Personal pronouns are used in English to replace nouns and refer to people and things that have already been mentioned. They reflect person, number and gender.
Personal pronouns have different forms and can be the subject or object of a sentence. Here is an overview of personal pronouns in English:
| Singular | Plural | |
|---|---|---|
| Subject | I, you, he/she/it | we, you, they |
| Object | me, you, him/her/it | us, you, them |
Usage
Rule 1: Use the first-person pronouns I/we to talk about yourself in singular or plural.
Rule 2: Use the second person pronouns you (the same in singular and plural) to address other people.
Rule 3: Use the third person personal pronouns he/she/it in the singular and they for the plural to refer to people and objects or replace previously mentioned noun.
Note: Also, the pronoun it can be used in impersonal constructions.
Subject vs. Object?
Rule 5: We can use subject pronouns to replace the subject (the person or thing that is performing the action) in a sentence.
Rule 6: We can use object pronouns to replace the object (the person or thing that is the direct recipient of the action) in a sentence.
Note: Also, we can use object pronouns after prepositions.
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Gender
Rule 7: We only use the third person pronouns to show gender in English. We use he/him for men and she/her for women.
Note: The third person plural pronouns they/them are used as gender-neutral pronouns in the singular and it is used for everything else. The only exception are animals when we have a personal connection to them - for example, pets.
Quiz
1/4Choose the right personal pronoun. Tyler and Josh met at high school. Later, ___ started a band together.