms. Plural pronouns take plural verb forms. Double-check that the pronoun takes the same number value as its antecedent and that the proper verb is being used.
   • Each, either, neither, and one are always singular. That means that they take singular verbs.
   • Who takes the value of its antecedent. If its antecedent is plural, then who is plural. If the antecedent is singular, who is singular.
3. Replace the pronoun with the antecedent. The sentence should have exactly the same meaning if you switch the pronoun with the antecedent. If you want to make sure that your usage is correct, try replacing the pronoun with its antecedent.
4. Circle every pronoun, and draw a line to its antecedent. The antecedent should be very close to the pronoun, ideally within the same sentence or the sentence immediately before it. If you cannot find the antecedent or the antecedent is far away from the pronoun, replace the pronoun with its antecedent.
5. Replace all nouns with pronouns. Take away all nouns, and replace them with just pronouns in the sentence. This can help you remove distracting words and identify errors more quickly.
   • For example, in the sentence "Dad snapped a photo of Mike and she," replace Dad, a photo, and Mike with he and it. You are left with "He snapped it of she." You may notice the error that a subject pronoun (she) is being used where an object pronoun (her) should be used. The sentence should read “Dad snapped a photo of Mike and her.”
6. Complete the sentence. Sometimes, sentences leave out verbs that are understood in the meaning of the sentence. This often happens with “than” comparisons. Add these verbs back in to see if the pronoun is correct.
   • For example, in the sentence “He makes more money than she/her,” you can finish the sentence to find the correct pronoun. “He makes more money than she [does]” is more correct than “He makes more money than her [does].”

Tips

• It has become acceptable in informal English to use object pronouns after the verb to be. (For example, “This is her” instead of “this is she.”)This is not technically correct, although you can use it in casual settings.
• You should try to use gender-neutral pronouns when speaking about a general audience. When writing, either address both genders (e.g. “Everybody should bring his or her own drink”) or use the third person plural as a gender neutral pronoun (“Everybody should bring their own drink”).

Warnings

• Do not combine subject and object pronouns with a conjunction. For example, “she and him” is wrong. It should either be “he and she” or “him and her.” Better yet, use the third person plural.

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See also

• Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing
• Use Generic Pronouns
• Paraphrase a Paragraph
• Be a Grammar Nazi
• Choose Between "I" and "Me" Correctly
• Use Who and Whom
• Improve Your Grammar
• Use "i.e." Versus "e.g."
• Use Italics
• Use "That" and "Which" Correctly

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