Grammar Rules Every Teacher Should Know

10 Grammar Rules
Every Teacher Should Know
Judy Baker
Antioch University
Seattle Washington
Top Ten Grammar Rules 2
This guide is not protected by copyright. It

is the authors intention that it be
reproduced, in whole or in part, wherever
and whenever educators and educators-to-
be find it useful to do so. Enjoy!
Table of Contents
Introduction Pag
e2
Rule # 1 Know the Parts of Speech Pag
e2
Rule # 2 Understand the Parts of Pag
Sentences e3
Rule # 3 I [is not an] Object! Pag
e3
Rule # 4 Use Combination Pronouns Pag
Correctly e5
Rule # 5 Force Your Subjects and Pag
Verbs to Agree e5
Rule # 6 Get Your Nouns and Pag
Pronouns to Agree, Too! e6
Rule # 7 Capitalize Correctly Pag
e7
Rule # 8 Punctuate for Meaning Pag
e8
Rule # 9 Stop Apostrophe Anarchy Pag
e9
Rule # 10 Dont Trust Your Pag
Spellchecker e 10
Conclusion Pag
e 11
Self Test Pag
e 12
Self Test Answers Pag
e 13
Introduction
If were like most people, we react to
learning grammar as if we have been
exposed to the plague: we count ourselves
lucky to have escaped. Once weve survived
grammar school, we move on with our
lives, conscious that grammar is out there,
lurking. As a result, we use language
cautiously. We stay on the safe paths of
informal communication and avoid risky
areas where grammar might catch us
unawares.
For teachers, though, grammars threat is

unavoidable. Our written and spoken
language is examined under a microscope
for any violation of grammatical laws.
Should one be found, we are labeled
illiterate and unqualified to teach

(regardless of our knowledge and skills).
This guide is designed to be a booster shot

against bad grammar (whose symptoms are
misunderstanding, confusion and the near-
fatal appearance of ignorance). Like
childrens medicine, it is packaged to be as
palatable as possible. Take once before
teachingin small doses according to your
tolerance; thereafter, on an as-needed basis.
RULE #1 KNOW THE PARTS OF SPEECH

Picture a car. It moves on a road. The car is
red, and it moves quickly. In this image
youve got all the parts of speech:
The car is your nounit is the thing
that you are discussing.
It movesthats the verb, the action
the noun takes.
The car is redred is an adjective
describing the noun.
The red car moves quicklythis is an
adverb modifying the verb.
The red car moves quickly on the road
on the road is a prepositional
phrase, consisting of a preposition

(on) and its object (the road). A
prepositional phrase locates the noun
and verb.
Add conjunctions (connecting words like

and and but) and articles (a, an, the)
and youve got all the building blocks of
language. Try your own visualization. Do
you see how the parts work together to
complete the image? Now when you need to
specify a word in a sentence, you can define
its function by knowing its part of speech.
Youve won half the battle!
RULE #2 UNDERSTAND PARTS OF

SENTENCES
Sentences, too, have parts: subjects,
predicates, clauses and objects. These, too,
are related to functions:
The subject is the primary noun
segment of the sentence. It tells us
what is being discussed.
The predicate is the primary verb
segment. It tells us what the subject is
doing.
Objects are nouns other than the

subject which are acted upon by verbs
or prepositions. They tell us what is
being affected by the subject and verb.
Clauses are sentence fragments
included to expand the meaning of the
sentence. (Prepositional phrases are a
kind of short clause.) They tell us
something about the subject or verb
that is indirectly related to whats
happening in the sentence.
A sentence must have at least a subject and

predicate to be complete; objects and
clauses are additional levels of complexity.
Keeping our image in mind, here are
examples:
Subject Predicate
The red car moves.
Subject
Predicate with Object
The quick red car hits a huge

pothole.
Subject Predicate with

Prepositional Phrase
The red car moves quickly on the road.
Clause with Prepositional Phrase

Subject Predicate with Object and
Prepositional Phrase
Moving quickly on the road, the red car

hits a huge pothole by the curb.
Recognizing the parts of a sentence helps us

to identify common writing problems like
sentence fragments (a sentence is missing
either a subject or predicate) and run-on
sentences (a sentence with too many
subjects and predicates). When you want to
analyze a sentence, first break it down into
the subject and predicate, then look at other
elements (clauses and objects) to see if they
add or detract from the meaning. Remove
any parts that are superfluous or confusing

this is the key to clear writing.
RULE #3 I [IS NOT AN] OBJECT!

