The pronouns and referents

1. Pronouns and
Referents
N. Valdelomar

2. Pronouns
• Pronouns are words that take the place of nouns. We
often use them to avoid repeating the nouns that they
refer to.
• Pronouns have different forms for the different ways we
use them.
• If we didn't have pronouns, we would have to repeat a
whole lot of nouns.
pro 2

3. Pronouns
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• Pronouns are indispensable; they replace nouns in our
conversation and writing, keeping us from saying things like
this:
My instructor arrived late to class. My instructor claimed that the
childcare center opened late and that was why my instructor, in
turn, was late; however, a classmate said that the classmate saw
the instructor at the coffee bar at 8:00, and that the instructor
greeted the classmate as the instructor strolled toward the
classroom.

4. Personal Pronouns

5. Personal Pronouns
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Subject
Pronouns
Object
Pronouns
Possessive
Pronouns
Reflexive
Pronouns
1st person (sing.) I me mine myself
2nd person (sing.) you you yours yourself
3rd person (sing.)/(m) he him his himself
3rd person (sing.)/(f) she her hers herself
3rd person (sing.)/(n) it it its itself
1st person (pl.) we us ours ourselves
2nd person (pl.) you you yours yourselves
3rd person (pl) they them theirs themselves
Pronoun sample
sentences:
SP will go. Max saw OP . That car is PP .
PP is red.
(subj) saw (reflex.)
in the mirror.

6. Subject
Pronouns
We use subject pronouns as the subject of
a verb:
I like your dress.
You are late.
He is my friend.
It is raining.
She is on holiday.
We live in England.
They come from London.
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7. Watch out!
English clauses always have a subject.
His father has just retired.
He was a teacher. (NOT Was a teacher.)
I'm waiting for my wife.
She is late. (NOT Is late.)
The imperative, which is used for orders,
invitations and requests, is an exception:
Stop!
Go away.
Please come to dinner tomorrow.
Play it again, please.

8. Object
Pronouns
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We use object pronouns as the object of a verb:
Can you help me, please?
I can see you.
She doesn't like him.
I saw her in town today.
We saw them in town yesterday, but they didn't see us.
We also use object pronouns after prepositions:
She is waiting for me.
I'll get it for you.
Give it to him.
Why are you looking at her?
Don't take it from us.
I'll speak to them.
Practice

9. Possessive
Pronouns
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We can use a possessive pronoun instead
of a full noun phrase to avoid repeating words:
Is that John's car?
No, it's mine. (NOT No, it's my car.)
Whose coat is this?
Is it yours? (NOT Is it your coat?)
My coat is grey.
Hers is brown. (NOT Her coat is brown.)
Practice

10. Reflexive
Pronouns
Presentation Title 10
We use a reflexive pronoun as a direct object when the
object is the same as the subject of the verb:
I fell over and hurt myself.
Be careful with that knife. You might cut yourself.
We can use a reflexive pronoun as direct object with
most transitive verbs, but these are the most common:
Practice
amuse
blame
cut
dry
enjoy
help
hurt
introduce
kill
prepare
satisfy
teach

11. Demonstrative
Pronouns

12. Demonstrative
Pronouns
Presentation Title 12
A demonstrative pronoun represents a thing or things:
•near in distance or time (this, these)
•far in distance or time (that, those)
Here are some examples with demonstrative pronouns:
•This tastes good.
•Have you seen this?
•These are bad times.
•Do you like these?
•That is beautiful.
•Look at that!
•Those were the days!
•Can you see those?
•This is heavier than that.
•These are bigger than those.
Practice
near • far ⇒
singular 📗 this that
plural 📗📗📗 these those

13. Relative Pronouns

14. Relative
Pronouns
Presentation Title 14
We use relative pronouns to introduce relative clauses that
tell us more about people and things:
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
This is the house which Jack built.
Marie Curie is the woman that discovered radium.
We use:
•who and whom for people
•which for things
•that for people or things.
Practice

15. Referents
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16. Referents
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When a pronoun replaces a word (or a group of words), the word being replaced is called
an antecedent or referent.
Example: I wrote a letter to the president, who responded quickly.
In this sentence, president is the antecedent or referent of the pronoun who.
Pronouns are really important and do a whole lot more than just turn phrases into sentences.
They provide context, make your sentences’ meanings clearer, and shape how we perceive
people and things.
A faulty pronoun reference will result in an unclear sentence and a confused reader.
Understanding pronouns and their referents can help you strengthen your grasp of English
grammar and make you a stronger writer and a faster reader.

17. 17
Practice
Identify the word each underlined pronoun refers to.
Healthy Body, Healthy Mind
Nobody wants to be sick. Everyone wants to be healthy, and most people
want to have a long life, too. But a healthy body is not enough. We all want
both physical and mental health. What can we do to stay well? Most of us
know some things to do. It is a good idea to exercise (for example, in a
gym), eat a balanced diet, and drink lots of water. We also know things not
to do; it is a bad idea to eat a lot of junk food, such as chips, ice cream,
candy, donuts, and other foods with sugar or fat. It is a bad idea to be a
couch potato - a person who watches a lot of TV and doesn’t exercise. But
scientists are always discovering other ways to stay healthy. Some of it is
surprising.

18. 18
Several beverages are good for the health. Orange juice has vitamin C. Milk has calcium.
Black tea and green tea are good for health, too. They have antioxidants; these fight
diseases such as cancer and heart disease. Most people know this. But many people don't
know about cocoa – a hot chocolaty drink. They enjoy the beverage, but they don't know
about the antioxidants. It has more antioxidants than tea! In fact, the beans from which the
cocoa drink is made have so many vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients that many people
call them a superfood.
Too much stress, which is worry about problems in life, is not good for physical health.
For example, it makes your blood pressure go up. Some stress is chronic, which means that
it lasts a long time - for many months or years. Chronic stress can make people old. As
people get older, they get gray hair and wrinkles in their skin, and their eyesight and
hearing become worse. This is normal. But chronic stress makes people age - grow old -
faster. Over the years, scientists have identified how stress makes people age. It can
damage (hurt) the body's DNA. The lesson from this is clear. We need to learn to relax.

19. Information taken from:
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• https://www.englishclub.com/grammar/pronouns.htm
• http://www.butte.edu/departments/cas/tipsheets/grammar/pronoun_ref.html
• https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/grammar/english-grammar-reference/pronouns
• https://www.grammarly.com/blog/pronoun-reference/