Transcript Pronoun Perfection

Pronoun Perfection
The Basics

Pronouns help us to avoid being overly
repetitive.
John went to the store, but John forgot to buy milk.
John went to the store, but he forgot to buy milk.

Pronouns replace nouns but must keep the
same meaning.
The Antecedent
 Antecedent
= Original Noun
John went to the store, but he forgot to buy
eggs. John = antecedent.
 Can’t
have a pronoun without an
antecedent.
Pronoun Antecedent Agreement

Your pronouns must agree with the antecedent:



Number: Singular or Plural
Gender: Male, Female, Neutral
Maria (antecedent) needs to buy her (pronoun) mom
a new coat.
Collective Nouns
 Remember,
collective nouns are singular
(i.e. the class, the Bahamas, the audience)


Incorrect: The Bahamas does not have a
firm plan for their tourism season.
Correct: The Bahamas does not have a firm
plan for its tourism season.
Exception
 If
you are referring to multiple parts of a
collective noun, then use a plural pronoun.


The audience clapped their hands.
The dance team could not wait to perform its
show.
 While
the audience is singular, there are
multiple hands.
Indefinite-Pronoun Antecedents
 The



following pronouns are singular:
Anybody, Each, Everybody, Everyone, No
one, Nobody, Someone, Somebody, One.
I hope someone brought his or her dog to the
park on such a nice day.
No one at St. Mary’s Girls Academy did her
homework last night.
More Indefinite Pronouns
 All,
any, enough, more, most, none, and
some can be singular or plural.


Did you eat the cake? Yes, I ate all of it.
Did you eat all the pieces of cake? Yes, I ate
all of them.
Coordinating Conjunctions
 Certain
conjunctions combine or separate
subjects.
– takes two singular subjects and
makes them plural
 And

Burt and Ernie kidnapped their neighbor, Mr.
Rogers.
More Coordinating Conjunctions
 Or


& Nor keep subjects separate.
Either Santa Claus or the Easter Bunny did
his taxes in my kitchen last night.
Neither Julia Roberts nor Demi Moore knows
her own telephone number.
Gender Discrimination in
Pronouns
 If
given a choice, make sure the pronoun
is inclusive of both genders.

Every student needs to get his act together.
• This is grammatically correct but gender biased.

If given a choice, make the pronoun inclusive.
• Every student needs to get his or her act together.
• All students need to get their acts together.
Pronoun Case

Subject Pronouns

Do the action of the
sentence
Singular
 I
 You
 He, She, It
Plural
We
You
They

Object Pronouns

Receive the action of
the sentence
Singular
 Me
 You
 Him, Her, It
Plural
Us
You
Them
Special Pronoun Cases
 Comparisons

– Use subject pronouns!
A comparison sentence compares two or
more people or things (uses more than, less
than, as much as)

She likes Halloween more than they.

I am faster than he.

Finish the sentence…add in the missing verb.
Using Between and Among
 Always
use object pronouns with between
and among.
 Between
you and me, I have no idea why
Big Bird is so popular.
Using And…
 If
you’re unsure which pronoun to use,
cross out the word “and” and any other
attached nouns to decide which pronoun
to use.
My dad drove my sister and ___ (I/me).
Jose and ___ (he/him) will go to the store.
Who/Whom
 Who
is a subject pronoun—think of it like
“he.”
 Whom is an object pronoun—think of it like
“him.”

(Who/Whom) are you trying to call?
• Are you trying to call him, or trying to call he?

(Who/Whom) solved the mystery?
• He solved it, or him solved it