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Level 1: Lesson 9

A Form-Function English Grammar: Level 1
  • Kosur, Heather Marie (Author)
  • English (Publication Language)
  • 197 Pages – 04/21/2021 (Publication Date) – Independently published (Publisher)

Level 1 is the first workbook in the elementary series. Lesson 9 teaches about pronouns, specifically personal pronouns. Personal pronouns are pronouns that show person and number.

Transcript

A Form-Function English Grammar

Level 1

Lesson 9

Personal Pronouns

What is a pronoun? What is a personal pronoun?

A pronoun is a word that can replace a noun or noun phrase.

Personal pronouns are one kind of pronoun. Personal pronouns show person and number in addition to taking the place of a noun or noun phrase.

Person, or grammatical person, is a grammatical category that distinguishes between participants in a conversation. English has three persons: first person, second person, and third person.

First person is the speaker or writer. Second person is whoever is being spoken or written to. Third person is everyone else.

The first person personal pronouns are I, me, we, and us. The second person personal pronoun is you. The third person personal pronouns are he, him, she, her, it, they, and them.

Personal pronouns also show number. Remember that singular means “one” and plural means “not one.” I, me, you, he, him, she, her, and it are singular personal pronouns. We, us, you, they, and them are plural personal pronouns. I, me, you, he, him, she, her, and it refer to one person or thing. We, us, you, they, and them refer to “not one,” usually more than one, people or things.

Notice that you can be singular or plural. For example, in the sentence Polly, you are my friend, you refers to one person, Polly, and is singular. In the sentence Polly and Ted, you are my friends, you refers to two people, Polly and Ted, and is plural.

As pronouns, personal pronouns take the place of nouns and noun phrases. For example, look at the sentences My name is Heather and I am a linguist. In the first sentence, I call myself Heather. Heather is my name. But I do not refer to myself as Heather all the time. Instead, I use the personal pronoun I to refer to myself. I takes the place of the noun Heather.

Now look at the sentences The dogs are barking and They are loud. The first sentence contains the noun phrase the dogs. In the second sentence, the personal pronoun they takes the place of the dogs. Instead of repeating the dogs in the second sentence, we can use the pronoun they.

Finally, do not confuse personal pronouns with possessive determiners. The personal pronouns are I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, and them. The possessive determiners are my, our, your, his, her, its, and their. Although personal pronouns and possessive determiners are related, the two word forms are different. The pronouns I and me are related to the determiner my, but pronouns are not determiners and determiners are not pronouns. Determiners are words that go with nouns. Pronouns take the place of nouns and noun phrases.

So, what is a pronoun? What is a personal pronoun?

Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns and noun phrases.

Personal pronouns are one type of pronoun. Personal pronouns show both number and person. Personal pronouns are singular or plural. Grammatical person is a category that distinguishes between participants in a conversation. Personal pronouns are first person (the speaker or writer), second person (the addressee), or third person (all others). The personal pronouns in English are I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, and them.

Now practice your knowledge of personal pronouns by completing the exercises in Lesson 9 of A Form-Function English Grammar: Level 1, pages 36 through 39.

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