Pronoun Case

Ü Case tells whether a pronoun shows possession or acts as subject or object in the sentence

Ü Writers use the following four terms

– Subjective

– Objective

– Possessive

– Reflexive

Possessive

Ü Possessive case means the pronoun shows ownership

– Possessive case pronouns do not use an apostrophe

– Example: The goldfish was ours, but Hal gave it to his cat.

– Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs

Subjective

Ü Subjective case means the pronoun is a subject of the sentence (The doer of the action)

– Example: She gave her goldfish to the boy next door.

– I, you, he, she, we, they, who

Objective

Ü Objective case means the pronoun is an object of the sentence (the receiver of the action)

– Examples: Rebecca sent flowers to her. (Object of Preposition)

– Suzy phoned him tonight. (Object of Verb)

– Me, you, him, her, us, them, whom

Reflexive

Ü Reflexive pronouns are used 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

Usage Rules

Ü Use the subjective case at the beginning of sentences

–  I/me hate grammar

Ü Use the subjective case after the verb “to be” (is, was, will be)

– It was he/him who called

Ü Use the subjective case after “as” or “than”

– My brother is more agile than I /me (am).

Usage Rules

Ü Reduce sentences to their simplest forms

– Rod and (I / me) ate three pizzas.

– Mother gave her crystal to Bob and (me/ I).

Ü Use the objective case after prepositions (joining words)

– Several of (us, we) girls are going to Cancun for our holidays in March.

Usage Rules

Ü 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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