Use of Pronouns

Personal Pronouns

Personal Pronouns have the same Number and Gender as the Nouns for which they stand; as,

1. The boy has failed; he did not work hard.
2. The girl has passed; she worked hard.
3. Call the boys here; they are my students.
4. The book was lost. It was mine.
5. I have six flowers. They are all roses.

Personal Pronouns I, he, she, we, they have the forms me, him, her, us, them, for the Objective Case. Do not use / for me when the Pronoun is connected by a conjunction (and, or) with some other word in the Objective Case.

These books are for you and me. (Not, I)

He invited my sister and me to dinner.

We must always write:

1. You and I (not, I and you) must work together.
2. You and he (not, he and you) must go together.
3. Hari and I (not, I and Hari) are friends.
4. He and I (not, I and he) can never be friends.
5. You and he and I can never pull on together.
6. You and she and I must work together.
7. You and Ali and I are old school friends.

We always write:

1. Between you and me
2. Between him and me.
3. Between them and us.
4. Between Hari and me.
5. Between Sita and me.
6. Between her and me.

The forms me, us, him, her and them are common in colloquial style when they are complement after the verb be:

• ‘Who’s there?’
• ‘It’s me.’

What would you do if you were him (= if you were in his place)?

• ‘Do you think Tony did it?’
• ‘I can’t be sure. It may have been him.’

In formal style ‘It may have been he’ is preferred.

After the Conjunction that the object forms are often used in colloquial style after a finite of be :

Tom is two years older than me (= than I am).

They are richer than us ( than we are).

You are wiser than her (= than she is)

You are more intelligent than him (= than he is)

With Transitive Verbs, the choice between the subject and object forms depends upon what is meant.

You hate him as much as / (= as I hate him).

You hate him as much as me (= as you hate me).

He spoke to you as well as I (= i.e., as well as I did).

He spoke to you as well as me (= i.e., as well as he spoke to me).

He loves you more than / (love you).

He loves you more than me (=i.e., than he loves me).

Exercise 1: Choose the right words from the brackets :

1. What would you do if you were (I, me)?
2. Let you and (I, me) be friends.
3. What’s the name of (he, him) who stood first in the examination?
4. ‘Who’s there?’ ‘It’s only (I, me).’
5. There’s written agreement between Mr. Advani and (I, me).
6. He asked my friend and (I, me) to tea.
7. He is cleverer than (we, us) all.
8. There was no one present except (I, me).
9. Let (we, us) all go to the cinema except (she, her).
10. How can you trust a woman such as (she, her)?
11. It was (he, him) I was talking about.
12. I thought it was (they, them) who helped (she, her).
13. It is (she, her) that likes coffee, not (I, me).
14. You wouldn’t marry a man such as (he, him), would you?
15. Do you think (they, them) are richer than (we, us)?

Use Of it

The Pronoun ‘it’ is used:

• For things without life; as,
  I have a book. It has a pictures in it.
• For animals; as,
  The horse fell and broke its leg.
• For young children; as,
  When I saw the child, it was crying.
• As a provisional Subject before the Verb ‘to be ’ when the real Subject follows:
  It is our duty to respect our elders.
  It is better to die than to beg.
• To give emphasis to the Norm or Pronoun following; as,
  Who is at the door?
  It is I. It was I who first protected.
  It was you who first began the quarrel.
• In speaking of the time or weather; as,
  It is raining.
  It is very hot today.
  It is twelve o’clock by my watch.
  It was spring.

Reflexive And Emphasising Pronouns

These are: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, themselves

Used as Reflexive Pronouns: Myself, yourself etc., are used as Objects of a verb when the action of the verb returns to the doer, i.e., when subject and object are the same person; as,

I hurt myself

You will hurt yourself

We hurt ourselves.

You will hurt yourselves.

He hurt himself

She hurt himself

The horse hurt itself

They hurt themselves.

I am looking into the mirror; I can see myself in it; I am looking at myself

Ashok, look into this mirror, what can you see?

I can see myself

Yes, you can see yourself.

