Example Sentences: Subject and Object Pronouns



Subject, Object, and Possessive Pronouns and AdjectivesExample Sentences: Subject and Object PronounsSubject PronounsExampleObject PronounsExampleII work in Portland.meShe gave me the book.youYou like listening to music.youPeter bought you a present.heHe lives in Seattle.himShe told him the secret.sheShe went on vacation last week.herI asked her to come with me.itIt seems hot today!itJack gave it to Alice.weWe enjoy playing golf.usThe teacher taught us French.youYou can come to the party.youI passed out the books to you last week.theyThey are students at this school.themThe state provided them with insurance.Example Sentences: Possessive Adjectives and PronounsPossessive AdjectivesExamplePossessive PronounsExamplemyThat is my house.mineThat car is mine.yourYour subject is English.yoursThat book is yours.hisHis wife is from Italy.hisThat dog over there is his.herHer name is Christa.hersThat house is hers.itsIts color is black.itsThat food is itsourOur car is very old.oursThat poster on the wall is ours.yourI have your tests corrected for you today.yoursThe responsibility is all yours.theirIt's difficult to understand their meaning.theirsThe house on the corner is theirs.Note:A possessive adjective is an adjective that is used to show ownership. It comes before a noun in the sentence and lets us know to whom the noun belongs. While many cases of ownership are shown with possessive nouns (Karen's, children's), these possessive adjectives are not nouns and are not formed by adding an apostrophe + s.Do not confuse these possessive adjectives with possessive pronouns. A possessive pronoun does show ownership, but it does not come before a noun or in a noun phrase. It stands alone. It can also be used to replace a noun. Remember, possessive pronouns are used to replace the noun. Possessive adjectives are used to describe the noun.However, “its” for possessive pronoun is very rare to use because of the odd sound, for example:That tree has lost some of its leaves, but this one still has all of its.I washed two shirts: my green one lost two of its buttons and my blue one lost three of its.Your hair still has all its auburn luster, but mine has lost some of pare them with:That tree has lost some of its leaves, but this one still has them all.I washed two shirts: my green one lost two of its buttons and my blue one lost three.Your hair still has all its auburn luster, but mine has lost some. Or:"Is this the cat's?". "Oh yes, that's its basket."How about:Which is the trees shadow?That shadow is its.OR "That is its shadow (there)."More about Pronoun “IT”We commonly use the pronoun it as both a subject and an object pronoun:Don’t drink the milk. It smells terrible.Has anyone seen my phone? I can’t find it anywhere.We often use it in question tags:That furniture is lovely. It isn’t too expensive for us, is it?You know the flat with three bedrooms by the supermarket? It’s the best one we’ve seen so far, isn’t it?Uses of the impersonal pronoun itIt is the only impersonal pronoun in English. The following are some of the important uses of it.It can be used as a subject to an impersonal verb.It is raining.It is snowing on the mountains.It is Sunday today.‘What is the time now?’ ‘It is 5 o’clock.’It is always cloudy on the hills.The pronoun it is used as a provisional subject, when the real subject is an infinitive.It is not easy to defeat him. (More natural than ‘To defeat him is not easy.’)It is dangerous to play with fire. (More natural than ‘To play with fire is dangerous.’)It is used to represent a noun in the neuter gender.I am taking the meat back to the shop because it isn’t good.It can be used to represent a young baby of either sex.The baby is crying. It must be hungry.I did not disturb the child because it was sleeping.It can also be used for small and domestic animals.I love my dog. It is almost human.I will not sell my cow because it yields 10 liters of milk every day.It is used as an emphasizer before a noun or a pronoun.It was Susie who painted this picture.It was John who broke the window.It was Nancy who made the cake.It was the Prime Minister who made this announcement.It can be used to refer to a preceding statement.Jack was maltreated by his uncle; and he could not forget it all his life.Exercises:Exercise 1 (Personal Pronoun and Possessive Adjective)Fill the gaps with the correct pronouns.Once upon a time there was a girl called Little Red Riding Hood. Together with ________ mum, ________ lived in a big forest. One fine day, Little Red Riding Hood’s mother said, “________ grandma is ill. Please go and take this cake and a bottle of wine to ________. Grandma’s house is not too far from ________ house, but always keep to the path and