Part of Speech (Part 1): Pronouns in English

Part of Speech (Part 1): Pronouns in English

We define pronouns as words we use instead of nouns to avoid unnecessary repetition. We have different types of pronouns and they include: personal pronouns, reflective pronouns, reciprocal pronouns, possessive pronouns, interrogative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, etc.

Note that all the pronouns mentioned above are Definite pronouns. We also have Indefinite pronouns. They are pronouns that do not specifically and exactly point out the nouns they represent. Examples include: somebody, anybody, someone, nobody, everybody, everything, everyone, something, none, etc.

The Definite Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns are directly used to refer to individuals. We have three types of personal pronouns, they include:

- First Person Pronouns

- Second Person Pronouns

- Third Person Pronouns

There are two major cases associated with these personal pronouns. They include:

i. The Subjective Case

ii. The Objective Case

When we say subjective case, we mean the first or initial position of a sentence before the verb. It is also referred to as a subject position. The objective case on the other hand, is the position after the verb of the sentence. It is the position occupied by the receiver of the action. Note that once the pronoun crosses the verb, it becomes an object pronoun, so you must not make the mistake of using a subject pronoun in an object pronoun.

Note these examples!

i. Baba and he (not him) participated in the tournament. It cannot be 'him'. It has not crossed the verb - 'participated'.

ii. Those men helped Dupe and me. (Not I, myself, or we) because it has not crossed the verb 'helped'.

First Person Pronouns: I (subject) / me (object) - first person singular and we (subject) / us (object) first plural.

When we say first person pronoun, we are referring to the person who is speaking. The first person singular pronoun 'I' may be singular but it takes a plural verb.

Examples:

i. I see John every day. (Not sees)

ii. He greets me.

iii. We slapped the man.

iv. He insulted us.

Second Person Pronoun

The only second person pronoun we have is 'you'. The object case is also 'you'.

Examples:

i. You are lazy (subject position)

ii. John slapped you? (object case)

Third Person Pronouns

He, She, It (singular subjective case)

Him, her, it (singular objective case)

They (plural subjective case)

Them (plural objective case).

Rules for using the subjective and objective case

Rule one

When a third or second person, be it noun or pronoun, is used with the pronoun 'I/me', the second or third person should come first before 'I'. This is called rule of selflessness.

Examples:

i. Efe and I should eat the food (Not I and Efe)

ii. You and I have been selected for the game. (Not I and you)

iii. The man gave John and me some money (Not me and John)

Rule two

Please note that when a prepositions such as amongst and between are used, the objective case of a personal pronoun should be used.

Examples:

i. Share this money amongst John, them and me.

ii. The profit of the business was apportioned between her and him.

Rule three

When comparing, we should use the subject case. Actually, in this instance, there is an ellipsis of a verb coming at the ending of the sentence.

Examples:

i. We seems stronger than they. (Stronger than they are)

ii. My sister cooks better than I. (Better than I cook)

Rule four

When a question is asked with a verb of performance, we reply with a subject pronoun but when the verb is not performed verb, we reply with an object pronoun.

Examples:

i. Speaker A: Who is knocking at the door?

    Speaker B: It is I.

The reply is in subject case 'I' because the question is asked with a performance verb 'is knocking'

ii. Speaker A: Who is at the door?

    Speaker B: It is me.

The reply is in objective case 'me' because the question is not carrying a performance verb. No action is actively performed. In Physics, they would say "there is zero work done"

iii. Speaker A: Who ate the food?

    Speaker B: It is I. (There is work done)

Sometimes, it may not be the form of a question, but just referring to a person.

iv. The Ibos like Ojukwu, it was he (not him) who fought for their race.

Rule five

When citing sentence, the introducer we use determines the case. If the introducer is 'like', note that the pronoun will be in the objective case but if the introducer is 'such as' the pronoun will be in the subjective case.

Examples:

i. I am used to ruffians like him (Not he)

ii. Bad leaders such as they (not them) should be punished forthwith.

iii. Lazy boys such as he (not him) should suffer.

iv. Students like them (not they) should be encouraged.

We will treat more on the other types of pronouns later on