English Grammar Lessons

Compound Nouns Definition
A compound noun is a noun consisting of two or more words working together as a single
unit to name a person, place, or thing. Compound nouns are usually made up of two nouns or an adjective and a noun, but other combinations are also possible, as well.

Generally, the first word in the compound noun tells us what kind of person or thing it is or what purpose he, she, or it serves, while the second word defines the person or object, telling us who or what it is. For example:
• water + bottle = water bottle (a bottle used for water)
• dining + room = dining room (a room used for dining)
• back + pack = backpack (a pack you wear on your back)
• police + man = policeman (a police officer who is a man)
Like other nouns, compound nouns can be modified by other adjectives. For example:
• “I need to buy a large water bottle.”
• “That’s a beautiful dining room.”
• “My old backpack is still my favorite.”
• “A lone policeman foiled the attempted robbery.”
You can recognize compound nouns because the meaning of the two words put together is different than the meaning of the words separately. For example, water and bottle have their own separate meanings, but when we use them together they mean a particular type of bottle that we drink water from.
Forming compound nouns
As mentioned, compound nouns are formed by combining two or more words, with the most

common combinations being noun + noun or adjective + noun. However, combinations using other parts of speech are also possible. Below are the various combinations used to create compound nouns.
Noun + noun
There are a great number of compound nouns formed using the noun + noun combination. For example:
• backpack
• bathroom
• bathtub
• bedroom
• bus stop
• fish tank
• football
• handbag
• motorcycle
• shopkeeper
• tablecloth
• toothpaste
• wallpaper
• water bottle

• website
• wristwatch
Adjective + noun
There are also many compound nouns that are formed using the adjective + noun
combination. For example:
• full moon
• blackberry
• blackbird
• blackboard
• cell(ular) phone
• mobile phone
• hardware
• highway
• greenhouse
• redhead
• six-pack
• small talk
• software
• whiteboard

Other combinations
Although the noun + noun and adjective + noun combinations are the most common, there are also plenty of other possibilities for forming compound nouns. For example:

Combination Examples
noun + verb haircut, rainfall, sunrise, sunset
noun + preposition hanger-on, passerby
noun + prepositional phrase brother-in-law, mother-in-law
noun + adjective cupful, spoonful

verb + noun breakfast, washing machine, runway, pickpocket, swimming pool
preposition + noun bystander, influx, onlooker, underpants, upstairs
verb + preposition check-in, checkout/check-out, drawback, lookout, makeup
adjective + verb dry cleaning, public speaking

Writing compound nouns
Compound nouns are very common, both in written and spoken English, and there are spelling, punctuation, and pronunciation norms that we must be aware of if we want to use them correctly.
The three written forms of compound nouns
Writing compound nouns is a bit complicated due to the fact that they can take three different forms.
First, open compound nouns (or spaced compound nouns) are those that are written as two separate words, such as washing machine, swimming pool, and water bottle.
Second, there are hyphenated compound nouns, as in check-in, hanger-on, and mother-in- law.
Third, there are closed compound nouns (or solid compound nouns)—those that are written as one word, such as rainfall, drawback, and toothpaste.
Unfortunately, there aren’t any rules that tell us which of the three forms is acceptable for a

particular compound noun. Some compound nouns are commonly written in two forms, as in website / web site or checkout / check-out, while others, such as bus stop, are strictly used in one form. Where more than one is possible, the form that is more commonly used may depend on the variety of English (American English vs. British English, for example), the style guide of a publication, or the personal preference of the writer.
If you’re not sure which of the three forms to use, it’s important to check a good, up-to-date dictionary. If you are relying on the spellchecker in a word processor, remember that this has its limits. For example, spellcheck is good for checking whether a particular compound noun can be written as one word (closed); however, if we write a compound noun as two words (open) and it should be written as one word (closed), or if we write it with a hyphen and it should be written without a hyphen, spellcheck will not catch the mistakes.
Finally, remember that, no matter which way the compound noun is written, it always functions grammatically as a single unit.
Pluralizing compound nouns
We usually pluralize a compound noun by adding an “-s” or “-es” to the main word, or the defining word, of the compound noun. This is usually the second word, but not always. For example:

Singular Plural
bedroom bedrooms

football footballs
water bottle water bottles
full moon full moons

BUT

Singular Plural
secretary general secretaries general
mother-in-law mothers-in-law
passerby / passer-by passersby / passers-by

When it’s not obvious which of the words is the defining word, we pluralize the end of it. For example:

Singular Plural
haircut haircuts
check-in check-in

checkout / check-out checkouts / check-outs
upturn upturns

Pronouncing compound nouns
In general, compound nouns are pronounced with the emphasis on the first part of the word. For example:
BEDroom BLACKbird CHECK-in
GREENhouse MAKEup WATER bottle
Pronouncing compound nouns in this way helps us distinguish words that form a compound noun like blackbird and greenhouse from other instances when the same words would appear together, as in: “Look at that beautiful black bird,” or “I like that green house on the corner.”
Although we normally stress the first word in a compound noun, there are certain exceptions to this pattern. For example, we disregard this rule when pronouncing compound nouns that

include titles or proper nouns, as in Secretary GENeral and Mount RUSHmore.
If in doubt, you can use a good dictionary to determine which syllable should be emphasized.

