Understanding Pronoun Case

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• By
• Alfred Taylor

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Students often believe that they must study
  until they drop to understand pronoun case
  however, mastering pronoun case is not a
  difficult task as long as students remember a few
  simple rules.
• Pronoun case is never determined by how a
  sentence sounds or what a sentence looks like.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Most of the time pronoun case is determined by
  the function of the pronoun in the sentence. If
  the pronoun is the subject of a sentence or a
  subject compliment, then it is in the subjective
  case. If the pronoun is the object of a
  sentence, an indirect object, or an object of a
  preposition, then it is in the objective case.
  If the pronoun is showing possession, then it is
  in the possessive case. This is true most of the
  time.

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Understanding Pronoun Case
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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Kirk slapped Spock for drinking too much Pepsi.
• Since Kirk is doing the action in this
  sentence that makes him the subject. Because
  Kirk is the subject of the sentence, Kirk
  must be replaced with a pronoun from the
  subjective case he. Spock is receiving the
  action of being slapped, and that makes him the
  object of the sentence. Since Spock is the
  object, It must be replaced by a pronoun from the
  objective case him.
• He slapped him for drinking too much Pepsi.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A subject compliment is noun, pronoun, or
  adjective that follows a linking verb. If a
  pronoun is attached to the subject by a linking
  verb, it is subjective because the whole phrase
  is considered to be the subject, not just the
  noun.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A linking verb is a verb that does not perform
  an action, such as is, are, was, were. Some
  words can be both action verbs and linking verbs
  depending upon how they are used. These words
  include looked, seem, appear, feel, and grew.
  These words are called linking verbs because they
  only function to connect the subject to a word
  that describes it.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• To test if a word is a linking verb or an action
  verb, substitute a be verb such as was for
  the verb in the suspect sentence. If the
  sentence makes sense, then the verb was a linking
  verb. If the sentence doesnt make sense, then
  it was an action verb.

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Understanding Pronoun Case
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Understanding Pronoun Case

• It was Kirk who saved the girl.
• It is the subject, and Kirk is the subject
  compliment, since they are joined by the linking
  verb was the whole phrase it was Kirk who is
  subjective. The pronoun replacement for Kirk
  must come from the
• subjective case.
• It was he who saved the girl.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Spock hung Kirk over killer sharks.
• Kirk is the direct object of the sentence,
  since he is receiving the action of being hung
  therefore, a pronoun replacement for Kirk must
  come from the objective case.
• Spock hung him over killer sharks.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• The indirect object of a sentence is the person
  or thing an action is directed or for whom it is
  performed.
• Spock built Kirk a killer robot.
• In this case Kirk is the indirect object since
  the robot was built for Kirk. A pronoun
  replacement for Kirk must come from the
  objective case.
• Spock built him a killer robot.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A preposition is a word that joins a noun,
  pronoun, or gerund to another word and shows the
  relationship between the words joined.
• A prepositional phrase is a preposition plus the
  noun or pronoun following it. The noun or
  pronoun following the preposition is referred to
  as the object of the preposition.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A preposition is anything a squirrel can do to a
  hollow log, or a bird can do to a cloud. Common
  prepositions include words such as of, by, at,
  for, through, to, up, down, around, near, far. A
  preposition usually carries a meaning of
  direction, time, or some other abstract
  relationship.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A bird may be above the cloud, below the cloud,
  beside the cloud, near the cloud,
• in the cloud, far from the cloud,
• close to the cloud.
• All of these words are prepositions.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Spock built an army of killer robots for Kirk.
• Since Kirk is the object of the preposition
  for, then it must be replaced with a pronoun
  from the objective case him.
• Spock built an army of killer robots for him.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• This rule is true even when the prepositional
  phrase appears at the beginning of a sentence.
• For Kirk, Spock built an army of killer robots.
• For him, Spock built an army of killer robots.
• You are calling for whom?
• For whom are you calling?