Lets analyze one sentence closely:
Subject
Predicate with Prepositional Phrase
Object
The red car
hits a huge pothole by the curb.
Pothole is the object of the verb: it is the

thing affected by the action. Objects of
verbs usually answer the question what?
as in The red car hit what? Objects of
prepositions work the same way. There
are two problems with objects. The first is
that not all nouns in the predicate are
objects. For instance, this sentence seems
to consist of a subject and predicate with an
object:
The red car is a fast vehicle.

After all, there are two nouns and a verb in

between just like our example above, right?
Also, vehicle answers the question
what? very nicely. So, whats the
problem? Latin is the problem. Heres the
grammatical [il]logic for why vehicle isnt
an object:
The Latin derivative verb to be

(is/was/has been/had been) acts like an
equal sign; it indicates that a secondary
noun is the same as the subject. Thus,
this noun is also a subject and not an
object. Other verbs, on the other hand,
involve the subject in an action. Thus the
secondary noun is being acted upon and
is an object.
Youre probably wondering why anyone but

Hamlet should care about this to be
dilemma. It becomes important because of
the second problem with objects: case. You
can also thank Latin for this one. In Latin,
you mark all nouns with a case. In English,
we have only preserved cases in pronouns.
Do these look familiar?
who/whom she/her
I/me
he/him we/us
they/them
The first of each pair is the subject

case. You use this whenever the
pronoun isnt an object.
The second of each pair isyou
guessed itthe object case. This is
used whenever the noun is the object of
a verb or of a preposition.
Heres how it works:
Subject Verb Object

He hit me
(not He hit Ime is the object of a verb)
Subject Verb Preposition Object

The car drove over her
(not over sheher is the object of a
preposition)
Youve been doing this without even

knowing you were doing it, right? What
messes everyone up is to be. Perhaps

youve heard someone answer the phone
with this sentence:
This is she
Seems wrong, doesnt it? You want to say

this is her. But, her is the object form
and to be doesnt take an object. Thus
she must be in the subject form. See?
This rule is why you should never say:
Whom is it? or It is whom?

(WRONG!)
Yet, it is correct to say:
You ran over whom in your car? and

To whom did you report it?
Whom is an object in both these cases.
Short Cut
To see if whom is correct, try
replacing it with him. If youd
say he in the sentence, its who.
If him is correct, its whom.
Dont forget the to be dilemma

when deciding which sounds right.
RULE #4 USE COMBINATION PRONOUNS

CORRECTLY
A quick word about those pesky combined
pronounsyou know the ones:
He and I vs. Him and Me

They and We vs. Them and Us
These are actually very simple, if you

understand objects and object case (which
you now do, right?). Combined pronouns
follow two hard and fast rules:
1. I/We/Me/Us ALWAYS comes second.

(Its an ego thing. After all, ego is a
Latin word.)
2. Combined pronouns are both in subject

case if they arent objects. Otherwise,
they are both in object case. They are
NEVER in different cases (i.e., he and
me, him and I or they and us are all
WRONG).
These routinely cause speakers and writers

trouble because we dont think in these
grammatical terms (we always think of
ourselves FIRST!). Once youve learned to
identify whats an object and whats a
subject, its easy!
Short Cut
The tried-and-true way to see if
your combined pronouns are
correct is to drop one and see if
the sentence makes sense. So:
He and I spent all day in the sun.

Hespent all day in the
sun. (CORRECT!)
She told he and I about the book.

She told
he or She told Iabout the book.
(WRONG!)
Remember, too, not to put

yourself first when combining
pronouns: him and me not me

and him.
RULE # 5 FORCE YOUR SUBJECTS AND

VERBS TO AGREE
When you hear verb subject agreement it
means that the verb form in a sentence
matches its subject form. Luckily for us,
there are only two forms that verbs and
subjects can take: singular and plural. To
match, singular subjects have singular verbs
and plural subjects have plural verbs. You
do this unconsciously all the time:
He goes to the store.

