English Grammar: Pronouns

Pronouns — Personal Pronouns

The personal pronouns are the most important group of pronouns. They are also the pronouns that will give you the most trouble unless you are familiar with the various forms that belong to each pronoun.

A personal pronoun is a pronoun that shows by its form whether it refers to the person speaking, the person spoken to, or the person or thing spoken of. All the personal pronouns, with the exception of the pronoun it, refer to persons. The following sentences show the use of personal pronouns in the first, second, and third person:

I will spend the winter in Texas. (I is the person speaking.)

You are working too hard. (You is the person spoken to.)

He bought a new Ford. (He is the person spoken about.)

We built the garage. (We refers to the persons speaking.)

They operate two farms. (They refers to the persons spoken about.)

Ted has a new television. It is a Sony. (It refers to the thing spoken about.)

Jan has two fur coats. They are both mink coats. (They refers to the things spoken about.)

The pronoun of the first person is the pronoun I with its plural form we. The pronoun of the second person is you. The plural form is also you. The pronouns of the third person are he, she, and it with the common plural they for all three pronouns.

The personal pronouns also have different forms to indicate case. You will learn more about the case of pronouns in a later unit. For the present, you should be familiar with all the forms of the personal pronouns and the pronoun who so that you will be able to identify them.

Forms of the Personal Pronouns

1. First person — personal pronouns referring to the speaker:

I, my, mine, me, we, our, ours, us

2. Second person — personal pronouns referring to the person spoken to:

you, your, yours

3. Third person — personal pronouns referring to the persons or things spoken about:

he, his, him, she, her, hers, it, its, they, their, theirs, them

4. Forms of the pronoun who:

who, whose, whom