Understanding Personal Pronouns at
GrammarSongs by melissa You have learned that nouns include the people,
places, and things we read, speak, and write about. You have also learned that
proper nouns are the capitalized names of people, places, and things. They make
your writing more specific by telling exactly which person, place, or object you
are referring to. Instead of boy, I can write Zeke. Instead
of teacher, I can name Mr. Green. Instead of city.... Niceville. Instead of school....
Tubman elementary. Instead of movies ....Star Wars... and instead of cat, I can
specifically name Stripes! Nouns and proper nouns are both important because
they form the images or understanding that we receive when we read or listen.
We can use the noun "girl" or proper noun "Cheyenne," and we can use the noun
"restaurant" or proper noun "Olive vineyard" to form images for our reader. The girl
went to the restaurant. Cheyenne went to Olive Vineyard. Pronouns
are substitutes or replacements for nouns. The prefix "pro" means "for," so
pronouns stand in for nouns. So we can use a pronoun to replace the noun "girl"
or the proper noun "Cheyenne" when we write. Instead of writing, "The girl went
to the restaurant," or "Cheyenne went to Olive Vineyard," we can use the pronoun
"she."' She went to Olive Vineyard. The pronoun "she" can take the place of "the
girl" or "Cheyenne." "She" is a subject pronoun since she is replacing the
subject in our sentence. Subject pronouns include I, you, he, she, it, we, plural you,
and they. I, you, he, she, and it are singular, meaning they replace only one
person or thing in the sentence. We plural you, and they are plural subject
pronouns because they replace a group of people or things as subjects of a
sentence. For example,if I write, "The car went quickly down the road," I can see one
single car driving quickly down the road. "It" would be the pronoun to replace the
noun "ca"r since there's only one car and a car is neither male nor female.
So my sentence would read "It went quickly down the road." But, what if there
is more than one car? What if my sentence read, The cars went quickly down the road."
I see more than one car zipping down the road. Which pronoun should I use now? Hmm....
I would need to use the pronoun "they" since there is a group of cars and I am
not a part of that group "They" is the personal subject pronoun I should choose.
They went quickly down the road. Subject pronouns are important when speaking and
writing because you don't want to overuse your noun or proper noun
repeatedly. I have a bunny named Fluffy. Fluffy is gray with a pink nose. Fluffy
likes to eat Bunny Hop pet food and carrots.
Fluffy loves to share with her friend, Spice. This paragraph does a good job
talking about Fluffy, but it sounds a little choppy! The student used "Fluffy"...
one... two... three... four.... four times! Since "Fluffy" is our subject and we want our
reader to know who we are talking about we will leave the name "Fluffy" in our first
sentence, but we can use the personal subject pronoun "she"' to replace "Fluffy
in the other sentences since Fluffy is one bunny and female. I have a bunny named Fluffy. She is gray with a pink nose. She likes to eat Bunny Hop pet
food and carrots. She loves to share with her friends
Spice. Using pronouns gives our writing better flow. Let's practice using
pronouns as subjects in some simple sentences. Remember, we can substitute the
subject for the pronouns I, you, he, she, or it if the subject is singular, meaning
the sentence is about one person or object. We can use we, plural you, or
they if the sentence is talking about a group or more
than one object. The football player caught the ball. When I read the sentence
I get a picture in my head of a football player and a ball/
They are the nouns in my sentence, but which is my subject? What or who is this
sentence about? It's about the football player. Since there is only one football
player, I need to choose a singular subject pronoun for my subject, and since
this football player is a male, I will choose the pronoun "he." My new sentence
reads, "He caught the ball." Let's try another sentence. My family went on a
picnic. When I read this sentence I get a picture in my head of me, my mom, my dad,
and my brother..... and I get a picture of all the things we take on a picnic.
"Family" and "picnic" are the nouns in my sentence, but which is my subject? What or
who was the sentence about? My family! Since there is more than one person in
my family, it is a group, so I need to use a plural pronoun.... and since I'm including
myself in the group, I will use the pronoun "we." We went on a picnic. Hooray!
So, you've learned that pronouns are words that replace nouns. You've also
learned that personal pronouns can replace the subject in your sentences.
And, most importantly, you've learned that using pronouns can prevent you from
overusing your subject when you write. Hooray! You win an award for understanding
pronouns! Thank you for joining me at GrammarSongs by Melissa.