Nominalization (Creating Nouns) Definition
Nominalization refers to the creation of a noun from verbs or adjectives.

Most of the time, nouns are created from other parts of speech through the use of suffixes. In other cases, the word remains the same but is simply used a different way; this is known as conversion or zero derivation.
Suffixes
Suffixes are certain groupings of letters that can be attached to the end of words to change their meaning. Most verbs and adjectives that become nouns are changed using suffixes.
(Be aware, however, that the examples below only show some of the common ways of using suffixes to change verbs and adjectives to nouns; they are not all concrete rules, and the lists of possible suffixes are not exhaustive ones. The best way to learn the spellings of such nouns is by using a good dictionary, or by encountering them in everyday speech and writing.)
Verbs
There are certain patterns that we follow to decide which suffix is needed in order to create a noun from a verb.
Gerunds
The most straightforward way of turning a verb into a noun is through the use of gerunds. These are made by adding the suffix “-ing” to the end of the verb. For example:

• “Walking is very pleasant.”
• “I enjoy reading.”
• “Listening is an important aspect of any relationship.”
• “My sleeping has been very disrupted lately.”
• “Baking is my favorite pastime.”
• “I hate running.”
Note that if the gerund takes any additional information, such as an object, adverb, or prepositional phrase, then this entire group of words (known as a gerund phrase) acts as a noun. To learn more about gerunds and gerund phrases, go to the section on Gerunds in the chapter about Other Parts of Speech.
Nouns of agency and profession
When we turn a verb into a noun to represent someone (or occasionally something) who is an agent of that action, or who performs the action in a professional capacity, we typically use the suffixes “-or,” “-er,” or “-r.” For example:
• “My fiancée is an actor.” (Someone who acts.)
• “I’m training to be a teacher.” (Someone who teaches.)
• “The writer is very well known.” (Someone who writes.)

• “The company is a major employer in the area.” (Something that employs people.)
• “The projector was broken today.” (Something that projects.)
Nouns of recipience
For verbs that become nouns to represent someone who is the recipient of an action, we often use the suffix “-ee.”
Perhaps the most common example of this in modern English is employee (someone who others employ), as in:
• “The employee is disputing his wages.” Other examples include:
• “The bank must approve you as the payee.” (Someone who is paid.)
• “There is one more interviewee waiting to be seen.” (Someone who is interviewed.)
Nouns of general action
We can use a variety of different suffixes to describe an action in general. The most common of these are “-tion,” “-sion,” “-ance,” “-ment,” and “-ence”; in some instances, we change the ending of the verb slightly in order to take the suffix.
For example:
• “His acceptance of the position was received warmly.” (The verb accept becomes the

noun acceptance.)
• “Thank you for the invitation!” (The verb invite becomes the noun invitation.)
• “In conclusion, we should see a spike in profits soon.” (The verb conclude becomes the noun conclusion.)
• “Government must derive from the will of the population.” (The verb govern becomes the noun government; the verb populate becomes the noun population.))
• “Attendance is at an all-time low.” (The verb attend becomes the noun attendance.)
• “I was surprised by my enjoyment of the play.” (The verb enjoy becomes the noun
enjoyment.)
• “Use the textbook as your reference if you’re confused.” (The verb refer becomes the noun reference.)
Some other suffixes that work in this way are “-al” and “-ure,” as in:
• “Failure to find a solution is not an option.” (The verb fail becomes the noun failure.)
• “The review will include a quick perusal of your work.” (The verb peruse becomes the noun perusal.)
Adjectives
We change adjectives into nouns when we want to speak of them as general ideas or concepts. Adjectives can take a variety of different suffixes, depending on how they are

spelled.
“-ness”
We often use the suffix “-ness” for many adjectives. Most of the time, we can simply add the suffix on to the end of the adjective without making any changes to its spelling. For example:
• “The hardness of diamond makes it a great cutting tool.” (The adjective hard becomes the noun hardness.)
• “The child’s meekness is quite sweet.” (The adjective meek becomes the noun meekness.)
• “His gruffness is not appreciated.” (The adjective gruff becomes the noun gruffness.)
• “I don’t care for the roughness of my hands.” (The adjective rough becomes the noun
roughness.)
• “I don’t think you understand the seriousness of the situation.” (The adjective serious
becomes the noun seriousness.)
• “Please don’t underestimate my gratefulness.” (The adjective grateful becomes the noun
gratefulness.)
However, when we use this suffix with an adjective ending in “-y,” we change “y” to “i”:
• “We’re waiting for some steadiness in the market.” (The adjective steady becomes the noun steadiness.)
• “The teacher puts her students’ happiness above all else.” (The adjective happy becomes

the noun happiness.)
Some adjectives ending in a “-t” preceded by a long vowel sound can take this suffix as well:
• “Her greatness is without question.” (The adjective great becomes the noun greatness.)
• “The flatness of the Earth was disproven long ago.” (The adjective flat becomes the noun
flatness.)
“-y”
Other adjectives that end in a “-t” preceded by a consonant will take the suffix “-y” to become nouns. For example:
• “This project will be fraught with difficulty.” (The adjective difficult becomes the noun
difficulty.)
• “That’s enough of your modesty.” (The adjective modest becomes the noun modesty.)
• “Honesty is a very important virtue.” (The adjective honest becomes the noun honesty.)
“-ity”
When adjectives end in “-e,” they often take the suffix “-ity” to become nouns. However, there is often a change to the spelling of the word. Usually, we simply drop “e” and replace it with “-ity,” as in:

