Pronouns and Case

1. Pronouns and Case By: Jill Jones Jordan Swift

2. Pronouns • A pronoun is commonly defined as a word that can replace either a noun or a phrase acting as a noun.

3. Rule 1 • Personal pronouns identify the speaker, the person spoken to, and the person or thing spoken about. • First-person pronoun (I or we) identifies the speaker. • Second-person pronoun (you) identifies the person spoken to • Third-person pronoun (he, she, it or they) identifies the person or thing spoken about

4. Rule 2 • A relative pronoun relates a dependent clause to a noun in the main clause. • Relative pronouns introduce clauses that refer to a noun in a main clause. • Ex. Who, whom, whoever, whomever, which, whose and that

5. Rule 3 • Interrogative pronouns introduce questions. • Ex. Who asked the question? • Ex. Whom did she give the book to?

6. Rule 4 • Reflexive pronouns direct the action back on the subject or the agent; intensive pronouns are used for emphasis. • Ex. Sam saw a picture of himself. • Ex. Jake and I brought the plant here.

7. Case • Most of what there is to say about case applies to the pronouns that change form to show their relationship to other words in a sentence.

8. Rule 1 • Subjects and subject complements wit linking verbs are in subjective case. • A subject complement is a word that renames the subject • A linking verb is a form of be (am, is, are, was, were) or a verb conveying a state or condition (become, grow, prove, remain, seem, turn).

9. Rule 2 • All objects are in the objective case • All pronouns that are objects take the objective case. Direct object: • Michael loves her. Indirect object: • Michael gave her his love. Object of a preposition: • Michael cares deeply for her.

10. Rule 3 • The possessive case indicates ownership • Modifiers that indicate ownership or a comparable relationship are in the possessive case. • That book is mine.