Pronouns are words we use in the place of a full noun.

We have both subject and object pronouns:

SubjectObject
I me
you you
he him
she her
it it
we us
you you
they them

We use he/him to refer to men, and she/her to refer to women. When we are not sure
if we are talking about a man or a woman we use they/them.
This is Jack. Hes my brother. I dont think you have met him.
This is Angela. Shes my sister. Have you met her before?
Talk to a friend. Ask them to help you.
You could go to a doctor. They might help you.
Subject pronouns
We use subject pronouns as subject of the verb:
I like your dress.
You are late.
He is my friend
It is raining
She is on holiday
We live in England.
They come from London.

Warning
Remember: English clauses always have a subject:
His father has just retired. Was a teacher. > He was a teacher.
Im waiting for my wife. Is late. > She is late.
If there is no other subject we use it or there. We call this a dummy subject.

Object pronouns
We use object pronouns:
as the object of the verb:
Can you help me please?
I can see you.
She doesnt like him.
I saw her in town today.
We saw them in town yesterday, but they didnt see us.
after prepositions:
She is waiting for me.
Ill get it for you.
Give it to him.
Why are you looking at her?
Dont take it from us.
Ill speak to them.
 You and I vs You and Me
Subjective and Objective Pronouns

English is full of confusing words and phrases. The phrases "you and I" and "you and me" are
confusing for many English learners. Fortunately, there is an easy way to know which one to
use. In this lesson, you will learn the differences between the pronouns I and Me. You will
also learn how to use them correctly in speaking and writing.

Read these two sentences:

You and I should prepare dinner.

You and me should prepare dinner.

Which one is correct?

You and I vs You and Me is confusing for English learners. Even some native speakers have
difficulties with this!

In this lesson, you will learn the differences between the English pronouns I and Me. You will
also learn a trick to help you use them correctly in sentences.

English pronouns
You, Me, and I are all English pronouns. A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun.

There are several different types of pronouns. You, Me, and I are all personal
pronouns because they all represent people.
There are two kinds of personal pronouns in English: subjective and objective.

Subjective pronouns
Subjective pronouns are pronouns that are used as the subject of a sentence.
I is a subjective pronoun.

Examples:
I play the guitar.
I can sing.
I am happy.
I am a teacher.
I love English.

Objective pronouns
Objective pronouns are pronouns that are used as the object of a sentence.
Me is an objective pronoun.

Examples:
Nick called me.
She gave the book to me.
The teacher asked me a question.
The book belongs to me.
Give it to me.
The pronoun "you"
The pronoun you can be a subjective pronoun or an objective pronoun.

Examples:

Subjective
You are smart.
You have a good teacher.
You are my friend.
You speak good English!

Objective
I like you.
Mary needs you.
She gave the book to you.
They called you last night.

Let's review:

I is always the subject of a sentence and Me is always the object of a sentence.

Correct:
I love you.
You love me.
I am happy.
You are happy for me.

Incorrect:
Me love you.
You love I.
Me is happy.
You are happy for I.

So, how do you choose between I and Me in a sentence?

Read these two sentences:

You and I should prepare dinner.

Or

You and me should prepare dinner.

Here is some good news: There is an easy way to choose!

Say the sentences without the word you.
I should prepare dinner.

Me should prepare dinner.

Which one sounds correct?

The first sentence is correct.

I should prepare dinner.

 You and I should prepare dinner.
Lets try another example:
He gave the book to you and I.

Or

He gave the book to you and me.

Say the sentences without the word you.
He gave the book to I.

He gave the book to me.

Which one sounds correct?

The second sentence is correct.

He gave the book to me.

He gave the book to you and me.

In these types of sentences, always place you before me or I. It is respectful to

say you before me or I.

Incorrect:
He gave the book to me and you.
I and you should prepare dinner.

Correct:
He gave the book to you and me.
You and I should prepare dinner.
possessives: nouns
We use a noun with s with a singular noun to show possession:

We are having a party at Johns house.

Michael drove his friends car.

We use s with a plural noun ending in -s:

This is my parents house.

Those are ladies shoes.

But we use s with other plural nouns:

These are mens shoes.

Childrens clothes are very expensive.

We can use a possessive instead of a noun phrase to avoid repeating words:

Is that Johns car? No, its Marys [car]. > No, its Marys.

Whose coat is this? Its my wifes [coat]. > Its my wifes.

A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun.

For example:

Let's consider this sentence:

Tom has the red ball.

We could replace Tom with He, which is a pronoun.

He has the red ball.

Here's another example:

Joe and Karen like cats.

We could replace Joe and Karen with they, which is a pronoun.

They like cats.

Possessive Pronouns
Possessive pronouns show ownership. They tell the reader that something belongs to
somebody or something.

These are the possessive pronouns and the subjects they represent:

Subject Possessive Pronoun

I Mine

You (singular) Yours

He His

She Hers

It Its

We Ours

You (plural) Yours

They Theirs
Who Whose

1. Mine
The possessive pronoun mine shows ownership of the subject I.

Examples:

The blond boy is mine.

(I am the blond boy's mother.)

The dog you found is mine.

(I own that dog.)

The blue toothbrush is mine.

(I own the blue toothbrush.)

2. Yours (singular and plural)

The possessive pronoun yours shows ownership of the subject you.

The subject you can represent a singular or plural subject.

Singular Examples:

The pink toothbrush is yours.

(You own the pink toothbrush.)

Nick, I think that dog is yours.

(Nick, you own the dog.)

The blue present is yours.

(You get the blue present.)

Plural Examples:

Tom and Sandy, is this house yours?

(Do you both own the house?)

These presents are yours.

(The presents belong to all of you.)