• “There is a scarcity of food in the city.” (The adjective scarce becomes the noun scarcity.)
• “Kindness is a rarity in this world.” (The adjective rare becomes the noun rarity.) When the word ends in “ble,” though, we have to change “le” to “il,” as in:
• “This project is your responsibility.” (The adjective responsible becomes the noun
responsibility.)
• “I have no question of your ability.” (The adjective able becomes the noun ability.)
Uniquely, we also use the “-ity” suffix to change the adjective hilarious to hilarity, even though other adjectives with similar endings (such as serious, grievous, callous, etc.) take the suffix “-ness.”
“-ance” and “-ence”
We often use the suffix “-ance” for adjectives ending in “-ant,” as in:
• “This is of the utmost importance.” (The adjective important becomes the noun
importance.)
• “Your ignorance is astounding.” (The adjective ignorant becomes the noun ignorance.) We often use the suffix “-ence” for adjectives ending in “-ent,” as in:
• “We demand greater independence.” (The adjective independent becomes the noun
independence.)

• “Silence is expected during tests.” (The adjective silent becomes the noun silence.)
Conversion
When we use a verb or adjective as a noun without changing its spelling in any way, it is called conversion or zero derivation.
Verbs
Conversion is especially common with verbs, and there are many instances where the same word may function as a verb or a noun, depending on the context. For example:
• “Please answer the phone, Tom.” (verb)
• “We’ll need an answer by tomorrow.” (noun)
• “I run each morning before breakfast.” (verb)
• “I’m going for a run later today.” (noun)
• “Meteorologists are forecasting a snowstorm overnight.” (verb)
• “The forecast said there would be rain in the afternoon.” (noun)
Less commonly, there are instances in which, instead of changing a word’s spelling, we change where we pronounce a stress on the word’s syllables to indicate a shift from a verb to a noun; this change is known as a suprafix. Let’s look at some examples (with the stressed syllable underlined):

• “You need to convert pounds into kilograms.” (verb)
• “The church always welcomes recent converts to its meetings.” (noun)
• “Make sure you record the meeting so we can review it later.” (verb)
• “I love listening to old records.” (noun)
• “Please don’t insult my intelligence.” (verb)
• “We will not forget this insult to our company.” (noun)
The word use can also function as either a noun or a verb, but instead of changing the stress on a syllable, we change the actual pronunciation of the word, as in:
• “We plan to use a diagnostic test to evaluate the problem.” (verb—use is pronounced “yooz”)
• “There is only one use for this tool.” (noun—use is pronounced “yuce”)
Nominal adjectives
We can also convert adjectives into nouns without changing spelling, but we generally do so by adding the article the before the word. These are known as nominal adjectives. For example:
• “The wealthy have an obligation to help the poor.”
• “We all want the best for her.”
• “This law protects the innocent.”

To learn more about how and when these are used, go to the section about Nominal Adjectives in the chapter on Adjectives.
Infinitives
Lastly, verbs can serve the function of nouns by being used in their infinitive form—that is, the base form of the verb with the particle to. Infinitives are not technically an example of nominalization, because they can also act as adjectives and adverbs, but it’s worth looking at how they work when they function as nouns. For example:
As the subject of a clause
• “To err is human; to forgive is divine.”
• “To study mathematics at Harvard was her ultimate dream.”
• “To live in the city means adjusting to a completely different lifestyle.”
As the object of a verb
• “I’m not going unless you agree to go with me.”
• “You appear to be correct.”
• “Please be quiet; I’m trying to study.”

As an object complement
(An object complement is a word or group of words that describe, rename, or complete the direct object of the verb.)
• “I don’t expect you to approve of my decision.”
• “She’s forcing me to work through the weekend.”
• “We need you to make a few more copies.”
Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Which of the following is used to change the spelling of a verb or adjective that is made into a noun?
a) prefixes
b) suffixes
c) infixes
d) circumfixes

2. What is the name for nominalization in which the spelling of the verb or adjective does
not change?
a) inversion

b) conscription
c) conversion
d) elision

3. Which of the following suffixes is commonly used to change a verb to a noun to reflect
agency or profession?
a) “-or”
b) “-ing”
c) “-ance”
d) “-ence”

