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Language Network Pronouns

What is a Pronoun? Pronouns Here’s the Idea Why It Matters Practice and Apply

Here’s the Idea Pronoun A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun or another pronoun.

Here’s the Idea A pronoun can refer to a person, place, thing, or idea.

REFERS TO Here’s the Idea The word that a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent. Ramon visited Death Valley, and he was impressed.

Here’s the Idea Pronouns such as we, I, he, them and it are calledpersonal pronouns. Personal pronouns have a variety of forms to indicate different persons, numbers, and cases.

Here’s the Idea There are first-person, second-person, and third-person personal pronouns, each having both singular and plural forms.

Singular Plural FIRST PERSON FIRST PERSON SECOND PERSON SECOND PERSON THIRD PERSON THIRD PERSON Here’s the Idea I went out. We left early. You left too. You are leaving. He came by bus. They came by car.

Here’s the Idea Each personal pronoun forms three cases: subject, object, and possessive.

POSSESSIVE OBJECT SUBJECT Here’s the Idea Choose the pronoun form depending on the pronoun’s function in the sentence. He read about Death Valley. Julie asked him about the rocks. Ramon bought his book.

Why It Matters Pronouns help you talk about people concisely when you’re telling a story.

1. Death Valley is famous for its strange moving boulders. Practice and Apply Write the personal pronoun in the sentence below.

2. The rocks slide and leave long tracks behind them. Practice and Apply Write the personal pronoun in the sentence below.

3. Do you know why this happens? Practice and Apply Write the personal pronoun in the sentence below.

Pronoun Agreement Pronouns Here’s the Idea Why It Matters Practice and Apply

Here’s the Idea Antecedent The antecedent is the noun or pronoun that a pronoun replaces or refers to.

REFERS TO story its Here’s the Idea Use asingularpronoun to refer to asingularantecedent. One story has its setting in Egypt.

REFERS TO characters their Here’s the Idea Use apluralpronoun to refer to apluralantecedent. The characters have their motives for murder.

THIRD PERSON Louis his Here’s the Idea The pronoun must agree in personwith the antecedent. Louis likes his mysteries to have surprise endings.

Here’s the Idea The genderof the pronoun must be the same as the genderof its antecedent.

Here’s the Idea Personal pronouns have three gender forms: • masculine he, his, him • feminine she, her, hers • neuter it, its

FEMININE his Agatha Christie hero her MASCULINE Here’s the Idea Agatha Christie sets many of her stories in England. The hero has to use all his wits to solve the crime.

Why It Matters In your writing, you will sometimes refer to several people or groups of people. Correct pronoun-antecedent agreement will help your readers keep track of who is who in your writing.

4. Agatha Christie loved real-life mysteries of the past. She helped to investigate them in the Middle East. Practice and Apply Write the pronouns and their antecedents in these sentences.

5. Agatha Christie and her husband went on many archaeological trips and found them exciting. Practice and Apply Write the pronouns and their antecedents in this sentence.

6. A mystery writer may use exotic places and backgrounds for his or her stories. Practice and Apply Write the pronouns and their antecedents in this sentence.

7. Christie started Murder in Mesopotamia in the desert, but she finished it in England. Practice and Apply Write the pronouns and their antecedents in this sentence.

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