A noun that is used for the names of persons instead of their names, is called personal pronoun. For example, I, we, you, he, she, they, it
Personal Pronoun Cases
Subjective Case
A personal pronoun should be in the subjective case if the pronoun functions as a subject or subject complement.
A subject pronoun usually
| Singular | Plural | |
| First person | I | We |
| Second person | You | You |
| Third person | He/She/It | They |
- We are successful. (Subject)
- You like pizza. (Subject)
- The winners were Majid and I. (Subject complement)
Objective Case
If a pronoun stands for any other noun than a subject or subject complement, use the objective case.
Object pronouns can be direct objects, indirect objects or objects of prepositions. You may have noticed that you and it are on both lists.
| Singular | Plural | |
| First Person | Me | Us |
| Second Person | You | You |
| Third Person | Him/Her/it | Them |
- The secretary notified us today. (direct object)
- My uncle sent you an e-mail.
- For her, I would do anything.
Possessive Case
In possessive case, the pronouns show possession or belonging. It has two types:
Possessive Determiners:
These are used before a noun such as my, your, his, her, its, ours, theirs etc.
Example: This is your table.
Possessive Pronoun:
The possessive pronouns are used instead of personal pronoun such as mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs.
Example: This is your table. It is similar to mine.
Reflexive Case
In reflexive cases, the pronoun is used before the noun, pronoun, adjective or adverb in the same clause. Reflexive pronouns are myself, ourselves, yourself, himself, herself etc.
Examples:
- I wash the car myself.
- He completed his assignments himself.
Chart of Personal Pronoun
Following table shows the different cases of personal pronouns. In the possessive case, the first word is possessive determiner (my, our, your…) and the second word is possessive pronoun (mine, ours, yours….)
| Subjective or nominative case | Objective case | Possessive case | Reflexive case |
| I | Me | My, Mine | Myself |
| We | Us | Our, Ours | Ourselves |
| You | You | Your, Yours | Yourself |
| He | Him | His, His | Himself |
| She | Her | Her, Hers | Herself |
| They | Them | Their, Theirs | Themselves |
Usage
Use of object or subject pronoun after comparatives “as” and “than”. Object pronouns are commonly used when “as” and “than” work as prepositions.
For example,
- She is as beautiful as her thoughts.
- He is smarter than them both.
Subject pronouns are used if “as” and “than” function as conjunction.
When a clause can be completed after the pronoun. For example,
- She is as old as I am.
- You are taller than I am.
Object pronouns are used in the following case exclamation. For example, He has been promoted – lucky him.
“One” is used as an indefinite pronoun meaning such as anyone or everyone.
Example,
- One must do one’s job.
“So” and “it” are replaceable after certain verbs like do, guess, know, remember. For example,
Do you know he got admission to a college? Yes, I know it.
“It” is used as an empty subject in the following situations.
- With time: It is 4 ‘O’ clock.
- Weather: It is pleasant today.
- Temperature: It is 23 Fahrenheit today.
- Distance: It is 10 kilometers away from this town.
- Environment: It is a noisy place.
- Takes: It takes one hour to reach there.
- Unknown Person: Did something ring? …It was Jami.
- Things, Action or Idea: It is difficult. It is night.
With such structures with a “to-infinitive” or a “that – clause” for example,
- It is nice to see you again.
- It is sorrowful that you teased her.
We use “its” before a noun to express the possession. For example, I have forgotten its number.
“It’s” shows the short form of “it is” or “it has”. For example, I think it’s (it is) time to sleep now.