Harish, what can Ashok see?

He can see himself.

What does he say he can see?

He says that he can see himself.

Can you see yourselves in the mirror, boys?

Yes, we can see ourselves.                                                          .

They looked at themselves in the looking glass.

As Emphasising Pronouns

Myself, yourself, etc., can also be used to emphasise a noun or pronoun; as,

The king himself gave her the medal.

Sita herself opened the door.

I myself saw her smoking in the kitchen.

We will see to it ourselves.

You yourself can best explain.

The town itself is not very large.

They themselves confessed their guilt.

Exercise 2: In each of the following questions there are eight answers marked A, B, C, D, E, F, G and H. Only one of these answers is correct. Write the letter of the correct answer in the blanks provided.

(A) myself        (B) ourselves     (C) yourself      (D) yourselves

(E) itself           (F) himself         (G) herself        (H) themselves

Rama has hurt_______ .

I___ saw her singing and dancing.:__

The boys hid______ .

The prisoner hanged_______ .

We enjoyed_______ a lot.

We often deceive______ .

They exerted______ a lot.

The dog hurt______ .

The poor widow burnt_____ .

Conduct______ like a man.

Pray do not inconvenience_____ .

We seldom see______ as others see us.

I spoke to the President____ .

She liked the diamond_____ but not the setting.________

Relative Pronouns

The Pronouns who. whose, whom, which, that which join two sentences and relate or refer to Nouns which have gone before are called Relative Pronouns.

The Noun to which a Relative Pronoun refers or relates is called its Antecedent.

This is “the boy who was late.^– Here ‘boy’ is the Antecedent of ‘who

Uses Of Relative Pronouns

Who is used for persons only; as,

The man who is honest succeeds in life.

Blessed is he who has found his work.

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Exercise 50: Out of the five answers  (A, B, C, D, E), Choose the one that is correct, Write the letter of this correct answer (either A or B or C or D or E) in the brackets provided at the end of each sentence.

(A) who (B) which (C) that (D) as (E) what

1. This is the beggar___________ stole my purse. ( )
2. I,___________ am your king, will lead you. ( )
3. I am the person____________ is to blame. ( )
4. God helps those____________ help themselves. ( )
5. This is the horse____________ won the race. ( )
6. The answer___________ she gave is wrong. ( )
7. I mean___________ I say. ( )
8. Tears such____________ angels weep burst forth. ( )
9. ____________ cannot be cured must be endured. ( )
10. My answer is the same___________ yours is. ( )
11. He__________ is not with me is against me. ( )
12. This is___________ troubles me. ( )
13. He is not such a clever boy_____________ you are.  ( )
14. He is one of the greatest men____________ have ever lived. ( )
15. He is not the same man__________ he has been. ( )
16. Listen to_________ he says. ( )
17. He__________ is honest shall prosper. .             ( )
18. He__________ always speaks the truth shall be respected.( )
19. He is the man___________ you__ can trust. ( )
20. Who is here so rude_____________ will be a slave? ( )
21. Blessed is he__________ has found his work.  (  )
22. Man is the only animal__________ can talk. ( )
23. Such a man___________ he should be honoured. ( )
24. Do the same___________ ( )
25. ____ – is done cannot be undone.

Exercise 3: In each of the following questions there are five answers marked A, B, C, D and E. Only one of these answers is correct. Write the letter of the correct answer in the brackets provided at the end of each sentence.

(A) Who (B) Whose (C) Whom (D) Which (E) That

1. There was an old woman___________ lived in a hut. ( )
2. Unfortunately he took the road________ led in the wrong direction. ( )
3. I like the boy____________ temper is good. ( )
4. This is the boy___________ stood first in English. ( )
5. This is the girl____________ parents helped us. ( )
6. This is the man___________ courage saved us. ( )
7. This is the horse__________ won the race. ( )
8. This is the woman __________ I Suspected. ( )
9. This is the house __________ my grand father built. ( )
10. He is one of the greatest leaders __________ have ever lied in India. ( )