Online Reporter
AS you relax after the examinations have come and gone, you can learn many English parts without pressure.
You should remember key points in learning. Never use an apostrophe in a possessive pronoun.
The possessive forms of pronouns never cause problems in speaking. However, because some possessive forms sound identical to contain contractions, people sometimes make mistakes when writing them. For example, examine the following under the following headlines: Possessive Pronouns and contractions:
It’s –it’s (it is); their –they’re (they are); whose –who’s (who is); your- you’re (you are). Remember that the apostrophe in a contraction is used to join two words.
Read a sentence carefully to decide if the word in question makes sense as two words. If it does, it is a contraction and needs an apostrophe.
If it does not make sense, use the correct possessive pronoun.
Reflexive and intensive pronouns — These can only be used when they refer to another word in the sentence. They are used to add emphasis to a sentence.
They are formed by adding—self or –selves to certain personal pronouns.
Here is a list of classes of these pronouns: Personal pronouns – I, you, he, se, it, we, they, me, her, him, us, them, my, mine, your, yours, hers, his, its, our, ours, your, yours, their and theirs.
Reflexive and intensive myself, yourself, himself, ourselves, yourselves herself, itself and themselves.
Demonstrative pronouns — this, that, these and those. Interrogative who, whose, whom, which what, that. Examples of indefinite pronouns:
All, another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, few, many, more, most, much, neither, nobody, none, no one, nothing, one, other, several, some, somebody, someone, something and such.
Pronoun usage: If you listen to a conversation or look back at your writing, you will realise just how frequently pronouns are used.
Personal pronouns: Like nouns, personal pronouns are used to refer to people, places, and ideas. Unlike nouns, however, personal pronouns change form, or case, according to their use in a sentence. Personal pronouns are divided into three cases: nominative, objective and possessive.
Here are the forms of personal pronouns under the above titles and under singulars and plurals: I nominative, me, objective, my, mine possessive. You –you –your, yours possessive. She –he, it – her, him, it, her- hers, his, its.
Plural we, us, our, ours. You-you yours, they, them, their, theirs. Use the nominative form of a pronoun for subjects. The nominative forms of pronouns are used as subjects of the verb.
Generally, people do not make mistakes when only one pronoun is used. Problems are more likely to occur when two or more pronouns are used together as the subject of the sentence.
Examples of correct and incorrect sentences. Her and me arrived at the dance in the same dress. (Her and me are used incorrectly as subjects. They are not nominative forms.) Correct – She and I arrived at the dance in the same dress.
To decide which pronoun to use, try saying such pronouns separately with the rest of the sentence. Let your éar’ tell you, which is correct. For example, Her arrived or Me arrived sounds wrong. She arrived and I arrived sound natural.
Another problem occurs when a pronoun is used together with a noun as the subject of a sentence. Look at the correct and incorrect sentence. Us the boys refused to go along with the idea. (Us is used incorrectly as part of the subject. It is not a nominative pronoun).
Correct: We boys, refused to go along with the idea. To decide whether we or us is correct, try the sentence without the noun. We refused sounds right. Us refused does not.
Nominative Forms as Predicate pronouns. Use the nominative form of a pronoun for predicate pronouns. The nominative forms of pronouns are also used as predicate pronouns. A predicate pronoun is a pronoun that follows a linking verb to the subject. You may be confused by predicate pronouns because you may often hear the wrong forms used.
Between friends. Most people consider it’s me acceptable in informal conversation. However, in formal speaking and writing, use the grammatically correct terms, It is . . . This is she . . . examples of incorrect and correct sentences. Incorrect: It was him at the door. (The linking verb “was” needs the nominative pronoun he to follow it).
Correct: It was he at the door. Incorrect: The winners are Lorna and her. (The linking verb are needs the nominative pronoun she to follow). Correct: The winners are Lorna and she. Although the correct use of predicate pronouns is not difficult, you must be sure that you understand what these pronouns are and how they are used.
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