Understanding Pronouns

This lesson is to help students understand pronouns. You will explain about pronouns, and then you will give them a worksheet.

First, you will explain about pronouns.

Pronouns refer to a specific person, place or thing. There are first person, second person, and third person pronouns. These pronouns can be singular or plural.

Personal Pronouns - Singular

First personal pronouns are I, me, my, and mine.

Second personal pronouns are you, your, and yours.

Third personal pronouns are he, she, him, her, his, hers, her, it, and its.

Personal Pronouns - Plural

First personal pronouns are we, us, our, and ours.

Second personal pronouns are you, your, and yours.

Third personal pronouns are they, them, their, and theirs.

Using Pronouns and Nouns in Dialogue

You need to use personal pronouns occasionally in dialogue sections as well as nouns.

Example

Sherry went to the store to buy some groceries. Then, she went to the gas station and back home.

Sherry is the noun. She is the personal pronoun. It takes the place of the noun, Sherry. That way you don’t have to use the word Sherry all the time. You need to use pronouns to break the repetition of the noun. However, you want to vary the words.

Example

In dialogue, you wouldn’t want to continue using the personal pronouns of more than one person.

Sherry went to the store. She met Kari there. �"Hi Kari. How are you?”

�"I’m okay. What about you?” She asked

�"I’m doing great. How about getting together sometime?”

�"Sounds good,” she replied

�"Would you like to go to a movie?”

�"Sure.”

�"Okay. Give me a call sometime soon,” she said.

�"I will,” she replied.

When the conversation keeps going, readers tend to lose track of who’s talking. This dialogue is confusing because you may don’t always know who is speaking.

In this type of situation, you want to vary the nouns and pronouns. Occasionally, you need to use the nouns so readers will know who is speaking instead of having to go back to the beginning of the dialogue.

After you explain about pronouns and how to use them, you can pass out the worksheet for them to do independently.

When they have completed their worksheet, you can collect their papers for grading.



Worksheet on Personal Pronouns

Directions: Underline the personal pronouns in these sentences.

1. We are going shopping this weekend.

2. Today you are going to clean up your room after you eat.

3. They will be going to a movie tonight.

4. Christy and Megan like to read their mystery books before they go to bed.

5. The substitute teacher suggested they have an extra recess since they were good that day.

6. Tom went to the ballgame after he finished supper.

7. Mary, Carol, and I went shopping last weekend.

8. Sara went to the store after she got off work.

9. Christy likes to solve cases as well as read books. She also writes in her journal before she goes to bed.

10. Can I go to the toy store today, Mom? Directions: For each of these nouns, write a pronoun.

1. Bob –

2. Carol –

3. toy –

4. cat –

5. girl –

6. boy – Directions: Above each noun, you need to write N. Above each pronoun, you need to write P.

1. Jenny liked her new classes in college.

2. Tim was happy about being accepted as a contributing editor.

3. Jim plays on his skateboard every day after school.

4. I like to write in my journal every day before I go to bed.

5. Christy and Megan read in their favorite mystery books.

6. Penny came home and saw her apartment door slightly ajar. She wondered who had been in her apartment and why.

7. Christy enjoys working on her new computer. She likes to check her e-mail throughout the day.

8. Megan likes to check out the writer's wanted ads on the Internet.

9. Penny is an amateur detective and stores her personal information in her computer. She has a password so that nobody can retrieve her information.

10. Penny was frightened about someone breaking into her apartment, so she escaped to a deserted island.

You can grade students on the number correct out of the total possible number.