Little words Big problems

1
Little words Big problems

• Pronouns

Click on speaker icon for sound
2
What are personal pronouns?

• Personal Pronouns represent people, places and
  things nouns
• Subject Pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
• Object pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them)
• What is the difference between a subject pronoun
  and an object pronoun?
• Subject pronouns usually come before the verb and
  object pronouns usually come after.
• Ex He and I are him and her in the picture.

3
Why do people make subject and object pronoun
mistakes?

• 1 compound subjects objects
• Poor Tom and her drove to phoenix.
• Poor Mom asked Tim and I to go.
• To fix remove the other subject or object and
  match the pronoun with the verb.
• Better Tom and she drove to phoenix.
• Better Mom asked Tim and me to go.

4
Another reason for subject and object pronoun
mistakes

• subject pronouns with linking verbs
• Poor Are you certain it was him who stole the
  car?
• If a pronoun renames the subject and comes just
  after a linking verb the pronoun will be in the
  subject form too It is I, This is she, It was
  he.
• Better Are you certain it was he who stole the
  car?

5
Object Pronouns

• Sometimes when you have two objects and use
  pronouns, it is easy to make a mistake.
• Poor Bill talked to Kathy and I this morning
• To fix this error, remove the other object and
  say this sentence to yourself. Youll hear the
  right answer
• Better Bill talked to Kathy and me this morning

6
The word between

• Between whenever you use between, you must use
  an object pronoun
• Poor This conversation is between him and I.
• Better This conversation is between him and me.

7
Problems with reflexives

• Intensive pronouns are for emphasis. Ex The
  president signed this himself.
• The himself is to emphasize that the president
  signed it and not someone else
• Reflexive pronouns show an action was performed
  by someone on herself / himself or itself.
  Ex The child hurt herself when she fell.
• The herself shows that no one else hurt her
  falling was her fault
• Problems with intensive and reflexive pronouns
  occur in compound subjects objects.
• Poor Betty and myself baked the pie. Or The pie
  was baked by Betty and myself.
• Remove the other subject or object to fix
• Better Betty and I baked the pie. Or The pie was
  baked by Betty and me.
• Note There are no such words as hisself,
  theirself, or theirselves. Only himself an
  themselves are correct.

8
Problems with pronoun referencePronouns need to
clearly refer to someone, some place or
something.

• Pronouns need to agree in number with their
  antecedents.
• Poor Mary picked up 2 plates and a bowl and put
  it in the cupboard.
• Does the antecedent match pronoun?
• Better   Mary picked up 2 plates and a bowl and
  put them in the cupboard.
• One reference problem is no antecedent
• Poor I asked for 5, but they said no.
• The problem is - Who are they?
• Better I asked for 5, but my parents said no.
  OR I asked my parents for 5, but they said no.
• Another pronoun reference problem is that there
  may be 2 possible antecedents.
• Poor When Mary ran into Barbara, she dropped the
  books.
• The problem is - Who dropped the books?
•  Better When Mary ran into Barbara, Mary dropped
  the books.

9
Indefinite pronouns

• Some indefinite pronouns are plural (both, few,
  many, several) while -one, - body, - thing
  pronouns (such as everyone, somebody, nothing) as
  well as either, neither, and each are singular.
• Poor Several of the students fainted when
  viewing his/her grades.
• Better Several of the students fainted when
  viewing their grades.
• Poor Everyone in the class brought their blue
  book.
• Better Everyone in the class brought his/her
  blue book.
• Remember only plural pronouns can be followed by
  they or their- singular pronouns must be followed
  by he, she or it.

10
The trouble with this which

• Make sure you can clearly show this what?
• When using this in a sentence, follow it with a
  noun or replace this with a noun.
• Ex People dislike the high price of insurance.
  We need to organize a group to solve this. (this
  what? this problem or insurance inflation)
•  
• Which is used primarily as a choice in a
  question which one?
• If you use which without the question mark, you
  need to change your sentence. (Sometimes you can
  switch which for that or just take which out)
• Poor The restaurant, which I like, is
  unfortunately closed.
• Better The restaurant I like is unfortunately
  closed.
• Poor The Vatican is very extensive, which makes
  it hard to see in only a few hours.
• Better The Vatican is very extensive. That makes
  it hard to see in only a few hours.

11
Dont switch point of view with pronouns

• Poor I dont like to diet because you suffer too
  much and eventually gain the weight back.
• Keep the same view I to I otherwise it
  sounds like my friend suffers when I diet.
• Better I dont like to diet because I suffer too
  much and eventually gain the weight back.