Pronoun

The function of pronoun is to replace the noun. In the sentence it can replace the noun in the subject and in the object. Have a look the examples below!

1.      John and William are English students. They memorize five vocabularies every day.

2.      Henry visits his new girl friend twice a week. He always gives her flowers every time he visits her.

3.      Whose book is this?

This is my book.

4.      Whose book is this?

This is mine.

5.      I myself do this assignment.

The first sentence we can see that the word ‘they’ replaces the subject ‘John and William’. We do not need to write ‘John and William’ anymore instead of ‘they’. ‘They’ here is called as a subject pronoun because it replaces the noun ‘John and William’ in the subject of the sentence. The word ‘they’ here comes before the verb ‘are’ (or it can be called as linking verb). So, we can understand that the subject pronoun is located before the subject not after the verb.

The second sentence we see that the word ‘her’ replaces the object ‘his new girl friend’. Because it replaces the noun in the object of the sentence, it is called as object pronoun. An object pronoun like ‘her’ takes place after the verb ‘give’. So, we can conclude that the object pronoun comes after the verb not before the verb. This is the different between subject pronoun and object pronoun. We cannot say ‘he gives she flowers’ because the word ‘she’ there is the subject pronoun. In addition, the object pronoun comes after preposition. For instance; is this car for me? Look at the word ‘me’ there! We cannot say ‘is this book for I?’ because the word ‘I’ there is a subject pronoun. It is incorrect if we put it after preposition. Then if we compare between ‘her’ and ‘his new girl friend’, we can understand the advantage of understanding pronoun. We do not need to write such a long phrase like that. We just need to identify whether it is a subject pronoun or an object pronoun. If it is a subject pronoun, we write ‘she’ but if it is an object pronoun we write ‘her’. It is simpler, isn’t it?

The third and the forth sentences above are about possessive. Possessive can be divided into two; possessive adjective and possessive pronoun. We sometimes are not easy to determine when we use possessive adjective and when we use possessive pronoun. The examples above show us the different function of those possessives. ‘My book’ in the sentence ‘this is my book’ is a possessive adjective because it needs or describes the noun after it. Remember the function of an adjective is to describe or to give more information about the noun. Possessive adjective cannot stand alone. It is always followed by the noun. Then word ‘mine’ in the sentence ‘this is mine’ is a possessive pronoun. It does not need a noun or in another word it is wrong if it is related with a noun.

The last example above is about reflexive pronoun. It is used to emphasize the subject or the object and it is sometimes used to indicate the meaning ‘alone’. However the most important thing that we should know is the appropriate reflexive. We cannot say ‘he does it myself’ but ‘he does it himself’. So that it should be appropriate with the subject or the object pronoun.

Look at the table below! It’s better for you to memorize it. Here it is:

    

Subject Pronoun	Object Pronoun	Possessive		Reflexive
		Adjective	Pronoun
I You They We She He It	Me You Them Us Her Him It	My….. Your…. Their ….. Our ….. Her …. His ….. Its …..	Mine Yours Theirs Ours Hers His Its	Myself Yourself/selves Themselves Ourselves Herself Himself itself

This is the way to make it easy to memorize the table above and to understand the function of each part. I got it from REC (Rhima English Course) East Java when I took an English course there.

·         I take my book for me myself because this book is mine.

·         She takes her book for her herself because this book is hers.

·         He takes his book for him himself because this book is his.

If you can memorize one sentence, you will be easy to memorize other sentences, because you just need to change the pronouns based on the lists of the table above and the functions of each part.

Let’s practice!

Choose the correct pronouns on the following sentences!

1.       (I/me/my/mine) want to go to airport to pick (I/me/my/mine) girlfriend up.

2.       If (you/your/yours) can do these exercises, (you/your/yours) are able to continue studying the next materials.

3.       Forgive (she/her/hers) for all (she/her/hers) mistakes because (she/her/hers) is not she was.

4.       Would (you/your/yours) like to come to (I/me/my/mine) wedding party next week?

5.       (He/Him/His) father and (I/me/my/mine) are playing badminton right now.

Thanks and good luck