They go to the store.
Millions watch his show.
I learn many things from
books.
You and I (not me, mind you) get into trouble

in complex sentences where the verb and
subject arent right next to each other or
where there is more than one subject (called
a compound subject). For example:
Subject
Verb
Cicely, who works with young kids,
carpools 30 miles each day.
Subject
Verb
A doctor and two lawyers from UW
argue about politics the whole way.
For compound subjects (like the one above),

you have to do some detective work before
you can determine whether you use the
singular or plural form of the verb. The clue
youre looking for is the conjunction.
And makes ALL compound subjects plural,
even if they are made up of singular nouns.
Thus:
A butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker

go merrily, merrily along.
Mechanics and a welder begin their strike
Wednesday at noon.
Should or/nor be the conjunction, things

get a little trickier. With these the
compound subject is singular if it is made up

of all singular nouns. It is plural if at least
one noun is plural. For instance:
singular singular singular

A butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker
makes the girls cry.
plural singular
Neither the mechanics nor the welder ever
leave a tip for the waitress.
Short Cut
As with the combined pronoun
rule, the tried-and-true test for
verb subject agreement is to drop
all but one of the nouns and see if
each fits. When you have or and
at least one plural, though, the
singular nouns will sound wrong.
Think of it as the plural noun(s)
carrying the most weight. Thus,
the verb is plural for all of the
subjects.
RULE #6 WHILE YOURE AT IT, GET YOUR

NOUNS AND PRONOUNS TO AGREE, TOO!
If you thought it was tough to get verbs and
subjects to match, youll really have fun
getting nouns to stay on the same
wavelength. The rules are the same as
those for verbs. That is, singular gets
singular and plural gets plural. Compound
nouns that use and are always plural;
those with or/nor are singular if each noun
is singular, plural if at least one is plural.
This is old hat to you, right? So:
plural
He entertained his friends from work in the
study while she ignored them in the kitchen.
singular singular
The Board of Directors and the CEO met
yesterday. We think they will announce a
stock split today.
plural singular
The neighbors or a burglar are sneaking
around outside. Should we attack them?
singular & singular

(leads to two separate pronouns)
She submitted a proposal to John for a new
office. Today, she learned that he approved
it.
Pronoun problems often happen for the

same reason that other agreement
problems dothe sentence is complex. Yet,
pronouns suffer from a modern problem,
too. (Latin isnt to blame!) When we
became aware of gender issues in the
1970s, using he to describe anyone we
didnt specify became insensitive (e.g., I
saw someone moving around in the back of
the store. He was probably looking for
something. POLITICALLY INCORRECT) To
avoid using he we often cheat and use
they thinking that we are being neutral.
This is a nice theory, but its bad grammar.
As obnoxious as it is, we must use he or
she to describe this person. So:
A student who has first lunch eats first. His

or her fourth period comes afterwards.
Although it probably seems illogical, the

terms each, everyone and every along
with any and someone should be
singular, while all is plural. Thus:
Everyone who has first lunch eats first. His

or her fourth period comes afterwards.
(CORRECT!)
All students who have first lunch eat first.
Their fourth period comes afterwards.
(CORRECT!)
Each student must turn in a notebook. If

they dont, they will fail. (WRONG!)
Each student must turn in a notebook. If he
or she does not, he or she will fail.
(CORRECT!)
Someones been sitting in my chair, and

theyd better watch out! (WRONG!)
Someones been sitting in my chair, and he
or she had better watch out! (CORRECT!)
Every student was assigned a mentor. It is

his or her job to set up meetings.
(CORRECT!)
Every student was assigned a mentor. It is

their job to set up meetings. (WRONG!)
To avoid mistakes, train yourself to use all

when you are thinking about a group and
every any or each when you are
thinking about individuals (every one, any
one and each one). Then the verbs and
pronouns will coincide with your mental
picture, and the correct grammar will follow.
RULE #7 CAPITALIZE CAREFULLY

This rule is easy (especially after the
nuances of verb subject and noun
pronoun agreement!). In normal writing
you only capitalize proper nounsformal
names of people, places and things:
Linus Torvalds, inventor of Linux, is a Finn

who used to work for the largest company in
EuropeNokia.
Titles are capitalized only when they stand

in for the name of the specific person or
thing. For instance:
The President landed at the airport.

