Pronouns!

1. Pronouns! This will be fun, I promise

2. Everything’s Better with Schoolhouse Rock! • (link to video will go here when it’s fully uploaded to TeacherTube)

3. The History of Pronouns • Have you ever wondered where pronouns came from in the first place? • Probably not! We seem to take these little words for granted. • How about some linguistic history on the subject?

4. The History of Pronouns! • First, let’s get some definitions. • A pronoun, as we just learned from that rockin’ awesome video, is a word that replaces a noun or noun phrase (a noun plus its modifiers) • The word the pronoun replaces is called its antecedent • Pronouns without antecedents are called unprecursed pronouns

5. The History of Pronouns! • Here’s a big word for you: the mental process we go through when we determine which antecedent a pronoun refers to is called anaphore resolution

6. The History of Pronouns! • In English, all of our nouns and pronouns fall into one of three categories, called cases. We’ll talk more about these cases tomorrow. • For now, just know that the cases are called subject (or nominative), object(or accusative/dative), and possessive (or genitive).

7. The History of Pronouns! • A bazillion years ago (okay, more like a thousand) we all would have spoken Old English • In Old English, nouns were declined, meaning they changed ending depending on what case they were in at the time. • Way back then, there were FIVE cases – nominative, accusative, dative, genitive, and instrumental. • Instrumental merged with the dative case a long time ago, and since then, the dative case has almost entirely merged with the accusative.

8. The History of Pronouns! • Aren’t you glad you don’t have to learn Old English grammar? • Here’s another thing – in our English, only the pronouns change form depending on their case (what was the word for that? Think back a couple slides…) • In Old English, every single noun changed! Aaaah!

9. And tomorrow… • Tomorrow, we’re going to talk about pronouns in modern English. • Bring your brains to class!

10. Now Here’s a Song You’ve Got to Learn • (link to video will go here when it’s fully uploaded to TeacherTube)

11. Personal Pronouns! • Yesterday we began learning about pronouns • We learned that a pronoun replaces a noun or noun phrase, which is a noun and all of its modifiers. • We also learned that the word a pronoun replaces is called the antecedent. • And we mentioned something about pronouns changing depending on their case, which is where we pick up our lesson today…

12. Personal Pronouns! • From your super amazing Grammar Workbook: • Personal pronouns change their forms to reflect person, number, and case. • Person: Personal Pronouns have different forms for first person, second person, and third person. • Number: Pronouns can be singular or plural • Case: Personal pronouns change their forms depending on how they are used in a sentence. Each pronoun has three cases: subject, object, and possessive.

13. Personal Pronouns! • Let’s look at some examples! • These are my cats, Schroedinger and Memphis. Memphis is the black one, and Schroedinger is the brown tabby. They’re going to help us learn about pronouns!

14. Personal Pronouns! • Person: Pronouns have different forms for first, second, and third person. • First Person: Hi! My name is Schroedinger. I am a cat! Give me a hug! • Second Person: Hey! Yourname is Schroedinger. You are a cat. Let’s give you a hug! • Third Person: Yo! His name is Schroedinger. He is a cat. Give him a hug!

15. Personal Pronouns! • Number: Pronouns can be singular or plural. • Singular:I am the cutest cat ever. Don’t you think? You should give me all the cat toys! • Plural:We are the cutest cats ever! Don’t you listen to Schroedinger, you should give us all the cat toys to share! • Did you notice something about the second person forms?

16. Personal Pronouns! • Case: Personal pronouns change their forms depending on how they are used in a sentence. Each pronoun has three cases: Subject, object, and possessive. • So far, all of our examples have used pronouns in all three cases, so I bet you can guess what the cases mean!

17. Personal Pronouns! • Subject: A pronoun is in the subject case when it is the subject of a sentence. • He is a cat. – They are cats. • You should also use the subject form for predicate pronouns. They follow linking verbs and rename the subject. • Predicate pronouns often sound like they come from “backwards” sentences. You can say “He is a cat,” and sound normal, but “A cat is he” is grammatically correct, and it’s a predicate pronoun!

18. Personal Pronouns! • Object: A pronoun is in the object case when it is used as a direct object, an indirect object, or the object of a preposition. • I should hug him. – I should hug them. • I should give him the cat toys. – I should give them the cat toys. • I should buy new cat toys for him. – I should buy new cat toys for them.