 These band uniforms are yours this year.

(The uniforms belong to the band members.)

3. His
The possessive pronoun his shows ownership of the subject he.

Examples:

The old car is his.

(He owns the old car.)

The book is his.

(He owns the book.)

I think that bike is his.

(He owns the bike.)

4. Hers
The possessive pronoun hers shows ownership of the subject she.

Examples:

The children are hers.

(She is the mother of the children.)

The blue house is hers.

(She owns the blue house.)

The coat I found is hers.

(She owns the coat.)

5. Its
The possessive pronoun its shows ownership of the subject it.

Examples:

The blue doghouse is its.

(The blue doghouse belongs to it.)

Its is the green one.

(The green one belongs to it.)

 Those game pieces are its.

(The pieces belong with the game.)

These examples may sound strange, but they are grammatically correct.

In American English, it is more common to use the possessive adjectiveform of its, which
is explained at the end of this lesson.

A possessive adjective always comes before a noun.

For Example:

We could say,

"Its doghouse is blue."

or

"Those are its game pieces."

Special note about its vs. it's:

Its and it's are not the same word.

Its = ownership

It's = a contraction meaning it is.

Incorrect:

The bird is in it's nest.

(The bird is in it is nest).

Correct:

The bird is in its nest.

Incorrect:

I think its nine o'clock.

Correct:

I think it's nine o'clock.

 (I think it is nine o'clock.)

6. Ours
The possessive pronoun ours shows ownership of the subject we.

Examples:

The swimming pool is ours.

(We own the swimming pool.)

Those horses in the barn are ours.

(We own the horses in the barn.)

Ours is the green car.

(We own the green car.)

7. Theirs
The possessive pronoun theirs shows ownership of the subject they.

Examples:

The three bikes are theirs.

(They own the bikes.)

The sleeping bags are theirs.

(They own the sleeping bags.)

Those children are theirs.

(They are the parents of the children.)

Possessive Adjectives
Don't confuse possessive pronouns with possessive adjectives.

Possessive adjectives show ownership, but they always come before a noun. They modify
the noun.

The possessive adjectives are:

 my
your (singular and plural)
his
her
its
our
their

Examples:

possessive adjective + noun

My house is green.

(The green house belongs to me. or I own the green house.)

Is that your dog?

(The dog belongs to you.)

That is his bicycle.

(He owns the bicycle.)

Her mom is tall.

(The girl's mom is tall.)

The horse broke its leg.

(The horse has a broken leg.)

Do you want to come over to our house?

(The house belongs to us.)

Their car broke down.

(The car that broke down belongs to them.)

I wonder whose bike is parked there?

(The bike belongs to someone.)

Exercise A: Possessive Nouns

Choose the correct form of the possessive noun to complete each sentence.

1. __________ alarm clock sounded very early this morning.

a) Geralds
b) Geralds'
c) Gerald's
2.___________ are very basic.

a) The caveman's tools

b) The tools of the caveman
c) The cavemans' tools

3.The ____________ coffee is very hot.

a) mens'
b) mens
c) men's

4.___________ will be very interesting.

a) Quinns' movie
b) Quinn's movie
c) The movie of Quinn

5.__________ dog is his best friend.

a) Lionels
b) Lionels'
c) Lionel's

6.__________ are getting very complicated!

a) The projects of Milton

b) Miltons' projects
c) Milton's projects

7.Bobby will have to send thank you cards to all of his __________ addresses.

a) friends'
b) friend's
c) friends

8.Something is definitely wrong with __________!

a) Ellens blender
b) the blender of Ellen
c) Ellen's blender

9.___________ called to say that they are her best students!

a) The teacher of the children

b) The children's teacher
c) The childrens' teacher
10.___________ is injured.

a) Beatrice's leg
b) Beatrices' leg
c) The leg of Beatrice

Exercise B: Possessive Adjectives and

Possessive Pronouns
Match the sentences below with the sentences in each exercise so that they make
sense together to describe the pictures.

a) His are much more colorful than mine.

b) His newspaper only had bad news in it.
c) Ours is a nice, dry, comfortable living room!
d) What time does yours begin?
e) Hers is a big snake!
f) Mine is in February.
g) Yours dry them and put them away.
h) Ours is not as hard as his.
i) Is your mother as crazy as mine?
j) What is yours?

1.Eric is not happy this morning. ___________

2.Jeff's puzzle looks very difficult! ___________

3.Nora's birthday is in October. __________

4.Jerry and Emily like to plant trees. That is their hobby. ___________

5.Harold has a lovely collection of ties. __________

6.The pig's favorite place is the muddy ground. ___________

7.I have a cat. That is a normal kind of pet. Have you heard about Jane's
pet? ____________

8.My job is to wash the dishes. ___________

9.My mother sometimes has parties for no reason at all! __________

10.Philip's class begins in two minutes. ____________

Exercise C: Mixed Possessives
The sentences below have mistakes in their possessive forms. Underline the mistakes
and correct them in the space below.

1.Grandma's muffins are much more delicious than mines.

___________________________________________

2.My wifes' name is Ellen. Her hair is red.

___________________________________________

3.My father is taller than your's, right?

___________________________________________

4.I have two sons, Eric and Jordan. Its bikes are brand new.

___________________________________________

5.Do you want to hear mine good news?

___________________________________________

6.Do you want Janets' cookies or Brenda's cake for dessert?

___________________________________________

7.Children and adults are very different. Naturally, adults' dreams are different from
childrens' dreams.

___________________________________________

8.Both of my daughter's toys are on the floor!

___________________________________________

9.Dan's favorite holiday is Christmas. Our's is Thanksgiving.

___________________________________________

10.My students grades are all very good this semester.

___________________________________________