openMind Starter

Unit 1 Grammar 1

SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—
STATEMENTS
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

I’m Jane, and this is

Mark. He’s a new
I’m Anna, your new
student.
teacher. Who are
you?

1. What do the circled words refer to? I = Anna, He = Mark

2. Are I and He the subjects or the objects of the sentences? subjects
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

1. Can you find three subject pronouns?

She’s a teacher.

You are a student.

Fred and Hannah are students. They are from Germany.

2. Match these uses to the subject pronouns:

a. in place of a name
b. to avoid repeating names
c. in place of a name
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

These are all the subject pronouns in English:

Singular Plural
1st person
I We
2nd person
You You
3rd person He/She/It They

1. We use subject pronouns in place of names and to avoid

repeating names.
2. Subject pronouns are the subjects of sentences.

Mike and Jane are students.

Mike and Jane are They’re at school.
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS
These sentences all have examples of the verb be.
How many different forms of be can you find?

1. He is a teacher.

2. They are students. three affirmative forms

3. I am from England.

4. You aren’t a teacher.

three negative forms
5. She isn’t a student.

6. I’m not at work.

 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS
These sentences use contractions or short forms of be.
Can you find two negative contractions and three
affirmative contractions?

1. We’re brothers. affirmative

2. He’s at school. affirmative

3. She isn’t here. negative

4. You’re late. affirmative

5. I’m not a student. negative

 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

Thomas is 32.

He isn’t a student. He’s a teacher.

He’s from Canada.

He’s at work.

We use be to talk about people and things (e.g.,

age, name, where they are and what they do).
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

Here are the affirmative forms of be with contractions.

Affirmative
I am (I’m) late.
You are (You’re) at home.
He is (He’s) 27.
She is (She’s) Fatima.
It is (It’s) here.
We are (We’re) friends.
They are (They’re) in class now.
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

To form the negative of be, we add not. Here are the

negative forms of be with contractions.
Negative
I am not (I’m not) sick.
You are not (You aren’t) a teacher.
He is not (He isn’t) Mark.
She is not (She isn’t) a good student.
It is not (It isn’t) OK.
We are not (We aren’t) late.
They are not (They aren’t) brothers.
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

Watch Out!
1. We’s/’re students.

2. He are/is at school now.

3. She isn’t/not here.

4. They aren’t/isn’t brothers.

5. I’m not/isn’t a student.

6. It be/is late.

7. You’re/is a teacher.
 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

Change the sentences, if necessary, so they are true

for you and your partner.
1. I’m 23.

2. My partner is Adam.

3. We aren’t students.

4. We are brother and sister.

5. I am a teacher.

6. My partner’s from Mexico.

 SUBJECT PRONOUNS
AND BE—STATEMENTS

Grammar wrap-up

1. What are the three

forms of the verb be? am, is, are

2. Which subject pronoun is only for it = a thing

a man, or a woman, or a thing? she = a woman
it she he he = a man

3. What are the contracted forms of: He’s not

He is not We are I am not We’re
I’m not