SINGULAR
Personal and Possessive Pronouns
"Pronouns" stand for (pro-) nouns; they take the place of nouns. Here are some singular forms.
SINGULAR PERSONAL PRONOUNS POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS Subjective Case 1 Objective Case 2 Possessive Case As Adjectives 3 1st person
the person speakingI me mine my 2nd person
the person spoken toyou you yours your 3rd person
the person spoken aboutMale he him his his Female she her hers her Neuter it it - its
- Also known as "Nominative Case". These forms are used for subjects of verbs (i.e., the person/thing doing the action).
- The objective forms are used for objects of verbs (i.e., the person/thing receiving the action) or objects of prepositions.
- When used with nouns e.g., my head, your hat, etc
Without the use of pronouns,
we would say:
- The clown is a girl.
- The clown wears a hat.
- A red belt goes around the hat.
- The hat belongs to the clown.
- The clown's hat
- The clown's shirt has a big button.
- The button is aqua in color.
Examples - SingularUsing pronouns, we would say:
The female clown would say:
Agreement with Antecedents
A pronoun refers to a noun and takes the place of that noun. Therefore, the pronoun must agree with that noun inTherefore, it is important that pronouns refer specifically to the nouns and be agreement in number and gender.
- number (i.e., singular or plural) and
For example: The girl lost her way. She was crying.
The pronoun "She" refers to the "girl". "She" is singular and agrees with the singular noun "girl".
It would be confusing to readers if the sentences are written as:
The girl lost her way. They were crying.
Who are "They" in the second sentence? If the pronoun "They" refers to the "girl" then the sentence would be incorrect as "They" is plural while "girl" is singular.- gender (i.e., masculine or feminine)
For example: The girl lost her way. He was crying.
Readers would be confused because the "girl" is feminine in gender while the pronoun "He" is masculine. The readers would be wondering. Who is "He"? Why was he crying?
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