|
There are several types of
pronouns, but most of us are concerned with nominative, objective,
possessive, and reflexive
(or compound).
Nominative pronouns can only be used as the subject of a verb or a
sentence.
Objective pronouns can only be used as the object of a verb, sentence,
or preposition.
Reflexive pronouns can only be used to direct action back to the
subject (think mirror image) or as
intensifiers.
|
Nominative
|
Objective
|
Possessive |
Reflexive
(compound)
|
|
Before
Nouns |
After
Nouns |
| I |
me |
my |
mine |
myself |
| you |
you |
your |
yours |
yourself |
| he |
him |
his |
his |
himself |
| she |
her |
her |
hers |
herself |
| it |
it |
its |
its |
itself |
| we |
us |
our |
ours |
ourselves |
| they |
them |
their |
theirs |
themselves* |
| who |
whom |
whose |
whose |
|
To decide which pronoun to
use, focus on them one at a time. Simply ignore any other
pronoun or person in the sentence. Once you've chosen the
correct pronoun, keep the form when you add back the other
people.
Here's
how to do it!
Nominative
pronouns
are the subject of the verb.
|
Her
/ She
and her
mother went to the movies.
Although it's
tempting to choose Her at the beginning of the
sentence, it doesn't work. To make the right choice,
ignore the words and her mother. Would you really
say, "Her went to the movies"? When
you add back her mother, the complete sentence is, "She
and her mother went to the movies."
Bill
and I / me went out. Here, delete Bill
and. Would you ever say "Me went out"?
Probably not. You'd say "I went out." So the sentence
must be "Bill and I went out."
She's older than me
/ I. While most of us say,
"She's older than me," it's wrong. What's missing is the
verb at the end of the sentence, and even if we neither write
nor say this verb, it governs the choice of the
pronoun.
The real sentence
with the verb is, "She's older than I am."
(It's bigger than
we are. It's smaller than he was.) |
Can you ever end with the
objective form in this type of sentence? Yes. It all
depends on exactly what you mean.
|
Jack likes Fred
better than me / I.
Could be: Jack
likes Fred better than me (better than he likes me).
Could be: Jack
likes Fred better than I (better than I
do). |
For clarity in this type of
situation, write the sentence out completely.
Objective
pronouns are the object of a verb or
a preposition.
|
Jon asked
Liz
and I / me to go with him/he and Sharon. First, remove Liz. You're left with, "Jon asked I"
or "Jon asked me."
You know that
me is right. (Would you ever say, "Jon asked
I"?) Not likely.
Your second choice
involves him / he. "Jon asked Liz to go with
him." Because with is a preposition, and
because 99% of the time pronouns following prepositions will
be objective case, you must use
him.
Full sentence:
Jon asked Liz and me to go with
him and Sharon. |
Reflexive pronouns must reflect back to the subject, referring to the same
person. They're used as a mirror image of the subject.
|
Jon
asked Mary and myself / me to join him.
There are two ways to
decide which is correct. Either remove Mary and,
and choose between myself/me alone, or ask yourself if Jon
and myself are the same person. As they are not
the same person, you cannot say or write, "Jon asked Mary and
myself to join him."
The correct sentence
is, "Jon asked Mary and me to join him."
You can say, "I
hurt myself while jogging." (I and
myself are the same person.)
|
Reflexive pronouns are also
used as intensifiers -- making a statement strong, more certain by
the repetition. For example:
I myself
saw her
go into the store.
Jon himself will write the
quarterly report.
The students
themselves heard the teacher's
instructions. |
Who and Whom
Who
and whom
follow the same basic pronoun rules:
Who is always the subject of a verb; whom is always
the object.
In order to decide which to
use, make a simple substitution. In any sentence or clause,
substitute he for who, him for whom.
Using the masculine forms is advised because they sound so much like
who and whom. Sometimes you'll have to rewrite the clause
containing (following) who or whom for it to make
sense.
|
Who
/ whom
should I say is calling?
Many
people mistakenly say, "Whom should I say is
calling?"
By
rewriting it slightly, you can see it should be
who. It could be either, "Should I say
he / him is calling?" or "I should say he / him is
calling." In either case, he fits, so you use
who, the subject of the verb is
calling. The correct sentence is, "Who should I
say is calling?"
Who
/ whom
did you go with? Most of us
would use who. But by rewriting it slightly, it's
easy to see that it has to be whom. "Did you go
with he / him?" So the real sentence is, "Whom did
you go with?" You could also say/write, "With whom did
you go?"
Here's a
tough pair:
You may
vote for whoever / whomever you wish.
You may
vote for whoever / whomever you think is the better
candidate.
The first
sentence requires whomever: You wish to vote for
him. The second
sentence requires whoever, even though it looks so
similar: You think he is the better
candidate.
Remember
to focus on the clause following who or
whom. Otherwise, it's easy to see the preposition
for in both sentences and think that you
use whom in both. | |
