• PRONOUNS

Which is which?
“Ours, yours or mine? It's its.”
     Case refers to the form a word takes and its function in a sentence.  The English language has just three
cases: subjective, possessive and objective. 

    Most nouns, many indefinite pronouns and “it” and“you” have distinctive forms only for the possessive
case.  For most nouns and indefinite pronouns, that form usually is indicated by an apostrophe: John's coat;
states' powers; someone's house; another's task.  For “it.” the possessive is formed by adding “s”; for “you”
the possessive is formed by adding “r” or “rs” to the word. 

    (Never use an apostrophe to form a possessive for it, you or the personal pronouns noted below.) 

    Six personal pronouns have a distinctive form for each of the three cases: 

Subjective
    “I,” “we,” “he,” “she,”“who” and “they” are the forms used for subjects and subject complements. 

Examples:
    Subjects — He and I were great friends.  We grew uptogether.  They lived next door. Who teaches that
course? 
    Complements of the subject — The ones responsible are Joe and she.  It is I. Joe Smith, that's who. 

Possessive
    “My/mine,” “our/ours,” “his,” “her/hers,” “their/theirs and “whose” are the formsused to show
ownership. 

Examples:
    Before noun — My car broke down.  Our boat leaks.His dog is ugly.  Her back is wet. Their name is
Mudd. Whose job is that? 

    Possessors in the noun position — Mine is green.  Ours is over there.His looks heavy.  Hers was last
inline.  Theirs sank yesterday.Whosewill be chosen? 

      Objective

    “Me,” “us,” “him,” “her,” “them” and “whom” are the forms reserved for use as objectsof verbs or
prepositions. 

Examples:
    Sue likes me. Elaine drove to the airport to meet us. For him this is no problem.  Sam wanted her to
 leave. Jim was introduced to them. Finding whom I was looking for, I returned to my favorite pastime. 

Updated Aug. 12, 1009  

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 Try These 6 Activities for Making Little Words Work Big

1. 1

Pronoun Dice

This is a fun activity that gives students practice using subject and object
pronouns. You will need two dice (either two different colors or one marked with a
red dot on all six sides) for each pair of students to play as well as a “roll guide” you
make prior to the activity. On your guide, list the numbers one through six. Assign
each number a person such as 1. You 2. Your partner 3. Mary or Steve 4. Steve’s
computer 5. You and your partner 6. Mary and Steve. Underneath your list, write
this: On the red die, odd numbers are subject pronouns and even numbers are
object pronouns. When it’s time for the activity, ask one player to roll both dice. The
number they roll on the white die corresponds to the person/people/thing they must
make a sentence about using an appropriate pronoun. The number on the red die
determines whether that person/people/thing will be replaced by a subject pronoun
or an object pronoun in the sentence. So if a person rolled a white 1 and a red 4,
they would need to make a sentence using an object pronoun referring to
themselves such as the following: My uncle loaned mehis car. Students take turns
rolling the dice and making sentences until time runs out.

2. 2

Agreeing to Disagree

When it’s time to practice using indefinite pronouns (anyone, everyone, no

one, everybody, etc.) try this fun partner activity. One person makes a sentence
using an indefinite pronoun, but that sentence should be false. A student might say
 something like the following: Everyone has red hair. Their partner must then make
a true statement using that indefinite pronoun or another one. A partner may say
something like this: Not everyone has red hair or Some people have red hair.
Students take turns coming up with their own sentences and correcting the wrong
sentences their partner makes.

3. 3

Loves and Hates

Another fun activity for practicing subject and object pronouns gets students

talking about what they love and hate. Put students in pairs and write the
following categories on your board: movie, song, food, place, book, type of music,
animal, television show, type of drink, and type of communication. Have each
student work independently and write down at least one item for each category.
They should write down something they either love or hate. Students can list
multiple items for each category and should try to list at least one thing they love
and one they hate for each category. Then have students work with their partner.
One person asks their partner’s opinion about something on their partner’s list such
as, “How do you feel about country music?” The other person must then answer the
question using a pronoun. “I hate it. It’s awful.” Students take turns asking about the
items on their partner’s list and answering their partner’s questions.