4. Which of the following nominalized verbs (in bold) is a gerund?
a) “Adherence to the rules is expected of all students.”
b) “We weren’t expecting her refusal of our offer.”
c) “Winning isn’t everything, you know.”
d) “We need to hire a few more employees.”
Pronouns Definition
Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns in a sentence. The noun being replaced

is known as the antecedent of the pronoun.
Using pronouns
We commonly use pronouns in speech and writing to avoid sounding unnatural and repetitive by reusing the same noun in a sentence multiple times. Take, for example, the following sentence:
• “John said that John wants to use the computer that belongs to John.”
The sentence is awkward because John is repeated so many times. Instead, we can use personal pronouns to stand in for the name of the antecedent to make the sentence sound more natural, as in:
• “John said that he wants to use the computer that belongs to him.”
In addition to making the sentence sound better, the pronouns provide specific information, telling us that John is in the third person. If the sentence were in the first person, it would read:
• “I said that I want to use the computer that belongs to me.”
(We never use our own names when we talk about what we’re doing in the first person, so we use the personal pronoun I instead of an antecedent.)
As we can see in the examples above, the pronouns are all serving the same function as nouns. They can be the subject of a sentence or clause, the object of a verb, or they can follow linking verbs to rename or re-identify the subject (known as a subject complement).

Categories of Pronouns
There is a wide range of different categories of pronouns that we use in everyday speech and writing. Each kind of pronoun has a unique function in a sentence; many pronouns belong to multiple categories, and can serve different purposes depending on the context. We’ll briefly summarize these categories below, but you can continue on into the chapter to learn more about each.
Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns, which we looked at briefly above, are used to represent people in a sentence. Unique among pronouns, personal pronouns experience a wide range of inflection, meaning they change form to reflect specific meaning in different contexts.
We already saw in the example above how personal pronouns can inflect according to grammatical person (first person, second person, or third person), but they also change to reflect grammatical number (singular or plural), gender (masculine, feminine, or neuter), and case (subjective, objective, or possessive).
Go to each of the sub-sections of personal pronouns to learn more about all their different forms.
Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are very similar in style and form to personal pronouns—so similar, in fact, that they are listed as a sub-group of personal pronouns in this guide. (They are technically not personal pronouns, but their use and the way they are formed are so similar that it is useful seeing them in direct comparison to personal pronouns.)
We use reflexive pronouns when the subject of a clause is also the object of the clause’s verb. This occurs with certain reflexive verbs. They are formed by adding “-self” (singular) or “-selves” (plural) to the end of my, your, our, him, her, it or them (as well as the indefinite pronoun one). For example:
• “I saw myself in the mirror.”
• “She imagined herself on a tropical beach.”
• “They consider themselves to be above the law.”
• “One should not concern oneself with the business of others.”
Intensive Pronouns
Intensive pronouns are identical to reflexive pronouns in form, but, instead of functioning as the object of a verb, they serve to emphasize or reiterate the subject’s role in the verb’s action. For instance:
• “I checked over these documents myself.”
• “The president himself will be in attendance.”

Indefinite Pronouns
We use indefinite pronouns in place of a noun that is not being specified in the sentence. There are many different indefinite pronouns; which one we use depends on whether we are representing a noun that is a person or thing, and whether that noun is singular or plural.
Some common examples include:
• “Is everyone here?”
• “I hope all is going well.”
• “Whatever you decide is fine with me.”
• “Many are coming to the show tonight.”
Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to indicate specific people or things and indicate whether they are a) singular or plural and b) near or not near to the speaker. The most common are this, that, these, and those. For example:
• “This isn’t mine.” (singular, nearby)
• “Give me that.” (singular, not near)
• “These are really gross.” (plural, nearby)
• “I forgot to bring those.” (plural, not near)

Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are used to ask questions, functioning either as the subject or object of such sentences. There are five primary interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, and what.
• “Who is coming to the party tonight?” (subject)
• “So, which will it be: $10,000, or a new sports car?” (object)
• “Could you tell me whose these are?” (subject)
• “Do you know what we’re doing here?” (object)
Relative Pronouns
Relative pronouns are used to connect relative clauses (also known as adjective clauses) to the main clause in a sentence. Relative clauses either help clarify the antecedent with essential information (in which case they are known as restrictive clauses), or else give extra, nonessential information about it (in which case they are known as non-restrictive clauses).
In a relative clause, the relative pronoun functions in one of three ways: as the subject of the clause, as the object of the clause’s verb, or as a possessive determiner. For example:
• “There’s the woman who always sits next to me on the bus.” (restrictive clause; who

functions as the subject)
• “The book that I wrote is being published in January.” (restrictive clause; that functions as the object of wrote)
• “The escaped giraffe, which had been on the loose for weeks, was finally captured.” (non-restrictive clause; which functions as the subject)
• “The person, whose name can’t be revealed, appeared in court today.” (non-restrictive clause; whose functions as a possessive determiner, modifying name)
Reciprocal pronouns
We use reciprocal pronouns when two or more people both act as the subject of a verb, and both (or all) individually and equally receive the verb’s action. They can be the object of either the verb itself or a preposition used to complete the verb’s meaning.
There are two reciprocal pronouns—each other (traditionally used for two people) and one another (traditionally used for more than two people). For example:
• “Jake and I call each other every day.”
• “My neighbors and I spent a lot of time at each other’s houses when we were kids.”
Dummy Pronouns
“Dummy” pronouns (more technically known as expletive pronouns) are words that

function grammatically as pronouns but do not have antecedents—that is, they do not replace a noun, phrase, or clause. They refer to nothing in particular, instead helping the sentence to function properly in a grammatical context. There are two dummy pronouns, there and it.
• “There is a ship in the harbor.”
• “There were flowers in the meadow.”
• “It looks like it may snow tonight.”
• “Could you tell me what time it is?”