don’t stop!” So, Little Red Riding Hood made ________ way to Grandma’s house. In the forest ________ met the big bad wolf. Little Red Riding Hood greeted ________ and the wolf asked: “Where are ________ going, Little Red Riding Hood?” “To ________ grandma’s house.” answered Little Red Riding Hood. “Can you tell ________ where ________ grandma lives?” “________ lives in a little cottage at the edge of the forest.” “Why don’t ________ pick some nice flowers for ________?” asked the wolf. “That’s a good idea.” said Little Red Riding Hood and began looking for flowers. Meanwhile, the wolf was on ________ way to grandma’s house. The house was quite small but nice and ________ roof was made out of straw. The wolf went inside and swallowed poor old Grandma. After that ________ put Grandma’s clothes on and lay down in ________ bed. Some time later, Little Red Riding Hood came to the little cottage. ________ went inside and was shocked by the sight of ________ grandma. “Oh grandma, what big eyes, hands and mouth ________ have got!” Little Red Riding Hood said. There, the wolf jumped out of bed and swallowed ________, too. Then ________ lay down again and fell asleep. After a while, the hunter passed by Grandma’s house. ________ heard somebody snoring, thought that there was something wrong and consequently went inside. In the bedroom, ________ saw the wolf. First, the hunter wanted to shoot ________, but then ________ saw the wolf’s big belly. So, the hunter took out ________ knife and cut the belly open. Out came Little Red Riding Hood and ________ grandma. “Thank you for saving ________,” whispered Little Red Riding Hood. Then, all of ________ went to fetch some stones and put ________ in the wolf’s belly. Soon the wolf woke up. ________ was very thirsty and went to the well in the garden to drink some water. When the wolf wanted to lean over and drink, the stones in ________ belly were too heavy and pulled ________ down into the well. Grandma, the hunter and Little Red Riding Hood were happy, ate ________ cake and drank the wine. But the wolf in the well thought, “Why do such things always happen to ________?”?Relative clausesRelative clauses are clauses starting with the relative pronouns who*, that, which, whose, where, when. They are most often used to define or identify the noun that precedes them. Here are some examples:Do you know the girl who started in grade 7 last week?Can I have the pencil that I gave you this morning?A notebook is a computer which can be carried around.I won't eat in a restaurant whose cooks smoke.I want to live in a place where there is lots to do.Yesterday was a day when everything went wrong!* There is a relative pronoun whom, which can be used as the object of the relative clause. For example: My science teacher is a person whom I like very much. To many people the word whom now sounds old-fashioned, and it is rarely used in spoken English.Imagine, a girl is talking to Tom. You want to know who she is and ask a friend whether he knows her. You could say:A girl is talking to Tom. Do you know the girl?That sounds rather complicated, doesn't it? It would be easier with a relative clause: you put both pieces of information into one sentence. Start with the most important thing?– you want to know who the girl is.Do you know the girl?…As your friend cannot know which girl you are talking about, you need to put in the additional information – the girl is talking to Tom. Use “the girl” only in the first part of the sentence, in the second part replace it with the relative pronoun (for people, use the relative pronoun “who”). So the final sentence is:Do you know the girl who is talking to Tom?relative pronounuseexamplewhosubject or object pronoun for peopleI told you about the woman who lives next door.whichsubject or object pronoun for animals and thingsDo you see the cat which is lying on the roof?whichreferring to a whole sentenceHe couldn’t read which surprised me.whosepossession for people animals and thingsDo you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?whomobject pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.thatsubject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.Note 1: The relative pronoun whose is used in place of the possessive pronoun. It must be followed by a noun. Another example: There's a boy in grade 8 whose father is a professional tennis player. (There's a boy in grade 8. His father is a professional tennis player.)Note 2: The relative pronouns where and when are used with place and time nouns. Another example: FIS is a school where children from more than 50 countries are educated. 