19. Personal Pronouns! • Possessive: A pronoun is in the possessive case when it shows ownership of something. • I gave Schroedinger all the cat toys. The cat toys are his. Those are his cat toys. • I gave Schroedinger and Memphis all the cat toys. The cat toys are theirs. Those are their cat toys. • Hey! Those words changed! Why do you think that is? • The pronouns my, your, her, his, our, and their come before nouns. • The pronouns mine, yours, hers, his, ours, and theirs can stand alone.

20. Personal Pronouns! • Here’s an interesting fact: Did you notice “mine” seems to be irregular in the possessive pronouns? • The “n” in “mine” is a holdover from Old English. • A long time ago, words like “ourn” and “hisn” were used by the best, most educated writers, following the example of “mine.” • Originally, all the words in that group ended with –en, but the forms have changed over time.

21. For Tomorrow… • We will be listening to some music and writing some poetry in class tomorrow! • Bring your brains!

22. “Oh Yeah!” by Montgomery Gentry (link to the audio will go here) He works way too much for way too little He drinks way too early till way too late He hasn't had a raise since New Year’s Day In eighty-eight Gets trampled on by everyone Except when he comes in here And he's the product of the Haggard generation He's got a redneck side when you get him agitated He got the gold toothed look from a stiff right hook He's proud he took for his right wing stand on Vietnam Says he lost his brother there He yells out Johnny Cash And the band starts to play A ring of fire as he walks up And stands there by the stage

23. “Oh Yeah!” by Montgomery Gentry (link to the audio will go here) She's got an MBA and a plush corner office She's got a don't mess with me attitude She'll close a deal she don't reveal that she can't fill The loneliness, the emptiness Except when she comes in here She's the product of the Me generation She's got a rock and roll side when you get her agitated She got the tattoo there on her derriere from a spring break dare In Panama where love was all she thought she'd ever needShe yells out to the band“Know any Bruce Springsteen?”Then she jumps up on the barAnd she, and she starts to scream

24. My (first draft) Pronoun Poem He’s got a BA degree and a new Civic Hybrid He’s never had any reason to complain He can sweet talk his way into anything Or out of anything And into anywhere. He’s a product of the Dre generation He’s got a hip-hop side when you get him agitated He’s got a goggles tan from a winter sun Skiing in Vale when he thought he wasn’t paying attention. He yells out Eminem as he walks up to the stage Then he drops a beat and rhymes And he, and he starts to sing.

25. For Tomorrow… • We’re going to learn about Reflexive and Intensive pronouns tomorrow! It’ll be fun! • Bring those brains, people!

26. Whose Pronoun is it Anyway? • (link to the video goes here) • See how many pronouns you can count in this video!

27. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns! • From that awesome Grammar Workbook: • Pronouns that end in –self or –selves are either reflexive or intensive pronouns. • A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject and directs the action of the verb back to the subject. Reflexive pronouns are necessary to the meaning of the sentence. Without them, the sentence doesn’t make sense.

28. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns! • Memphis would feed himself if he had thumbs, but alas, he cannot open cans with paws. • In that example, himself is necessary to the sentence. • Could we say “Memphis would feed if he had thumbs”? • No! That doesn’t make sense. Since himself is necessary to the meaning of the sentence, it is a reflexive pronoun.

29. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns • Also from your Grammar Workbook: • An intensive pronoun emphasizes the noun or pronoun within the same sentence. Intensive pronouns are not necessary to the meaning of the sentence.

30. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns! • When I got home yesterday, Schroedinger himself greeted me at the door. • In this example, is himself necessary to the meaning of the sentence? • Could we say “Schroedinger greeted me at the door”? • Sure! That makes perfect sense. Since we can leave it out of the sentence, himself is an intensive pronoun.

31. For Tomorrow… • We’re in deep now, guys! Tomorrow we’re talking about demonstrative pronouns! • Guess what you need to bring? BRAINS!

32. Lord Who and the What? • (link to Lord Syntax and Pronouns goes here)

33. Demonstrative Pronouns! • That incredible edible Grammar Workbook gave me this definition: • A demonstrative pronoun points out a person, place, thing or idea. The demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, and those – are used alone in a sentence. Never use here or there with a demonstrative pronoun.

34. Demonstrative Pronouns! • This is my cat, Schroedinger. • That is my other cat, Memphis.

35. Demonstrative Pronouns! • These are my cats. • Those are my cats.

36. Demonstrative Pronouns! • This’n’That Card Trick video link goes here • This’n’That Revealed! Video link goes here

37. For Monday… • Monday is going to be really fun! I’m not kidding! • We’re going to learn about interrogative pronouns!