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; thereis 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)
You may also be interested in:
· possessive pronouns,
· object pronouns,
· subject pronouns,
· and reflexive pronouns.
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 |
Listen to the possessive adjectives poem.
Exercise on possessive adjectives.
Lesson on adjectives