Merrill Davies
Writer & Teacher
Contact: merrill@merrilldavies.com
Writer & Teacher
Contact: merrill@merrilldavies.com
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Grammar Tips
My Mission
My Mission
"Improving myself while supporting others"
LESSON 2--Troublesome Pronouns
*WHO OR WHOM?
The key to this difficult question is an understanding of the difference between nominative case and objective case pronouns discussed in Lesson One.
Let's look at some examples:
Who is coming to the party?
For whom is the party being given?
I don't know who he is.
Looks pretty simple, right? The problem comes when the "who" or "whom" is used in a clause, which happens often, because these pronouns are used to introduce clauses. This means that they are ofen out of place in the sentence. Let's look at a few examples of this:
I did not know who she was.
At first glance you might assume that since "who" follows "know" it would be an object. But at closer look we realize that "who" is the predicate pronoun in the clause "she was who." In this case "who" is not the object of "know." We wouldn't say "I didn't know whom"
so we need to know about the clause it introduces. Now, let's look at another example.
I know the people who are coming in the door.
This is a little easier, because the word "who" is the subject of the clause, "who are coming...." Okay, now let's look at another sentence.
Harriet Tubman was a woman whom we should remember.
In this case the word "whom" is used as the object of "should remember" in the clause "we should remember whom." Just as we would not say, "We should remember she" neither do we say "we should remember who." Let's look at some other examples.
The pedestrian whom the car hit suffered only minor cuts and bruises.
The main clauses is "the pedestrian...suffered only minor cuts and bruises." The dependent clause (inroduced by "whom") is "the car hit whom." Are you beginning to get it? Okay, just a few more examples.
At the party the two people whom I enjoyed most were Jim and Abby.
Anyone who orders now will receive a free gift.
The mayor was a man whom many people respected.
John is a man who listens well.
One important thing to remember in the use of who or whom is that since they introduce a dependent clause we have to figure out how they function in that clause, not always how they function in the main clause.
*PRONOUNS ENDING IN -Self
MYSELF, YOURSELF, HIMSELF, HERSELF, ITSELF
OURSELVES, YOURSELVES, THEMSELVES
NOTE: There are no such words as "hisself" or "theirselves."
These pronouns may be used in two ways:
(1) As reflective pronouns--"He hurt himself."
(2) As intensive pronouns, for emphasis--"The president himself spoke to her," or "She made it herself."
It is not correct to use these forms instead of other personal pronouns:
Give the forms to Bill and me [not myself].
John and I [not myself] are in charge of the food.
******************************************************************
LESSON 1--Case Forms for Pronouns
Pronouns are used in the same ways that nouns are used, but they change forms in ways that nouns do not. A noun is used as a subject, object, or to show possession, but the only change is the plural forms and the use of an apostrophe and an "s" to show possession. Pronouns often have different forms for person, case, gender, and number. In this lesson, we will look at the issue of case in pronouns. There are three cases--nominative, objective, and possessive.
Nominative Case Pronouns: I, you, she, he, it, we, they, who
A pronoun is in the nominative case when it functions as a subject or a predicate nominative. A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun in the predicate that refers to the subject of the sentence. Think of a predicate nominative as any pronoun that follows a form of the verb be.
Examples:
(Subject) I went to the store. They read books. Sue and she are juniors.
(Predicate Nominative) This is she. It was he on the phone when you tried to call.
To determine the correct pronoun in a compound subject, try each suject separately with the verb, adapting the verb form as necessary. For example: Sue and I are going to the game. (Sue is going; I am going--not me am going)
When the pronoun is used with a noun (we ladies, we freshmen, etc.), determine the correct form by reading the sentence without the noun.
Example: We ladies cooked the dinner (We cooked the dinner--not us cooked the dinner).
Objective Case Pronouns: me, you ,her, him, it, us, them, whom
Objective pronouns are used as direct objects or objects of prepositions in a sentence.
Examples:
(Direct Object) He invited me to the party. He invited David and her to the dance.
(Object of preposition) She admitted to me that she had taken the book. The teacher gave the books to Angie and him.
NOTE: Note that you and it are listed in both the nominative and objective cases since they do not change forms for these cases.
Possessive Case Pronouns: my, mine, our, ours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, your, yours, whose.
Except for his,the possessive case pronouns change forms when they are used in the predicate. These forms correspond to the predicate nouns, whereas the others are more correctly called adjectives.
Examples:
This is my coat. The coat is mine.
The math books are theirs. Their history books were stolen.