Personal pronouns Definition
A personal pronoun is a pronoun (a word that functions as and acts as a substitute for a noun
or nouns) that represents a grammatical person within a sentence. While personal pronouns often do indicate an actual person, they can also refer to animals, inanimate objects, or even intangible concepts. For instance, the word they in the previous sentence is a plural third- person neuter (gender neutral) pronoun representing the words “personal pronouns” as a grammatical person. Here are some other examples:
• “As soon as John comes home, I am going to give him back his hat.”
• “My team lost again. We really stink this year!”
• “He spoke to the boss yesterday and already got her approval.”
Which personal pronoun is used in each instance varies depending on four grammatical elements: number (singular or plural), person (first, second, or third person), gender (male, female, or neuter/neutral), and case (subjective, objective, or possessive). This shifting of form is called inflection. Quite often, the inflection of a personal pronoun will change within the same sentence.
There is also a different kind of pronoun called a reflexive pronoun, which is used when the subject of a verb is also the object (receiving the action) of the same verb. For example:

• “He looked at himself in the mirror before he left.”
• “I hurt myself on the playground today.”
Although not technically considered personal pronouns, reflexive pronouns are so similar in form and use that they have been included in this section.
We will examine each of these grammatical elements in relation to personal pronouns more in-depth in the sub-sections of this chapter, but here is a quick breakdown of all the personal pronouns and their different inflections.

Person
Number
Gender Subjective Case Objective Case Possessive Determiner P P
First Person Singular Masculine/feminine I Me My M
First Person Plural Masculine/feminine We Us Our O
Second Person
Singular/Plural
Masculine/feminine
You
You
Your
Y
Third Person Singular Feminine She Her Her H

Third
Person Singular Masculine He Him His H
Third person Singular Neuter It It Its Its
Third person Plural* Neuter (Gender Neutral) They Them Their T

(*See the usage note under “Gender” for information about using they as a singular pronoun.)
Personal Pronouns - Number Definition
Grammatical number in English simply means whether something or someone is singular
or plural—that is, is there one of something or someone (singular), or are there more than one (plural)? This is answered by the pronoun’s antecedent (the word, phrase, clause, etc., that indicates what pronoun should be used, and in what form).
For nouns, we usually just add an “-s” to the end of the word to signify that it is plural (though there are many exceptions to this). Personal pronouns, however, have specific

inflections (different forms of the word) depending on whether they are singular or plural. For the most part, only the first-person and third-person personal pronouns have plural forms. The only plural second-person pronoun is the reflexive pronoun yourselves.
For second-person pronouns that don’t inflect for number, you sometimes have to use information from another part of the sentence or paragraph to determine if it is plural or singular. (See the examples below.)
Unfortunately, there is no rule to how personal pronouns change when they become plural; you simply have to memorize them. Refer to the table in the chapter overview to learn them.
Examples:
• “I (first-person singular) am meeting my (first-person singular) writing club this afternoon. We (first-person plural)always meet on Wednesdays after class.”
• “I (first-person singular) really envy you (second-person singular)!”
• “They (third-person plural) can’t tell you (second-person plural) what it will be like; you (second-person plural) will just have to find out for yourselves (second-person plural reflexive).”
• “The main reason Martha is so beautiful is because she (third-person feminine singular)
is so tall.”
Quiz

(answers start on page 610)
1. Which personal pronouns can be inflected for number? (Choose the answer that is most
correct.)
a) All of them
b) First-person and third-person pronouns
c) Reflexive pronouns
d) Second-person pronouns
e) B & C

2. Which of the following sentences has at least one pronoun that is plural? (Choose the answer that is most correct.)
a) “I told you that I needed it done by yesterday, Jeff.”
b) “She went for a walk by herself.”
c) “Don’t take your sister’s toys, or you will make her cry.”
d) “I asked all of you here so we could discuss the state of the business.”