2001 was the year when terrorists attacked the Twin Towers in New York.relative pronoun (adverb)meaninguseexamplewhenin/on whichrefers to a time expressionthe day when we met himwherein/at whichrefers to a placethe place where we met himwhyfor whichrefers to a reasonthe reason why we met himDefining relative clausesAs the name suggests, defining relative clauses give essential information to define or identify the person or thing we are talking about. Take for example the sentence: Dogs that like cats are very unusual. In this sentence we understand that there are many dogs in the world, but we are only talking about the ones that like cats. The defining relative clause gives us that information. If the defining relative clause were removed from the sentence, the sentence would still be grammatically correct, but its meaning would have changed significantly.Defining relative clauses are composed of a relative pronoun (sometimes omitted), a verb, and optional other elements such as the subject or object of the verb. Commas are not used to separate defining relative clauses from the rest of the sentence. Commas or parentheses are used to separate non-defining relative clauses from the rest of the sentence.ExamplesChildren who hate chocolate are uncommon.They live in a house whose roof is full of holes.An elephant is an animal that lives in hot countries.Let's go to a country where the sun always shines.The reason why I came here today is not important.Relative pronounsThe following relative pronouns are used in defining relative clauses. These relative pronouns appear at the start of the defining relative clause and refer to a noun that appears earlier in the sentence.PersonThingPlaceTimeReasonSubjectwho/thatwhich/thatObjectwho/whom/thatwhich/thatwherewhenwhyPossessivewhosewhoseReplacing with "that" in spoken EnglishThe pronouns who, whom, and which are often replaced by that in spoken English. Whom is very formal and is only used in written English. You can use who or that instead, or omit the pronoun completely. In the examples below, the common usage is given with the defining relative clause highlighted. The pronoun that would be used in more formal written English instead of that is given in parentheses.ExamplesThe dish that I ordered was delicious. (which)The man that came with her has already left. (who)The doctor that I was hoping to see wasn't on duty. (whom)Including or omitting the relative pronounThe relative pronoun can only be omitted when it is the object of the clause. When the relative pronoun is the subject of the clause, it cannot be omitted. You can usually tell when a relative pronoun is the object of the clause because it is followed by another subject + verb. See below, in the first sentence the relative pronoun cannot be omitted because it is the subject of the relative clause ("the woman spoke"). In the second sentence, the pronoun can be omitted because "the woman" is the object of the verb "loved".Noun, subject of the main clauseRelative pronounVerb + rest of relative clauseVerb + rest of main clauseThe womanthatspoke at the meetingwas very knowledgeable.The woman(that)the man lovedwas living in New York.Other uses of "that"'That' is often used to introduce defining relative clauses when they follow the words something, anything, everything, nothing, all or a superlative. It may be omitted when it is not the subject of the clause.ExamplesThere's something (that) you should know.It was the best film (that) I've ever seen.Do you have anything that will help my throat?Everything (that) you say seems silly to me.Nothing (that) anyone does can replace my lost bag.I'm sorry, but that is all (that) I saw.Non-defining relative clausesAs the name suggests, non-defining relative clauses tell us more about someone or something, but the information in these clauses does not help us to define what we are talking about. Take for example the sentence: Gorillas, which are large and originate in Africa, can sometimes be found in zoos. In this sentence we are talking about all gorillas, not just some of them. The information in the non-defining relative clause tells us something more about gorillas in general. It does not define a small group of gorillas or an individual gorilla. If the non-defining relative clause were removed from the sentence, the sentence would still be grammatically correct and the meaning would not have changed, although we would have less detail.Non-defining relative clauses are composed of a relative pronoun, a verb, and optional other elements such as the subject or object of the verb. Commas or parentheses are always used to separate non-defining relative clauses from the rest of the sentence.ExamplesJohn's mother, who lives in Scotland, has 6 grandchildren.My friend John, who went to the same school as me, has just written a best-selling novel.My grandmother, who is dead now, came