Note: When adding the "s" to the possessive pronoun, we do not use the apostrophe as we do with nouns. This is sometimes confusing, especially with its since it's is used to contract it is.
*WHO OR WHOM?
The key to this difficult question is an understanding of the difference between nominative case and objective case pronouns discussed in Lesson One.
Let's look at some examples:
Who is coming to the party?
For whom is the party being given?
I don't know who he is.
Looks pretty simple, right? The problem comes when the "who" or "whom" is used in a clause, which happens often, because these pronouns are used to introduce clauses. This means that they are ofen out of place in the sentence. Let's look at a few examples of this:
I did not know who she was.
At first glance you might assume that since "who" follows "know" it would be an object. But at closer look we realize that "who" is the predicate pronoun in the clause "she was who." In this case "who" is not the object of "know." We wouldn't say "I didn't know whom"
so we need to know about the clause it introduces. Now, let's look at another example.
I know the people who are coming in the door.
This is a little easier, because the word "who" is the subject of the clause, "who are coming...." Okay, now let's look at another sentence.
Harriet Tubman was a woman whom we should remember.
In this case the word "whom" is used as the object of "should remember" in the clause "we should remember whom." Just as we would not say, "We should remember she" neither do we say "we should remember who." Let's look at some other examples.
The pedestrian whom the car hit suffered only minor cuts and bruises.
The main clauses is "the pedestrian...suffered only minor cuts and bruises." The dependent clause (inroduced by "whom") is "the car hit whom." Are you beginning to get it? Okay, just a few more examples.
At the party the two people whom I enjoyed most were Jim and Abby.
Anyone who orders now will receive a free gift.
The mayor was a man whom many people respected.
John is a man who listens well.
One important thing to remember in the use of who or whom is that since they introduce a dependent clause we have to figure out how they function in that clause, not always how they function in the main clause.
*PRONOUNS ENDING IN -Self
MYSELF, YOURSELF, HIMSELF, HERSELF, ITSELF
OURSELVES, YOURSELVES, THEMSELVES
NOTE: There are no such words as "hisself" or "theirselves."
These pronouns may be used in two ways:
(1) As reflective pronouns--"He hurt himself."
(2) As intensive pronouns, for emphasis--"The president himself spoke to her," or "She made it herself."
It is not correct to use these forms instead of other personal pronouns:
Give the forms to Bill and me [not myself].
John and I [not myself] are in charge of the food.
******************************************************************
LESSON 1--Case Forms for Pronouns
Pronouns are used in the same ways that nouns are used, but they change forms in ways that nouns do not. A noun is used as a subject, object, or to show possession, but the only change is the plural forms and the use of an apostrophe and an "s" to show possession. Pronouns often have different forms for person, case, gender, and number. In this lesson, we will look at the issue of case in pronouns. There are three cases--nominative, objective, and possessive.
Nominative Case Pronouns: I, you, she, he, it, we, they, who
A pronoun is in the nominative case when it functions as a subject or a predicate nominative. A predicate nominative is a noun or pronoun in the predicate that refers to the subject of the sentence. Think of a predicate nominative as any pronoun that follows a form of the verb be.
Examples:
(Subject) I went to the store. They read books. Sue and she are juniors.
(Predicate Nominative) This is she. It was he on the phone when you tried to call.
To determine the correct pronoun in a compound subject, try each suject separately with the verb, adapting the verb form as necessary. For example: Sue and I are going to the game. (Sue is going; I am going--not me am going)
When the pronoun is used with a noun (we ladies, we freshmen, etc.), determine the correct form by reading the sentence without the noun.
Example: We ladies cooked the dinner (We cooked the dinner--not us cooked the dinner).
Objective Case Pronouns: me, you ,her, him, it, us, them, whom
Objective pronouns are used as direct objects or objects of prepositions in a sentence.
Examples:
(Direct Object) He invited me to the party. He invited David and her to the dance.
(Object of preposition) She admitted to me that she had taken the book. The teacher gave the books to Angie and him.
NOTE: Note that you and it are listed in both the nominative and objective cases since they do not change forms for these cases.
Possessive Case Pronouns: my, mine, our, ours, his, her, hers, its, their, theirs, your, yours, whose.
Except for his,the possessive case pronouns change forms when they are used in the predicate. These forms correspond to the predicate nouns, whereas the others are more correctly called adjectives.
Examples:
This is my coat. The coat is mine.
The math books are theirs. Their history books were stolen.
Note: When adding the "s" to the possessive pronoun, we do not use the apostrophe as we do with nouns. This is sometimes confusing, especially with its since it's is used to contract it is.
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