3. Which of the following is the plural form of the second-person reflexive pronoun?
a) yourselves
b) itselves
c) themselves
d) ourselves

4. What is the plural form of the first-person possessive pronoun mine?
a) our
b) my
c) ours
d) theirs
Personal Pronouns - Person (First person, Second person, Third person)
Definition
Grammatical person refers to the perspectives of the personal pronouns used to identify a person in speech and text—that is, it distinguishes between a speaker (first person), an addressee (second person), and others beyond that (third person).
First person
• Singular: I, me, my, mine, myself
• Plural: we, us, our, ours, ourselves
First-person pronouns are used to express an autobiographical point of view—they tell what is directly happening to the speaker, writer, or fictional character. For example:

• “I don’t know where my hat is!”
• “Janet is meeting me in town later.”
• “Hey, that book is mine! I bought it!”
When the speaker is part of a group, the first-person pronouns inflect to the plural form:
• “We brought our own car.”
• “They told us to help ourselves.”
Second person
• Singular/Plural: you, you, your, yours, yourself (singular), yourselves (plural)
We use the second-person pronouns to indicate those who are being addressed directly by the speaker. Unlike first-person pronouns, there is not a distinction between singular and plural second-person pronouns (except in the reflexive form). Here are some examples:
• “Bill, I was wondering if you could help me with the dishes?” (second person singular)
• “Children, where are your manners?” (second person plural)
• “You really must learn to help yourself.” (second person singular)
• “I’m sick of cleaning up after all of you; from now on, you can clean up after yourselves!” (second person plural)

Usage note: Generic “you”
The second-person pronouns are also often used to indicate an unspecified person. This is sometimes referred to as generic you, impersonal you, or indefinite you. This is less formal than its counterpart, the pronoun one, but it is sometimes preferred because it does not sound as snobbish or unnecessarily formal.
If one is writing something very formal or professional, then one might be better off using the generic pronoun one. If you’re writing something a bit less formal, then you are probably just fine using the generic pronoun you.
Third person
Third person is used to talk about someone or something that is not the speaker and is not being directly addressed. This is most widely used in fiction writing. When the person or thing is singular, the pronouns used in the third person are the different forms of she, he, and it:
• Feminine singular: she, her, hers, herself
• Masculine singular: he, him, his, himself
• Neuter singular: it, its, its own, itself
However, when there are multiple people or things, we use the ungendered forms of they:

• Third person plural: they, them, their, theirs, themselves
Sometimes, when a single person of an unknown gender is being discussed, the third-person plural forms (they, them, etc.) are used as a gender-neutral alternative to the third-person feminine/masculine forms. To learn more about this, please see the Usage Note about “Singular they” under the chapter section explaining gender in personal pronouns.

4. Which perspective (or perspectives) of grammatical person are being used in the following sentence?
“When we were young, my father often told us that he didn’t have as many luxuries growing up.”
a) First person
b) Second person
c) Third person
d) Both first and third person
e) Both second and third person
f) First, second, and third person
Personal Pronouns - Gender Definition
Modern English is largely an ungendered language. Whereas other languages might have

masculine and feminine forms for nouns depending on the verbs, articles, or adjectives they are used with, English nouns by and large remain neutral. However, a personal pronoun can be inflected for gender to correspond to the gender of the person (and, in some cases, an animal) it represents.
Personal pronouns are only inflected for gender when they are in the third person and singular—first-person and second-person pronouns (singular or plural) and third-person plural pronouns* remain gender neutral. Here are the gendered pronouns in English:
• Third-person feminine singular: she, her, hers, herself
• Third-person masculine singular: he, him, his, himself
The third-person singular can also be neuter. This is used when a personal pronoun represents a thing or an animal. Animals can sometimes take gendered personal pronouns if they are pets or domesticated animals; otherwise, they take the third-person neuter form:
• Third-person neuter singular: it, its, its own, itself
Remember, when there are multiple people or things, we use the ungendered forms of they*:
• Third person plural: they, them, their, theirs, themselves
Examples
• “I really love Jenny. She is my best friend.”
• “Danny said that he would lend me his jacket for tonight.”

• “Look at that cute dog wagging his tail!”
• “Bill and Samantha told me they were coming over later.”
• “You should not try to control love, but rather be guided by it.”
• “I’ve got the report for you. I’ll just set it on your desk.”
• “The horse galloped by, its hooves pounding the ground violently.”
• “The parade floats are spectacular! I love watching them go down the street.”
Countries and ships
Countries and vehicles, especially ships or boats, will sometimes be given a feminine form when spoken of in the third person. For example:
• “The SS Freedom is a good ship. She has certainly seen her fair share of adventure.”
• “The Prime Minister promised that the United Kingdom would be returned to her former glory during his term.”
This is a more traditional usage; it is less common these days, and by no means necessary. Some style guides go so far as to discourage its use.
*Usage Note: “Singular they”
English does not have a way of identifying a single person with a pronoun if his or her

gender is not known, so sometimes the third-person plural forms (they, them, etc.) are used as a gender-neutral alternative to the third-person feminine/masculine forms. This is sometimes called “singular they.”
For example:
• “You shouldn’t judge someone until you know what they are really like.”
• “If anyone needs extra help with their studies, they should feel free to see me after class.”
“Singular they” is gradually becoming accepted as the norm, especially in instances with indefinite pronouns that sound plural but are grammatically singular (like anyone in the example above). However, it is still considered incorrect by many writers and writing guides, especially in American English.
Previously, it was standard practice to simply use the masculine third-person singular forms (he, him, his, himself), but this is now seen as being potentially sexist. Likewise, using only the feminine third-person singular would be exclusionary, and mixing him and her throughout a piece of writing would be confusing.
Therefore, in formal or professional writing, the best form to use is “he or she” or “him or her,” or else simply to rewrite the sentence to avoid sounding cluttered or awkward. In informal writing or speech, though, using “singular they” is generally OK.