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• This rule is true with a compound subject.
• Between you and me, Spock is crazy.
• Between is a preposition, so you and me are
  the objects of the preposition which means they
  must be in the objective case. What confuses
  many students is that you is the same form in
  both cases.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Compound subjects and objects, that are not the
  objects of prepositions, are handled the same way
  as singular subjects and objects.
• Kirk and Spock danced with Rand and Chapel.
• Kirk and Spock is a compound subject, so a
  pronoun must be subjective. Rand and Chapel is
  a compound object, so a pronoun must be
  objective.
• Kirk and he danced with Rand and her.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• An easy way to avoid confusion with compound
  subjects and objects is to eliminate one of the
  nouns, then the pronoun case becomes clear.
• Kirk and Spock danced with Rand and Chapel.
• He danced with her.
• No one would ever say Him danced with she, so
  the correct pronoun replacement must be
• Kirk and he danced with Rand and her.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Than or As clauses are unique situations, yet
  they still follow the rules of pronoun case once
  their unique situation is understood. Most Than
  or As clauses are part of an elliptical phrase.
  An elliptical phrase is a phrase that is
  incomplete, but its message is still clear
  because the reader can logically complete the
  sentence.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• When I came to work today, I didnt think Id
  have to. Have to what? The reader can gather
  from the rest of the sentence that the missing
  word is work.
• In the case of Than or As the missing parts of
  the sentence determine the pronoun case for the
  parts that remain.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Kirk likes Spock more than me.
• Kirk likes Spock more than I.
• Both of these sentences are correct because they
  each have a different missing part.
• Kirk likes Spock more than Kirk likes me.
• Kirk likes Spock more than I like Spock.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• When clauses are joined by Than or As dont
  think of them as a single clause, but two clauses
  joined together. Each clause has its own subject
  and object.
• Kirk likes Spock more than Kirk likes me.
• subject verb object
  subject verb object
• Kirk likes Spock more than I like Spock.
• subject verb object
  subject verb object

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• In the case of Who and Whom, treat them as any
  other pronoun.
• Spock and who danced with Rand and whom?
• (placement in the sentence)
• For whom are you calling.
• (object of the preposition for)
• I wonder who is responsible.
• (wonder is a linking verb)

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that
  renames or explains the subject. The case of the
  appositive is determined by the case of the noun
  the appositive refers to. If the appositive
  refers to a subjective noun, then the appositive
  is subjective. If the appositive refers to an
  object, then the appositive will be objective.
  This is true regardless of where the appositive
  appears in the sentence.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• The Pepsi was stolen by two Starfleet Officers,
  Kirk and him. In this example two Starfleet
  Officers is objective, so the case of the
  appositive is objective.
• Two Starfleet Officers, Kirk and he, stole the
  Pepsi. In this example Two Starfleet Officers
  is the subject of the sentence, so the appositive
  is subjective.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• Placing we or us in front of a noun is often
  confusing for students however, the confusion
  can often be cleared up by removing the noun,
  choosing the correct pronoun case, then replacing
  the noun. We/Us men must be tough.
• We must be tough. Us must be tough.
• yes no
• We men must be tough.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• An antecedent is the noun or noun phrase that
  gives the pronoun its meaning. Without a clear
  reference to a noun, a pronoun is at best
  meaningless and at worst confusing.
• Spock drank a Pepsi. He enjoyed it.
• In this example, the pronoun he refers to the
  noun Spock, and the pronoun it refers to the
• noun Pepsi. So Spock is the antecedent for
  he, and Pepsi is the antecedent for it.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• An ambiguous antecedent is a pronoun without a
  clear reference to the noun that gives the
  pronoun meaning. Spock drank a Pepsi. Kirk ate
  a pizza. He enjoyed it. In this example, there
  is no clear antecedent. The pronoun he could
  refer to either Kirk or Spock. The pronoun
  it could refer to either pizza or Pepsi.
  Technically speaking, the pronouns should refer
  to the closest nouns, but often this is not be
  true.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A remote antecedent is an antecedent that is so
  far away from its pronoun that when the reader
  reads the pronoun, she has already forgotten
  about the antecedent.
• Spock, with a Pepsi in hand, ordered his army of
  killer robots, all armed with the latest
  kill-o-zap guns, to bring home take-out from a
  Chinese restaurant on the corner of Fifth and
  Madison, for it was his turn to make dinner.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• A nonexistent antecedent is exactly what it
  sounds like. A sentence that employs a pronoun
  without an antecedent.
• Kirk decided to steal Spocks plans for the
  killer robots because they needed them.
• Who are they?

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• In general, who refers to people or animals
  who have names.
• Kirk is the one who saved the girl.
• Which and that refer to unnamed animals or
  things.
• The robot that plays chess lost three games.

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Understanding Pronoun Case

• The End

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