Personal Pronouns 

This comprehensive lesson covers Personal Pronouns in English with detailed examples and a quiz to test your knowledge.

"Personal Pronouns" in the English Grammar

What Are Personal Pronouns?

Personal pronouns are those that have a grammatical person. These pronouns refer to specific individuals or things and are used to replace nouns in a sentence.

Personal Pronouns: Characteristics

Each personal pronoun has a particular:

grammatical person

grammatical number

grammatical gender

grammatical case

Grammatical Person

Grammatical person is related to the different ways the participant(s) in an event are referred to.
In English grammar, there are three distinct persons:

1.

first-person: the participant is the speaker(s) → I, me, we

2.

second-person: the participant is the addressee(s) → you, yourselves

3.

third-person: the participant is the other(s) → he, her, himself, they, them

Grammatical Number

In English, first-, second-, and third-person pronouns are typically also divided into two groups:

singular forms → I, me, myself, she, him, itself

plural forms → we, us, yourselves, they, themselves

Grammatical Gender

Grammatical gender is a system in which nouns or pronouns are divided into different categories based on their gender value. Some languages, such as Spanish or French, have a grammatical gender system where nouns or pronouns are classified as masculine or feminine. While English does not have a grammatical gender system for nouns, it does have gender-specific forms for third-person pronouns.

1.

Masculine → he, him, himself

2.

Feminine → she, her, herself

3.

Neutral → it, itself

Grammatical Case

The case of a noun or pronoun is that particular noun's or pronoun's relationship to other words in the sentence. In English, case applies only to pronouns.
Modern English has three cases for pronouns:

1.

Nominative (also called subjective): used for the subject of a sentence or for predicate nominatives

2.

Accusative (also called objective): used for the direct object of a verb or for the object of a preposition.

3.

Genitive (also called possessive): used to show possession or ownership.

Example

I am happy

'I' is the subject (nominative)

There's a table in the kitchen. The book is on it.

"it" is the object of the preposition (accusative)

That phone is "mine".

the phone belongs to me (possessive)

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Personal Pronouns: Types

The basic types of personal pronouns of modern English are:

Subject Pronouns

Subject pronouns are a commonly used set of personal pronouns that function as the subject of a verb. In the table below, you can see the list of subject personal pronouns:

Singular

Plural

First-person

I

we

Second-person

you

you

Third-person

he/she/it

they

Object Pronouns

Object pronouns are personal pronouns that are used typically as a grammatical verb complement: the direct or indirect object of a verb, or the object of a preposition. In the table below, you can see the list of object personal pronouns:

Singular

Plural

First-person

me

us

Second-person

you

you

Third-person

him/her/it

them

Possessive Pronouns

Possessive pronouns are a type of personal pronoun that indicate ownership or possession of something by someone. They can be used to replace a noun phrase consisting of a possessive determiner (such as 'my,' 'your,' etc.) and a noun to make sentences more concise.
Possessive pronouns are often used to avoid repetition, especially when referring back to something that has already been mentioned. The following table displays a list of possessive pronouns and their respective possessive determiners in English:

possessive adjective

possessive pronoun

First-person (singular)

my

mine

Second-person (singular)

your

yours

Third-person (singular)

his/her/it

his/hers/its

First-person (plural)

our

ours

Second-person (plural)

your

yours

Third-person (plural)

their

theirs

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are personal pronouns ending in -self or -selves that are used when the subject and the object of a sentence are the same. They can act as either direct objects or indirect objects. In the table below, you can see the list of reflexive personal pronouns:

Singular

Plural

First-person

myself

ourselves

Second-person

yourself

yourselves

Third-person

himself/herself/itself

themselves

Archaic Pronouns

There are some archaic pronouns in English which were used in the past, but are now mostly replaced by standard pronouns. While these forms are no longer commonly used in modern English, they are commonly encountered in literature, historical documents, and some dialects.

Subjective

Objective

Possessive

Reflexive

thou

thee

thine

thyself

Review

Personal pronouns are words that are used to refer to a person, animal, or object in place of a noun. They can take on different forms depending on various factors such as their number (singular or plural), case, and gender.
Number refers to whether the pronoun is singular (referring to one person or thing) or plural (referring to multiple people or things). Case refers to the grammatical function of the pronoun in a sentence, such as whether it is the subject or object of a verb. Gender refers to the distinction between masculine, feminine, and neuter pronouns, although English only has gender-specific pronouns for people. The different types of personal pronouns in English are

Subject Pronouns

Object Pronouns

Possessive Pronouns

Reflexive Pronouns

Archaic Pronouns

Quiz:


1.

Which sentence demonstrates the correct use of a reflexive pronoun?

A

I taught me how to play the piano.

B

I taught myself how to play the piano.

C

I taught my self how to play the piano.

D

I taught mine how to play the piano.

2.

Sort the words to form a sentence using subject and object pronouns.

they
liked
her
if
.
to
she
join
asked
them
3.

Match each incomplete sentence with the correct ending based on their pronoun usage.

This car is not mine;
I invited John in,
Mary and I finished the project,
The team members enjoyed
The teacher spoke to Sarah
because she needed help.
themselves during the retreat.
and offered him tea.
and we are very proud of it.
it is hers.
4.

Fill each blank with the appropriate personal pronoun. (There is one extra option.)

After the meeting, John said

would follow up on the action items.

You should be proud of

for completing the challenge.

The blue notebook on the desk is not my notebook; it is

.

We invited

to dinner, and they accepted the invitation.

he
yourself
them
myself
hers
5.

Which of the following best describes the characteristics of personal pronouns in English?

A

They vary only by grammatical person and remain unchanged regardless of number.

B

They vary by grammatical person, number, gender, and case.

C

They have fixed forms that do not change based on their role in a sentence.

D

They have specific genders for all person and the different numbers.

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