A pronoun stands in for a noun so you don't repeat it endlessly. But pronouns change their shape depending on their job in the sentence — he becomes him, they becomes them. Let's learn when to use which one.
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A subject pronoun does the action. An object pronoun receives the action. "He called her" — he is the subject, her is the object.
| Subject (does the action) | Object (receives the action) |
|---|---|
| I | me |
| he | him |
| she | her |
| we | us |
| they | them |
"You" and "it" stay the same in both jobs.
Common mistake: "Me and him went to the park" is wrong — both are doing the action, so it must be subject pronouns: "He and I went to the park."
A possessive adjective sits before a noun: "my bag". A possessive pronoun stands completely alone: "the bag is mine".
| Possessive adjective (+ noun) | Possessive pronoun (alone) |
|---|---|
| my bag | mine |
| your book | yours |
| her pencil | hers |
| our house | ours |
| their toys | theirs |
Fun fact: "his" is used both ways unchanged — "his bag" and "the bag is his".
Never write "hi's" or "her's". Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: it is simply his and hers.
These four words point at something. Two rules decide which one to use: how many, and how far away.
| Near (here) | Far (there) | |
|---|---|---|
| One (singular) | this | that |
| Many (plural) | these | those |
12 IEO-style questions on pronouns. 🍀