(President stands in for Bill
Clinton)
Words like airport, hospital, school, mall and

store arent capitalized because they are
used in a general sense. When we want our
reader to know the specific airport, hospital,
school, mall or store, we must cite its actual
name:
The President landed at Boeing Field then

stopped by Nordstroms in the mall.
Capitalization is important in citations

(entire manuals are dedicated to these
check out the MLA handbook for humanities
and the APA manual for sciences).
Capitalization also highlights titles, subtitles
and labels in texts. For these uses, you are
free to choose whatever style you like,
provided you are consistent and clear
throughout the text.
There is one important caveat for

capitalization. Capitalizing words in regular
text for emphasis isnt good style, its bad

grammar. If youd like to show inflection by
marking a particular word (as in the
previous sentence), use italics, underlining,
bold orif the word(s) carries the utmost
importanceuse all capital letters (referred
to as ALL CAPS). If you simply capitalize
the first letter of a word, you give the reader
the impression that it is a title or formal
name, which can be very confusing.
Compare:
I want every student to know

These Rules. (WRONG!)
I want every student to know these

rules. (CORRECT!)
I want every student to know these
rules. (CORRECT!)
these rules. (CORRECT!)
THESE RULES. (CORRECT!)

THESE RULES. (OVERKILL!)
RULE #8 PUNCTUATE FOR MEANING

We all know that a period ends a sentence.
What about the other punctuation marks: ;
- -- () and : ? Heres how they work:
Semicolons connect short sentences;

they do it easily.
Hyphens connect easy-to-

misunderstand word phrases. They
also join two seg-
ments of a typeset word that is
broken up because of space.
If you come across a dashand you

read what it saysyou learn
relevant information about the main
sentence.
A sentence that includes

parentheses (like this) adds an idea
that isnt necessary for
understanding.
Colons point to a number of things:

a list of items, a response to the
main sentence or other information
directly responsive to the main
sentence.
Entire books are written on the comma. In

this guide, well narrow things down to only
5 rules.
1. Commas separate words or phrases in a

series of at least 3. Two styles are
acceptable for their use:
a comma before the conjunction (1,
2, and 3) and
no comma before the conjunction (1,
2 and 3).
Commas NEVER follow the conjunction in a

series (1, 2, and, 3WRONG!). You should
choose your style and keep consistent within
a text. Examples are:
Butchers, bakers and candlestick makers

are funny.
Going to the beach, getting a tan, and

soaking up the sea air are my goals.
2. Commas are used in dates that have at

least 3 elements; they also follow dates
with at least 3 elements. (See a pattern
here?) So:
I was born January 5, 1963, in a town called

Hope.
I was born in January 1963 in a town called
Hope.
3. Commas succeed introductions and

precede extensions to a sentence. As
in:
However, its hard to say whos right.

Youre lying, arent you?
4. A commas should not separate:

a subject and its predicate
a verb and its object
a preposition and its object
However, you will find commas that come

between these. To be correct, these must
separate elements in a series or set off an
entire clause. For instance:
Subject
Predicate
Going to the beach, getting a tan, and

soaking up the sea air are my goals.
Verb Objects of the Verb

I called two stores, a warehouse
and a salon to find the shampoo I
wanted.
Preposition Objects of the

Preposition
She went to Michigan,
Illinois, and Minnesota.
Subject Clause
Predicate
The woman, a stunning blonde,

walked right up to the police chief.
In general, to use commas correctly you

must forget the old rule that commas go
wherever you pause. Instead, use them to
separate words and phrases so that the
sentence makes more sense. If you follow
the rules above and youre still not sure
where your commas go, decide if your
sentence is too complex. Its better to break
it up than to rely on punctuation to make it
clear.
RULE #9 STOP APOSTROPHE ANARCHY

The apostrophe [ ]serves two functions:
it marks contractions (dont, cant,
wont, didnt, etc.) and
added with an s it identifies
possession.
Possession is how we refer to the

relationship between two nouns, one of
which belongs to (possesses) the other.
The owner-noun is possessive. Examples
are:
Nobodys fault (the fault belongs to no one)

New Years Eve (the eve of the new year)

a dogs bite (the bite of a dog)
Apostrophes NEVER come before s to

make a noun plural, and they NEVER occur
with a verb. Thus:
An onions smell is strong.

Onions in the sun smell strongest.
If you smell onions, you cry and your nose
runs.
Youve probably come across words that end

with an apostrophe. These are possessive
nouns whose last letter is s or z (like
physics, ethics, Charles and Liz) or are
nouns that are both plural (with the s on
the end) and possessive (with an
apostrophe). For example:
Physics heroes are not well known. (the

heroes of physics)
Liz bookbag is still here. (the bookbag
belongs to Liz)
Students parents are welcome to attend.
(the parents of students)
It is also acceptable to show possession for

nouns ending in s or z with the usual s
added on:
Physicss heroes are not well known. (the

heroes of physics)
Studentss parents are welcome to attend.
(the parents of students)
As with all options for rules, you should

choose one of the two styles and be
consistent in your text.
Short Cut
To determine whether something
is possessive or not, try a reverse
question. Take the word that
follows it and say whose is it?
The answer word is possessive,
and it should get an apostrophe.
For example:
Students parents are welcome to

attend.
Whose parents are welcome to

attend? The students parents
are.
Onions in the sun smell strongest.

