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Pronouns and referencing

Textual Material
1. Personal and Possessive Pronouns

  • Subject personal pronouns: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
  • Object personal pronouns: me, you, him, her, it, us, them
  • Possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs

Usage:

  • Subject pronouns are used before verbs.
    • Example: He is coming to the party.In this sentence, “he” is the subject of the sentence, performing the action of coming.
      They have won the competition.
  • Object pronouns are used after verbs or prepositions.
    • Example: She saw him at the park.In this sentence, “him” is the object of the verb “saw,” indicating the person she saw.
      I lent my pen to her during the meeting.
  • Possessive pronouns replace a possessive determiner and a noun.
    • Example: The book on the shelf is yours.In this sentence, “yours” is a possessive pronoun, indicating ownership of the book.
      The keys are mine.

2. Reflexive Pronouns

  • Reflexive pronouns: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves

Usage:

  • Used when the subject and object of the verb are the same.
  • Add emphasis to the subject or object.
  • Used with “by” to mean on my own/on your own, etc.
  • Used in some set expressions in the imperative with “yourself/yourselves.”

3. Some Special Situations

  • “It”:
    • Used as a subject to start sentences about weather, time, or distance.
    • Used to start sentences with an infinitive or -ing form.
    • Used to refer to phrases, whole sentences, or ideas.
  • “You”:
    • Used to talk about everybody in general.
    • “We” can be used when the speaker includes themselves in the group.
  • “They”:
    • Used to mean experts or authorities.
    • Used when the gender is unknown or irrelevant.
  • “One/ones”:
    • Used to avoid repetition of a countable noun.

These pronouns help convey information clearly and efficiently in sentences, avoiding unnecessary repetition of nouns.

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