DAY 11

DAY 11
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 DAY 11
SUBJECT PRONOUNS, OBJECT PRONOUNS, POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS, AND
POSSESSIVE ADJECTIVES

Examine the following chart and read the sentences carefully.

SUBJECT OBJECT POSSESSIVE POSSESSIVE

PRONOUNS PRONOUNS PRONOUNS ADJECTIVES
I Me Mine My
You You Yours Your
He Him His His
She Her Hers Her
It It Its Its
We Us Ours Our
You You Yours Your
They Them Theirs Their

Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns are often (but not always) found at the beginning of a sentence. More
precisely, the subject of a sentence is the person or thing that lives out the verb.

I owe that bookie $3,000. – I am living out that debt. I is the subject pronoun.
He and I had a fight. – This sentence has two subjects because he and I were both
involved in the fight.
He broke my kneecaps. – You get the idea.
To him, I must now pay my children's college funds. – If you'll notice, the verb in this
sentence – the action – is "pay." Although I is not at the beginning of the sentence, it is
the person living out the action and is, therefore, the subject.

Object Pronouns

By contrast, objects and object pronouns indicate the recipient of an action or motion.
They come after verbs and prepositions (to, with, for, at, on, beside, under, around, etc.).

The bookie showed me a crowbar and told me to pay him immediately.

I begged him for more time.
He said he'd given me enough time already.
I tried to dodge the crowbar, but he hit me with it anyway.
Just then, the police arrived and arrested us.

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 DAY 11
Possessive Adjectives vs. Possessive Pronouns

Possessive adjectives include the following: my, your, our, their, his, her and its. They
are sort of pronouns in that they refer to an understood noun, showing possession by
that noun of something. They are technically adjectives, though, because they modify a
noun that follows them.

My money is all gone.

I gambled it all away on your race horse.
His jockey was too fat.

In all of these examples, there is a noun (money, race horse, jockey) that has not been
replaced with a pronoun. Instead, an adjective is there to show whose money, horse and
jockey we’re talking about.

Possessive pronouns, on the other hand – mine, yours, ours, theirs, his, hers, its – are
truly pronouns because they refer to a previously named or understood noun. They stand
alone, not followed by any other noun. For comparison's sake, look at this sentence:

You have your vices and I have mine.

There are two types of pronouns here: subject (you/I) and possessive (mine). There's
also a possessive adjective (your). We'll deal with the subject pronouns momentarily, but
for now, just look at the others.

“Your” is followed by the noun, vices, so although we know that “your” refers to you, it is
not the noun or the noun substitute (pronoun). “Vices” is the noun. In the second half of
the sentence, however, the noun and the possessive adjective have both been replaced
with one word – the pronoun, mine. Because it stands in the place of the noun, mine is a
true pronoun whereas “your” is an adjective that must be followed by a noun.

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 DAY 11
Exercise 1. Fill in the gaps with the corresponding pronoun or adjective form from
the above table.

1. Sheila is an English girl. __________ is walking with Peter and talking

to __________.

2. Ann and James are speaking to __________teachers, because __________have

some questions for__________.

3. Jack's friends are in class. These books are __________.

4. We have a very light classroom; __________classroom is on the second floor.

5. Claire has two dogs; __________dogs like playing very

6. How old are__________? I am 15 years old.

7. Can I borrow__________ phone? Yes, here__________ are.

8. That bike over there is __________.

Exercise 2. Choose the corresponding pronoun or adjective form from the above
table.

1. Look at this picture. These are my nieces __________ names are Cristina and Laura.

A. Them
B. Their
C. Theirs

2. President Obama was born in Hawaii but __________ father was born in Kenya.

A. his
B. your
C. him

3. Carla Bruni is really pretty. I'm in love with__________.

A. she
B. hers
C. her

4. My cell phone is dead. Can I use__________ ?

A. it
B. yours
C. our

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 DAY 11
5. We have a big problem. Can you help __________?

A. us
B. we
C. them

6. Carla Bruni was born in Italy but __________grandmother is Italian.

A. hers
B. his
C. her

7. I'm going to see the Rolling Stones. Do you like__________?

A. them
B. it
C. they

8. That car is not ours. Is it__________?

A. your
B. yours
C. ours

9. My job is wonderful. I really like__________!

A. its
B. mine
C. it

10. We're an international school __________ students come from different countries.

A. Us
B. Our
C. Ours

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