In doesnt belong to anyone, so
onions isnt possessive.
Walla Wallas are the countrys

favorite onion.
Whose favorite onion are Walla
Wallas? The countrys.
Having said all that, let me explain the one

exception to the apostrophe rules: the word
it. Someone somewhere decided that
its couldnt represent both it is and
possessive it. So he or she decided that its
would be the possessive form. Instead of
clearing up confusion, this exception causes
it. These days its rare to see its or its
used correctly. Heres the right way:
Look, its a black labrador retriever! (it is a

black lab)
I think its name is Barney. (the name of it is

Barney)
Short Cut
To check your its/its form, replace
it with it is. If the sentence
makes sense, write its. If the
sentence doesnt, write its.
Also, its answers the question
whose is it? above.
RULE #10 DONT TRUST YOUR

SPELLCHECKER
They didnt teach this rule back in grammar
school (at least my generation). It is well
known that spellcheckers dont catch
everything (their/there, for instance, or
to/too/two). Unfortunately, when it comes to
grammar, spellcheckers often correct
what isnt wrong. This is almost always the
case with possessives. Rarely does a
spellchecker recognize that one of its words
with an s added is spelled correctly.
Instead, it might suggest that you use the
plural form (with just an s, no apostrophe).
Dont be fooled into un-correcting your

possessives. Simply double check the
spelling of the regular word (there are
things called dictionaries that can help you
do this) and triple check that youre using
the possessive correctly. Finally, rest
assured that you are smarter than your
computerat least for a while.
Besides possessives, two other apostrophe

constructions often confuse computers (and
writers, too!). They are:
your/youre and whos/whose
Your means belonging to you. It is

the possessive form of you.
Youre is a contraction for you are.
So:
Youre a mean one, Mr. Grinch. (You are a

mean one)
Your heart is made of coal. (the heart
belonging to you)
Whose means belonging to the

person mentioned before as in:
The Grinch, whose heart was made of steel,

stole Christmas. (the heart of the Grinch)
Whos is a contraction for who is as

in:
Whos that masked man? (who is he?)
Short Cut
Like its youre and whos
can be replaced with the full form,
you are and who is,
respectively. If the full form
doesnt make sense in the
sentence, the correct spelling is
your or whose. Andyou
probably guessed this was coming
your answers the question
whose is it? and whose is the
very question that proves
possession in the first place.
Conclusion
Ouch!you are now inoculated against bad

grammar. You understand why things are
right when theyre right and wrong when
theyre wrong. You can address your
administrators, write letters to your
students parents and even correct your
students grammar mistakes without
trepidation. Before you ride off into the
grammatical sunset, though, you should
know three things:
1. All writers make mistakesdumb ones!--all

the time. Good writers are good editors;
they reread and double check everything
(and still miss some). Dont expect that
having learned the rules, you will
automatically write correctly. Its more
practical to assume that now that you
know the rules, youll catch yourself
making mistakes more often. Consider
yourself a success every time you do.
2. This guide doesnt cover everything. In

order to beat the grammar bug for good,
keep a writing manual by your side at all
times. Strunk and White, St. Martins and
a score of other works systematically

present more complex and obscure rules
that you will occasionally run into (like not
ending a sentence with a preposition, for
instance). I like to think of these books as
protection. Practice safe text.
3. If the axiom that you learn only 10% of

what youre taught but 90% of what you
teach holds true, the best way to learn
good grammar is to teach it. Go for it!
Self Test
Rule # 1mark the parts of speech for each

word in this sentence:
Renaissance instruments play on a different

scale.
Rule # 2identify the subject, predicate,

objects and clauses in this sentence:
Without being told, we knew the answer on

her mind.
Rule # 3fill in the correct pronoun who

or whom in the sentence below:
I wasnt sure that Izzy ________ I called the

night before would come.
Rule # 4fill in the correct pronouns he

and I or him and me in this sentence:
Frankie and Johnny is a song written about

________________.
Rule # 5fill the verb form think or

thinks to match its subject in the sentence
below:
Students, who are a tough audience,

