Pronouns!

1. Pronouns!

2. What’s a Pronoun? • 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 background information?

3. What’s a Pronoun? • First, let’s get some definitions. • A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun or another pronoun. • The word the pronoun replaces is called its antecedent • Pronouns without antecedents are called unprecursed pronouns

4. What’s a Pronoun? • In English, all of our nouns and pronouns fall into one of three categories, called cases. • These cases are called subject (or nominative), object (or accusative/dative), and possessive (or genitive).

5. Review • So, to review… • We learned that a pronoun replaces a ______ or another ________. • We also learned that the word a pronoun replaces is called the _________. • And we know that the cases a pronoun can be in are ________, _________, and _________.

6. Personal Pronouns! • 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.

7. 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!

8. 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!

9. 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?

10. 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!

11. 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!

12. 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.

13. 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.