Personal Pronouns - Case Definition
The English language has largely discarded its case system, which is the manner by which a
noun is inflected depending on its grammatical function as a subject or object in a sentence. English largely uses prepositions to accomplish this now, but personal pronouns are one part of English in which the case system is still active, being inflected depending on whether they

function as a subject, object, possessive determiner, or possessive pronoun.
Subjective Case
When a personal pronoun is acting as the subject of a verb (that is, it is the person or thing doing the action), it is said to be in the subjective case. For instance:
• “I know that she said that.” (Both pronouns are subjective, as both are agents of their respective actions.)
• “He told her to be quiet.” (Here, only he is in the subjective case; her, the recipient or “object” of his action, is in the objective case.)
Objective Case
A personal pronoun is in the objective case when it is a direct or indirect object of a verb, or else if it is the object or a preposition.
A direct object directly receives the action of a verb. For example:
• “Please send them in straight away.”
• “Take him away!”
An indirect object, on the other hand, is the recipient of the direct object—it therefore
indirectly receives the action of the verb via the direct object. For example:
• “Please tell me any news immediately!”

Here, any news is acting as the direct object of the verb tell—it is the thing being told. Me, on the other hand, is looking to receive any news by means of the action of tell, making it the indirect object.
• “I can’t believe he brought you flowers. How sweet!”
Again, you is receiving the flowers, which is the direct object of brought. Be careful with the personal pronouns you and it, however—their subjective and objective forms are the same. Take the following sentence, for example:
• “You said to give you the money as soon as I had it.”
The pronouns you and I in italics are in the subjective case because they are each performing the action of their verbs. The pronouns you and it in bold are in the objective case because they are functioning as indirect and direct objects of their verbs (respectively).
After Linking Verbs (Subject Complements)
One confusing area is when a pronoun is a subject complement to a linking verb. For personal pronouns, this is almost always with forms of the verb be. In this situation, the personal pronoun should be in the subjective case. For example, “It was I who did this” is more correct than “It was me who did this.”
It is easy to mistake it as the direct object because it seems like it is receiving the action of

the verb, but linking verbs behave differently from action verbs. One way to be sure you are using the correct pronoun is to reverse the order of the verb and pronoun and see if the statement still makes sense.
Let’s look again at the examples above:
✖ “It was me who did this.” (incorrect)
✔ “It was I who did this.” (correct)
If you reverse the order of the verb and pronoun, you can see why the first sentence is incorrect:
✖ “Me was the one* who did this.” (incorrect)
✔ “I was the one* who did this.” (correct)
(*Because in most instances we don’t refer to a person as being it in a subject complement (except maybe in a game of tag), the indefinite pronoun phrase the one is used instead to identify the speaker as the person who did something.)
Here are some more examples:
• “Her husband took all the credit, but it was she who did all the work.”
• “It was they who assured us that there would be no problems.”
In many cases, it might be better to simply reword the sentence to sound less awkward. For example, “it was he who won the race” would sound better simply as “he won the race.”
In conversational English, this distinction is much less frequently observed for simple

sentences like our first examples, and you will often hear people using phrases such as “it’s me” or “that was her” in response to questions. But in writing (especially formal or professional writing), always use the subjective case for a personal pronoun if it is functioning as a subject complement after a linking verb.
Possessive Case (Genitive Case)
As the name implies, the possessive case changes the inflection of a personal pronoun to mark possession. There are two forms of personal pronouns in the possessive case: possessive determiners, and possessive pronouns.
Possessive determiners function grammatically like adjectives, modifying a noun or nouns. However, they cannot function as nouns in a sentence. For example:
✔ “My dad’s glasses went missing.” (My is correctly used as a possessive determiner, modifying dad to show his relation to the speaker.)
✖ “Hey, those glasses are my!” (My is incorrectly used as a possessive pronoun; it should read “Hey, those are my glasses!” or “Hey, those glasses are mine!”)
Possessive pronouns are personal pronouns in the possessive case which have the grammatical function of nouns. For example:
• “I can see mine through the window!”
• “You said you bought yours for $50?”
• “Jenny seems pretty sure that the book is hers.”

Be aware that the possessive determiners and possessive pronouns for the third-person masculine and third-person neuter are the same (his and his, its and its), although its is more often used as a possessive determiner in the phrase its own. For example:
• “He said it was his computer, but I don’t think it is actually his.”
• “As the campaign reached the peak of its success, it seemed to take on a life of its own.”
Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. What determines if a personal pronoun is in the subjective case?
a) If it is the person or thing performing the action of a verb
b) If it is the person or thing receiving the indirect action of a verb
c) If it is the person or thing receiving the direct action of a verb
d) If the person or thing demonstrates possession of the object of a verb

2. How does a possessive determiner function grammatically?
a) As a verb
b) As an adjective
c) As an adverb
d) As a noun

3. Which of the following possessive determiners is the same when it is functions as a

possessive pronoun?
a) Her
b) His
c) Its
d) A & B
e) B & C
f) None of the above

4. In the following sentence, which personal pronoun is in the objective case? “I have told him a thousand times that he shouldn’t act that way!”
a) he
b) I
c) him
d) that

5. Which of the following sentences has a possessive determiner?
a) “I told you that my recipe was good!”
b) “She still claims that the bag isn’t hers.”
c) “He’s had his since he was a kid.”
d) “Donald said they bought theirs during a sale.”