_______________ all lessons are boring.
Rule # 6fill in the pronoun their or his

or her to match its subject in the sentence
below:
Any parent who wants to meet _____________

childs teachers should attend Open House.
Rule # 7capitalize the correct words in

this sentence:
Does the constitution insure every american

the right to life, liberty and the pursuit of
happiness?
Rule # 8add the correct () -- - ; or : to

the sentence below:
The best movie this year at least for me was

Casablanca I saw it for the first time on
video last week.
add the correct commas to the

sentence below:
In the end my mother her sister her sisters

boyfriend and I stayed friends or did we?
Rule # 9choose the correct word your or

youre for the blanks in this sentence:
Im told that ____________ the smartest kid in

class, and _____________ work is outstanding.
Rule # 10choose the correct word its or

its for the blanks in this sentence:
Leaving aside ________ obvious problems,

_______ a good place to start looking.
Turn the page for the answers!!

Self Test Answers
adjective noun verb

prepositional phrase
1. Renaissance instruments play on a
different scale.
Clause subject
predicate with object and prepositional
phrase
2. Without being told, we knew the
answer on her mind.
3. I wasnt sure that Izzy whom I called the

night before would come.
4. Frankie and Johnny is a song written

about him and me.
5. Students, who are a tough audience,

think all lessons are boring.
6. Any parent who wants to meet his or

her childs teachers should attend Open
House.
7. Does the Constitution insure every

American the right to life, liberty and the
pursuit of happiness?
8. The best movie this year (at least for me)

was Casablanca; I saw it for the first time on
video last week.
In the end, my mother, her sister, her

sisters boyfriend, (this comma optional) and
I stayed friends, or
did we?
9. Im told that youre the smartest kid in

class, and your work is outstanding.
10. Leaving aside its obvious problems, its

a good place to start looking.

Grammar Rules Every Teacher Should Know

Загружено:

Сведения о документе

Авторское право

Доступные форматы

Поделиться этим документом

Поделиться или встроить документ

Параметры публикации

Этот документ был вам полезен?

Это неприемлемый материал?

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

Grammar Rules Every Teacher Should Know

Загружено:

Авторское право:

Доступные форматы

10 Grammar Rules

Every Teacher Should Know

This guide is not protected by copyright. It

For teachers, though, grammars threat is

illiterate and unqualified to teach

This guide is designed to be a booster shot

RULE #1 KNOW THE PARTS OF SPEECH

phrase, consisting of a preposition

Add conjunctions (connecting words like

RULE #2 UNDERSTAND PARTS OF

Objects are nouns other than the

A sentence must have at least a subject and

The red car moves.

The quick red car hits a huge

Subject Predicate with

The red car moves quickly on the road.

Clause with Prepositional Phrase

Moving quickly on the road, the red car

Recognizing the parts of a sentence helps us

any parts that are superfluous or confusing

RULE #3 I [IS NOT AN] OBJECT!

Pothole is the object of the verb: it is the

The red car is a fast vehicle.

After all, there are two nouns and a verb in

The Latin derivative verb to be

Youre probably wondering why anyone but

The first of each pair is the subject

Heres how it works:

Subject Verb Object

Subject Verb Preposition Object

Youve been doing this without even

messes everyone up is to be. Perhaps

Seems wrong, doesnt it? You want to say

Whom is it? or It is whom?

You ran over whom in your car? and

Whom is an object in both these cases.

Dont forget the to be dilemma

RULE #4 USE COMBINATION PRONOUNS

He and I vs. Him and Me

These are actually very simple, if you

1. I/We/Me/Us ALWAYS comes second.

2. Combined pronouns are both in subject

These routinely cause speakers and writers

He and I spent all day in the sun.

She told he and I about the book.

Remember, too, not to put

pronouns: him and me not me

RULE # 5 FORCE YOUR SUBJECTS AND

He goes to the store.

You and I (not me, mind you) get into trouble

For compound subjects (like the one above),

A butcher, a baker and a candlestick maker

Should or/nor be the conjunction, things

compound subject is singular if it is made up

singular singular singular

RULE #6 WHILE YOURE AT IT, GET YOUR

singular & singular

Pronoun problems often happen for the

A student who has first lunch eats first. His

Although it probably seems illogical, the

Everyone who has first lunch eats first. His

Each student must turn in a notebook. If

Someones been sitting in my chair, and

Every student was assigned a mentor. It is