from the North of England.We stopped at the museum, which we had never visited before.I've just come back from London, where John lives.Yesterday I met a woman named Susan, whose husband works in London.Relative pronounsThe following relative pronouns are used in non-defining relative clauses. These relative pronouns appear at the start of the non-defining relative clause and refer to a noun that appears earlier in the sentence.PersonThingPlaceSubjectwhowhichObjectwho/whomwhichwherePossessivewhoseDifferences with defining relative clausesIn defining relative clauses, the pronouns who, whom, and which are often replaced by that in spoken English. In non-defining relative clauses, you cannot replace other pronouns with that. You also cannot leave out the relative pronoun in non-defining relative clauses, in the way you sometimes can in defining relative clauses. The pronoun is required, even when it is the object of the verb in the relative clause. Finally, non-defining relative clauses are always separated from the rest of the sentence by commas, unlike defining relative clauses, which have no punctuation.Examples:He gave me the letter, which was in a blue envelope. (non-defining clause: There was only one letter, it happened to be blue. You must use which)He gave me the letter which/that was in a blue envelope. (defining clause: There were several letters of different colors and he gave me the blue one. Which may be replaced by that. The commas are removed.)He gave me the letter, which I read immediately. (non-defining clause: There was only one letter. which is the object of read, but it still must be included in the sentence.)Stratford-on-Avon, which many people have written about, is Shakespeare's birthplace. (Any preposition that appears is normally placed at the end of the clause.)Stratford-on-Avon, about which many people have written, is Shakespeare's birthplace. (In formal written English, you can also put the preposition before the pronoun.)Introductory expressions in non-defining clausesNon-defining clauses can be introduced by expressions like all of or many of followed by the relative pronoun.?PersonThingall of, any of, some of, a few of, both of, each of, either of, half of, many of, most of, much of, none of, one of, two of, etc.whomwhichExamplesThere were a lot of people at the party, many of whom I had known for years.There are 14 girls in my class, a few of whom are my friends.He was carrying his belongings, many of which were broken.He had thousands of books, most of which he had read.He picked up a handful of stones, one of which was sharp.Using "which" to refer to another clauseThe relative pronoun which at the beginning of a non-defining relative clause can refer to all the information contained in the previous part of the sentence, rather than to just one word.ExamplesChris did really well in his exams, which is quite a surprise.My friends were all hiding in my apartment, which isn't what I'd expected.She's studying to become a doctor, which is difficult.Exercise 2Relative clauses - defining or non-defining? Study the situations and then decide whether the following relative clauses are defining or non-defining.defining?– no commasnon-defining?– commasI have three brothers.My brother who lives in Sidney came to see me last month.My brother, who lives in Sidney, came to see me last month.I have one sister.My sister who is 25 years old spent her holiday in France.My sister, who is 25 years old, spent her holiday in France.Bob's mum has lost her keys.Bob's mum who is a musician has lost her car keys.Bob's mum, who is a musician, has lost her car keys.My friend Jane moved to Canada.My friend Jane whose husband is Canadian moved to Canada last week.My friend Jane, whose husband is Canadian, moved to Canada last week.I am a shoe fanatic.The shoes which I bought yesterday are very comfortable.The shoes, which I bought yesterday, are very comfortable.Mr. Robinson is very famous.Mr. Robinson whom I met at the trade fair is a famous inventor.Mr. Robinson, whom I met at the trade fair, is a famous inventor.Tamara has two cats. Both of them are black.Tamara's two cats which can play outside are black.Tamara's two cats, which can play outside, are black.Kevin has four cats. Two of them are black.Kevin's two cats which are black can play outside.Kevin's two cats, which are black, can play outside.We are on holiday. Yesterday we visited a temple.The temple which we visited yesterday is very old.The temple, which we visited yesterday, is very old.We are on holiday. Yesterday we visited a castle.Birmingham Castle which we visited yesterday is very old.Birmingham Castle, which we visited yesterday, is very old. ................
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