Personal Pronouns - Reflexive Pronouns Definition
Reflexive pronouns are used when someone or something is both the subject and the object
of the same verb—that is, both that which is performing the action of the verb and that which is receiving the action. When this happens, the reflexive verb is used as the object of the verb to represent the person or thing.
For example, in the sentence “I heard you speaking,” “I” is the subject, and “you” is the object—they are not the same person, so a reflexive noun is not used.
Likewise, “I’ll be sure to thank himself” is not correct: “him” should be the object of “thank,” while “I” is the subject.
But in the sentence “I heard myself speaking,” the speaker (“I”) is both the subject of the verb “heard” and its object (what was heard), and thus is represented by the reflexive noun “myself.”
The reflexive pronouns are myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, herself, himself, itself, themselves, and oneself. The last of these is formed from the gender-neutral indefinite pronoun one (which also has the possessive form one’s); however, the pronoun one is not a personal pronoun.
Here are some more examples:

• I wish you could hear yourselves right now!
• She admitted to herself that she was wrong.
• The vole hides itself beneath the ground for safety.
• The players have really outdone themselves today!
• One should strive to better oneself every day.
On a final note, a reflexive pronoun can never be used as the subject of a verb—it can only act as the object, and only when the person or thing it represents is already being used as the subject.
For example, “myself taught me to read” is very clearly wrong, because myself should be used as the object of “taught,” while the personal pronoun I should be used as the subject. “John and myself will be in attendance” is also incorrect because the speaker (and John) is the subject of the verb “be,” without an object—it should read “John and I will be in attendance.”
For more information on the subjective and objective cases, please see the chapter section on grammatical case in personal pronouns.
Quiz
(answers start on page 610)
1. Which of the following sentences uses reflexive pronouns correctly?
a) “I couldn’t believe the pictures of myself after the party!”

b) “And how is himself these days?”
c) “I really haven’t felt like myself lately.”
d) “Please send the relevant information to Bob, Jane, and myself.”

2. Which of the following sentences uses a reflexive pronoun incorrectly?
a) “Myself and a few others are going to see a movie later.”
b) “I can see myself taking up golf when I retire.”
c) “Tom saw himself in the reflection of the water.”
d) “Students who have not done the work themselves will be penalized.”

3. Which is the correct singular first-person reflexive pronoun?
a) Ourselves
b) Yourself
c) Themselves
d) Myself

4. When do you use a reflexive pronoun?
a) When a personal pronoun is the object of a preposition.
b) When a person or thing is the subject and the object of the same verb.
c) When a person or thing is the subject of one verb and the object of another verb in the same sentence.
d) When a personal pronoun and another noun are both subjects of a verb.

Intensive Pronouns Definition
Intensive pronouns are identical to reflexive pronouns—myself, yourself, ourselves,
himself, herself, itself, and themselves. However, intensive pronouns do not serve a grammatical function in a sentence; instead, they add emphasis by reiterating the subject of the sentence (known as the pronoun’s antecedent).
Using intensive pronouns in a sentence
When we use an intensive pronoun to add emphasis to a sentence, we generally place it after either its antecedent or the direct object of the verb. For instance:
• “The surgeon general himself will oversee the operation.”
• “They themselves indicated that the transactions might be illegal.”
• “He did it himself, much to his father’s surprise.”
• “We designed the album artwork ourselves.”
If we use an intensive pronoun to add a pointed or argumentative emphasis to the sentence, it comes after the direct object, as in:
• “I can operate the TV remote myself, thank you very much.”

• “Our son can do the project himself, Hank.”
Distinguishing between intensive and reflexive pronouns
Although intensive and reflexive pronouns are identical in appearance, there is a clear distinction between them. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject of a sentence also receives the action of the sentence—that is, the subject of the verb is also the object the same verb. For example:
• “I saw myself in the mirror.”
• “She asked herself if it was worth the hassle.”
• “The actor played himself in the film about his life.”
In all of these sentences, we use reflexive pronouns to indicate that the subject of the verb is also the recipient of its actions.
However, we use an intensive pronoun if we want to place special emphasis on who is performing the action of the subject on a separate object. Because of this, the intensive pronoun is not grammatically integral to the meaning of the sentence. Take, for example, these three sentences:
• “John played the tuba.”
• “John played the tuba himself.”

As we can see, the addition of himself has no bearing on the logical meaning of the sentence
—in both cases, it is John who played the tuba. However, by adding the intensive pronoun himself in the second sentence, we let the reader or listener know that it is somehow remarkable or noteworthy that it was John who played the tuba, as opposed to someone else.