4. 4

What You See Is What You Get

Your classroom is rife with nouns just waiting to be talked about.Have your
students work with one or two others for this conversation activity. One person
walks to a noun in your classroom. It can be anything including other students. That
person then shares two sentences with his group, one using the name of the noun
and another using a pronoun. For example, “Our classroom clock is five minutes
slow. Someone should fix it.” Student take turns leading their group around the
classroom and making sentences about those objects. If you like, have students
write their sentences down and collect their papers. Then type them out with the
 nouns replaced with blanks. Give the sheet to your students and see if they can fill
in the blanks with the actual items in the classroom based on the sentences and the
pronouns used.

5. 5

Pronoun Memory

In this fun activity, students make their own matching game for practicing
pronouns. To start, give every student twelve blank index cards (avoid cards that
have lines on one side or make your own by cutting up white cardstock). On one
card, the student should write a sentence with any proper noun underlined. On a
second card, the student should write the pronoun that could replace that noun in
the sentences. For example, two cards might read as follows: I want to color my
hair purple; it. Student continue writing sentences and pronouns until they have six
sets. Then put each person with a partner and have them shuffle all of their twenty-
four cards together and lay them out on a desk in grid form. Students take turns
turning over two cards at a time looking for a pronoun that can replace a noun in the
sentence. If they find a match, they read the sentence using the pronoun, keep the
pair of cards, and take another turn. If they are wrong, they turn the two cards back
over and the next person takes a turn. Play until all of the cards have been
matched. Whoever has the most pairs at the end of the game wins.

6. 6

Classroom Connections

This is a fun and engaging activity that gives students practice with gender
pronouns. Have students take turns making a statement about someone in class
but using a pronoun instead of their name. For example, students might say things
like this: He has on red sneakers. I sit behind her. They went on a date last week. I
saw a movie with her. After each sentence, other class members try to guess who
the speaker is talking about. If they guess right, they earn two points and get to
make the next sentence. Encourage students to use as many different pronouns as
they can. Also, if anyone can stump the entire class, give them five bonus
 points toward their score. At the end of the activity, tally up the points and see who
the winner is.
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The cases of pronouns tell you how they are being used in a sentence.

Subject Object Possessive

I we me us my, mine our, ours

you you you you your, yours your, yours

he, she, the him, her, it them his, her, hers, its their, theirs
it y

Definition: A subject pronoun (also called a nominative pronoun) is used as the subjectof a sentence or as

a subject complement following a linking verb. (The subject of a sentence is the person doing the action in a
sentence. A subject complement is a word that renames or gives more information about the subject. A linking
verb, such as is or seems, connects the subject to the subject complement.)
Hint:
Subject Pronoun as the Subject of a Sentence
A subject pronoun that acts as the subject of a sentence will make sense in the following test
sentence:  bit the monster. The subject pronoun will tell us who is doing the biting.

I  bit the monster. He  bit the It bit the They bit the
You bit the monster. monster. monster.
monster. She bit the We bit the
monster. monster.

Hint: Subject Pronoun as a Subject Complement (Renaming the Subject)

Subject pronouns that are used as subject complements to tell us more information about the subject will
fit in this test sentence: The superhero was . In this test sentence, superhero is the subject, and the subject
pronoun tells us who the superhero is.

The superhero The superhero The superhero was it. The superheroes

was  I. was he. The superheroes were they.
The superhero The superhero were we.
was  you. was she.

