Pronouns and Possessives
Pronouns are words that replace nouns in a sentence to avoid repetition, and possessives indicate ownership or a relationship between two entities. Understanding pronouns and possessives is crucial for clear and concise communication in English.
Pronouns
Pronouns can represent people or things. The table below shows subject and object forms of personal pronouns along with examples:
| Subject | Object | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | me | I see him. / He sees me. |
| we | us | We know her. / She knows us. |
| you | you | You found it. / It found you. |
| he | him | He has it. / It has him. |
| she | her | She wants it. / It wants her. |
| they | them | They are here. / We see them. |
| it | it | It is here. / We see it. |
Possessives
Possessives show ownership or a relationship between two entities. The table below presents possessive forms of pronouns and nouns along with examples:
| Possessive Pronoun | Possessive Noun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| my | 's | my book / John's book |
| our | 's | our house / Sarah's house |
| your | 's | your car / Tom's car |
| his | 's | his dog / Peter's dog |
| her | 's | her cat / Emily's cat |
| their | 's | their toys / The children's toys |
| its | 's | its tail / The dog's tail |
To form questions with possessives, use "whose": Whose book is this?
"Short forms" like mine, yours, and theirs are formed by adding the appropriate possessive pronoun to the noun: This book is mine (my book).
Reflexive Pronouns
Reflexive pronouns like myself, yourself, and themselves refer back to the subject of the sentence:
| Subject | Reflexive Pronoun | Example |
|---|---|---|
| I | myself | I did it myself. |
| we | ourselves | We can do it ourselves. |
| you | yourself (singular), yourselves (plural) | You should treat yourself. / You should treat yourselves. |
| he | himself | He hurt himself. |
| she | herself | She prepared herself for the exam. |
| they | themselves | They enjoyed themselves at the party. |
| it | itself | The cat cleaned itself. |
Reflexive pronouns emphasize the subject's involvement in the action or indicate that the subject and object are the same entity.
Check your knowledge with the quiz!
Correct Answers
The correct answer is "She fell off her bike, but she didn't hurt herself", which uses the subject pronoun "she," the possessive adjective "her," and the reflexive pronoun "herself."
The correct answer is "Whose money is this?", which uses the interrogative pronoun "Whose" to ask about possession.
The correct answer is "They want to see us, but we don't want to see them.", which uses the subject pronouns "they" and "we" and the object pronouns "us" and "them."
The correct answer is "Her husband works at a bank", which uses the possessive adjective "her."
The correct answer is "Whose books are these? Yours or mine?", which uses the interrogative pronoun "Whose" and the possessive pronouns "Yours" and "mine."
The correct answer is "Mary and John looked at themselves in the mirror and then looked at each other", which uses the reflexive pronoun "themselves" and the reciprocal pronoun "each other."
The correct answer is "I went to the movies with a friend of mine", which uses the subject pronoun "I" and the possessive pronoun "mine."
The correct answer is "I know him, but can't remember his name", which uses the subject pronoun "I," the object pronoun "him," and the possessive adjective "his."
The correct answer is subject pronoun "me" and the object pronoun "them."
The correct answer is "Are you going to our friends' wedding? They are getting married on Wednesday", which uses the plural possessive pronoun "friends'" to show that the wedding belongs to multiple friends.
The correct answer is "We didn't see their photos, but they saw ours.", which uses the subject pronouns "we" and "they" and the possessive adjectives "their" and "ours."
The correct answer is "I went on vacation by myself", which uses the subject pronoun "I" and the reflexive pronoun "myself."
The correct answer is "Do you like your job?", which uses the subject pronoun "you" and the possessive adjective "your."
The correct answer is "I didn't forget my keys, but he forgot his.", which uses the subject pronouns "I" and "he" and the possessive adjectives "my" and "his."
The correct answer is "She wants to see him, but he doesn't want to see her.", which uses the subject pronouns "she" and "he" and the object pronouns "him" and "her."
Noun and pronoun
- Tom told Mike that he was wrong. — ambiguous pronoun (who is he?)
- She gave him her book. — pronouns replace nouns in subject/object/possessive slots
- The students handed in their essays. — pronoun agrees with noun in number
- Everyone should bring their own lunch. — singular they for gender-neutral reference
Noun and pronoun covers where these two classes interact: agreement, case (I/me/my), possessives, and clear reference. Pronouns replace nouns — but only if the reader knows which noun.
Key rule: every pronoun must have a clear antecedent (the noun it refers to). Ambiguous reference is the #1 clarity problem in writing.
