Pronoun Case

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Pronoun Case
?Les Hanson 2002
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Pronoun Case

• Case tells whether a pronoun shows possession or
  acts as subject or object in the sentence
• Writers use the following four terms
• Subjective
• Objective
• Possessive
• Reflexive

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Subjective

• Use the subjective case when the pronoun is
  either the subject or the complement of the
  sentence (The doer of the action)
• She gave her goldfish to the boy next door.
• It was he who called me a bad name.
• I, you, he, she, we, they, who

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Use the Subjective Case

• At the beginning of sentences
• I/me hate grammar
• After any form of the verb to be (is, was, will
  be)
• The one who ate the most pizza is he/him.
• When referring to the subject of an implied
  clause following as or than
• My brother is more agile than I /me (am).

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Objective

• Use the objective case when the pronoun is an
  object of the sentence (the receiver of the
  action)
• Arnold sent flowers to her. (Object of
  Preposition)
• Betty phoned him tonight. (Object of Verb)
• Alex hates Garth more than (he hates) me. (Object
  in an implied clause)
• Me, you, him, her, us, them, whom

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Use the Objective Case

• After action verbs
• Arnold bought (her, she) a new toaster
• After prepositions (joining words)
• Several of (us, we) girls are going to Cancun for
  our holidays in March

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Possessive

• Use possessive case pronouns to show ownership
• Possessive case pronouns do not use an apostrophe
• Example The goldfish was ours, but Sam gave it
  to his cat.
• Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs

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Use the Possessive Case

• With words that modify gerunds
• (a gerund is an ing word that functions as a
  noun)
• I knew that (his / him / he) smoking in the
  toilet would make the flight attendants angry.
• The chances of our / we / us winning the World
  Cup are not very good

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Reflexive

• Use reflexive pronouns when one pronoun has
  already been used to refer to someone
• He hit himself with a hammer
• She bought herself a new car
• Myself, yourself, himself, herself, ourselves,
  themselves

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Using the Reflexive Case

• Only use the reflexive if the other cases do not
  work
• The minister and me/ myself/ I toured the mill.
• He kept looking at he/ him/ himself in the
  mirror.

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Rules of Thumb

• Dont automatically use the word I at the end
  of sentences
• John spread the virus to Martha and I
• John spread the virus to Martha and me
• Reduce sentences to their simplest forms
• Rod and (I / me) ate three pizzas
• (I / me) ate three pizzas (delete the words Rod
  and)
• I / me ate three pizzas
• Rod and I ate three pizzas (replace the words
  Rod and)