(Note that when a subject pronoun is followed by a linking verb, you can say the sentence backwards and
it will still make sense: The superhero was I  ⇒ I was the superhero.)
 Note: In informal speech, it is now acceptable to say things like "It's me" instead of "It is I," even though
it is not technically grammatically correct.
Definition: An object pronoun (also called an objective pronoun) is used as a direct object, an indirect object, or
the object of a preposition. Below are some examples of these concepts. To learn more, follow the links.
Direct object: Brandon sent it. (What did Brandon send? He sent it.)
Indirect object: Brandon sent her the package. (Who was the package for? Her.)
Object of a preposition: Brandon sent the package to her. (Her is the object of the preposition to.)
Hint:
Object pronouns will fit in this test sentence: The monster bit . The object pronoun in this sentence tells
us who was bitten by the monster.
The monster The monster The monster The monster
bit  me. bit him. bit it. bit them.
The monster The monster The monster
bit  you. bit her. bit us.

Notice how it doesn't make sense to use object pronouns in place of subject pronouns, or subject
pronouns in place of object pronouns. (The exceptions to this rule are the pronouns it and you, which can
be used in either case).

Me bit the monster. The monster bit I.

Them  bit the The monster

monster. bit they.
Definition: possessive pronouns show ownership.
There are two sets of possessive pronouns. My, your, his, her, its, our, your, and their are usually classified as
possessive pronouns, but they are more accurately described as possessive adjectives because they always
modify nouns.
My pencil fell on the floor, and his pencil ended up on her desk.

The second set of possessive pronouns consists of the words mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, and theirs. These
pronouns are different from the others because they don't modify nouns. They completely replace the nouns they
refer to.
Hey! That's mine, not yours!
Hint:
Note that there are no apostrophes in the possessive pronouns. They are born showing ownership, so it's
not necessary to add 's to show ownership. Remember that it's is the contraction for it is while its is the
possessive pronoun.
It's a good idea to give your dog its dinner on time!
It's  ⇒ It is a good idea ... (contraction)
its dinner ⇒ the dog's dinner (possessive)

Learning objectives
Students will use possessive nouns in sentences. Students will identify the difference between possessive
pronouns and possessive adjectives.

Introduction
 (10 minutes)

 Tell the students that today, we are going to learn about possessive pronouns.
 Ask students, "What is a pronoun?" and ask for examples.
 Show the Possessive Pronouns video.

Explicit instruction/Teacher modeling

 (15 minutes)

 Have the students come to a gathering area and each place something that belongs to them into a box or
bag.
 Choose an item and say, "Whose book is this? It's not mine. It's hers."
 Ask a student to pull something from the bag or box, using the possessive pronoun to ask questions or make
statements. For example, she can say, "Is this her eraser? No, it is mine."
 Continue with other students for four or five turns.

Guided practice/Interactive modeling

 (15 minutes)

 Ask students to choose an object in the classroom and use a possessive pronoun in a statement or question,
e.g. "Is that your desk or is it hers? (while pointing to the person at the desk)"
 Remind students that it is the desk of that girl (her).
 Have students each write five questions and statements using possessive pronouns.

Independent working time

 (15 minutes)

 Ask students to complete the Possessive Pronouns worksheet.

Differentiation
 Enrichment: Have advanced students write their own questions and sentences for the assessment by giving
them subjects to write about, e.g. "book" or "pencil."
 Support: Give struggling students a word bank to use for their worksheet.

Assessment
 (10 minutes)

 Take notice of the students who are able to determine possessive pronouns in their questions and
statements orally and those who need prompts.
 Collect and review students' worksheets to assess their understanding of the lesson content.

Review and closing

 (5 minutes)

 Play the 009 - Possessive Pronouns video.

 During the video, ask what responses they have for the blanks. They can self-check their answers.

 Guided Lesson: Pronouns

Guided Lessons are a sequence of interactive digital games, worksheets, and other activities that guide learners through
different concepts and skills. They keep track of your progress and help you study smarter, step by step.
Mastering pronouns enables students' writing to be more sophisticated. They are able to construct more complex
sentences and express ideas more original ways. This short unit focuses on possessive, indefinite and reflexive pronouns,
in addition to pronoun and antecedent agreement.

This lesson includes printable activities: Download all (5)