Exercise on subject pronouns

Object Pronouns

What are object pronouns?

An object pronoun, also called objective pronoun, functions as the object of a verb or preposition, as distinguished from a subject or subjective pronoun, which is the subject of a verb.

Examples:

· He begged her to live with him. (her is the object of the verb begged and him is the object of the preposition with)

· She told them the truth. (them is the object of the verb told)

Object pronouns are used instead of object nouns, usually because we already know what the object is.

· She's my friend. I really enjoy being with her.

· I like this film. I saw it last week.

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns in English are the following:

Me, you, him, her, it, us, them

Object pronouns come after either a verb (e.g "like") or a preposition (e.g "to").

Examples:

· I like you but you don't like me.

· Do you really hate her?

· She loves sitting next to him.

· She always writes e-mails to us.

· He's talking to her about it.

Object pronouns differ from:

· Subject pronouns,

· possessive adjectives,

· possessive pronouns,

· and reflexive pronouns.

Review:

Subject pronouns Possessive adjectives Possessive pronouns Reflexive pronouns Object pronouns

I my mine myself me

you your yours yourself you

he his his himself him

she her hers herself her

it its its itself it

we our ours ourselves us

you your yours yourselves you

they their theirs themselves them

Reflexive Pronouns

Every morning...

I look at myself in the mirror.

What are reflexive pronouns?

Reflexive pronouns are used when the complement of the verb is the same as the subject.

Example:

He hurt himself.

Reflexive pronouns can also be used to give more emphasis to the subject or object.

Example:

I wrote it myself. (I want to emphasize the fact that I wrote it.)

I spoke to the president himself. (I spoke to the president personally NOT somebody else.)

Reflexive pronouns

Subject Pronouns	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they
Reflexive Pronouns	myself	yourself	himself	herself	itself	ourselves	yourselves	themselves

The words " myself, yourself, himself..." are reflexive pronouns. Reflexive pronouns are words that show that the person who does the action is also the person who is affected by it:

Examples:

"I always do my homework myself. Nobody helps me."

"He never does his homework himself. The teacher always helps him."

You may also be interested in:

subject pronouns,
object pronouns
possessive pronouns,
and possessive adjectives.

Review:

Personal pronouns	Possessive adjectives	Possessive pronouns	Reflexive pronouns	Object pronouns
I	my	mine	myself	me
you	your	yours	yourself	you
he	his	his	himself	him
she	her	hers	herself	her
it	its	its	itself	it
we	our	ours	ourselves	us
you	your	yours	yourselves	you
they	their	theirs	themselves	them

Possessive Adjectives

What are possessive adjectives?

Possessive adjectives- my, your, his, her, its, our, your, their - modify the noun following it in order to show possession.

Examples:

· I'll get my bag.

· Is this your luggage?

Possessive adjectives are often confused with possessive pronouns.

Examples:

· Your bike is blue. (your is an adjective which modifies bike)

· Mine is yellow. (mine is a pronoun which functions as the subject of the verb is)

Examples

Subject Pronouns	I	you	he	she	it	we	you	they
Possessive Adjectives	my	your	his	her	its	our	your	their

Examples:

· Why didn't you clean your room?
(your modifies the noun room)

· Mary doesn't like her dress.
(her modifies the noun dress)

· The chameleon can change its color.
(its modifies the noun color)

Her hair is long. His hair is short

Things to remember:

1. Possessive adjectives are different from possessive pronouns.

· This is your (possessive adjective) book and this is mine (possessive pronoun).

2. its, their are possessive adjectives.

· Its color is beautiful.

· Their car is in their garage.

3. it's, they're and there are not possessive adjectives — its is a contraction of it is or it has; they're is a contraction of they are; there is an adverb of place.

· It's not my book = It is not my book.

· My house is big. It's got five bedrooms = It has got five bedrooms.

· Nancy and Alan are from New York. They're my friends = They are my friends.

· Please, put the chair there. (adverb)