Pronoun
- ✅ between you and me — ❌ between you and I (objective case after preposition)
- ✅ its colour — ❌ it's colour (it's = it is)
- ✅ She did it herself. — reflexive pronoun
- ✅ The person who called… — relative pronoun
Pronouns replace nouns: personal (I/me/my), demonstrative (this/that), relative (who/which/that), interrogative (who?/what?), reflexive (myself), indefinite (everyone/nobody). They carry case that nouns have lost.
Trap: pronouns are where English case still matters: I vs me, who vs whom, its vs it's. Get these wrong and it's instantly noticeable.
Person
- 1st person: I work / We work — the speaker(s)
- 2nd person: You work — the addressee(s)
- 3rd person: She works / They work — everyone else
- ❌ She work — missing third-person singular -s
Grammatical person = who's speaking (1st: I/we), who's being spoken to (2nd: you), everyone else (3rd: he/she/it/they). Modern English marks it only with third-person singular present -s.
Rule: third person singular + present tense = add -s to the verb (she goes, he tries, it works). This is the only person-marking English still has on verbs.
Grammatical case
- ✅ between you and me — ❌ between you and I (objective case after preposition)
- ✅ Who called? — ❌ Whom called? (subjective = doing the action)
- ✅ To whom did you speak? — ❌ To who did you speak? (objective = receiving the action)
- ✅ She is taller than I (am). — subjective (implied verb)
Grammatical case in English survives only in pronouns: subjective (I, he, who) for subjects, objective (me, him, whom) for objects/after prepositions, possessive (my, his, whose) for ownership.
Rule: after a preposition (to, for, between, with) → always objective case. Doing the action → subjective. Receiving the action → objective.
Possessive
- ✅ its tail — ❌ it's tail (it's = it is, not possessive)
- ✅ the students' essays — plural possessive (apostrophe after the s)
- ✅ Sarah's book — singular possessive ('s)
- ✅ a friend of mine — possessive pronoun (not my)
Possessives show ownership: nouns use 's (singular) or s' (plural ending in s). Pronouns have special forms: my/mine, your/yours, his, her/hers, its, our/ours, their/theirs.
Trap: its (possessive) vs it's (= it is). Possessive pronouns NEVER use apostrophes — that's the opposite of nouns.
Subject
- ✅ The list of items is wrong. — subject = list (singular), not items
- ❌ The list of items are wrong. — trapped by nearest noun
- ✅ Running is good exercise. — gerund as subject
- ✅ What he said surprised me. — clause as subject
The subject is the noun/pronoun/phrase before the verb that controls its number and person. Finding the true subject — especially through prepositional phrases — is the key to subject-verb agreement.
Rule: strip away prepositional phrases between subject and verb. Whatever's left is the true subject. The list (of items) is wrong.
Object
- Sam fed the dogs. — direct object (what was fed)
- She sent him a present. — indirect object (who received it)
- She waited for Lucy. — prepositional object (after preposition)
- I gave her a book. — indirect + direct object together
An object is what a verb acts on or directs its action toward. Direct = the thing affected. Indirect = the recipient. Prepositional = after a preposition.
Test: Verb + what/whom? = direct object. Verb + to/for whom? = indirect object. After a preposition? = prepositional object.
English Grammar Basics
- She is a teacher. — verb be + noun complement
- He runs every day. — present simple, third-person -s
- They don't like coffee. — negation with do-support
- I have two cats. — possession, countable noun, no article before plurals
These sentences demonstrate English Grammar Basics — the foundational patterns every other topic builds on: parts of speech, basic tenses, articles, and simple sentence structure.
If you can identify the verb, the subject, and count the noun correctly, you've nailed the basics that make everything else click.
A1 | Elementary | Beginners
- ✅ My name is Anna. — present simple of be
- ✅ Where is the station? — basic *wh-*question
- ✅ I have two brothers. — possession with have
- ✅ She likes coffee. — third-person -s
These are A1 sentences — the starting level of the CEFR framework. At A1 you can introduce yourself, ask and answer simple personal questions, and handle basic everyday transactions using present tense, be/have/do, and core vocabulary.
If you can say these but freeze at normal speaking speed, you're solidly A1 — and that's exactly where to start.
Easy
- She is a teacher. — one verb form, one rule
- I have two cats. — basic possession, short sentence
- He doesn't like coffee. — simple negation with do-support
- Only one answer is clearly correct; distractors are obviously wrong.
Easy marks beginner-level challenges: A1–early A2, one rule at a time, everyday vocabulary, no trick questions.
Use "Easy" when you want to build confidence on a specific rule without interference from other grammar or tricky contexts.