As home schooling moms, the fear of teaching upper level courses, such as algebra and biology, is intimidating enough, but to have the responsibility of teaching and modeling proper grammar to our kids can be frightening! Here is a little help.
One of my pet peeves as a teacher is the improper use of pronouns. I have to admit; it drives me crazy! I hear innocent mistakes so often, but I have little patience for it when I hear news reporters or public speakers use them incorrectly. When I hear improper use of pronouns in songs, I want to offer free grammar lessons to all songwriters and singers out there just so I don’t have to cringe when listening to the radio. But, who am I, the Grammar Police?
Here are a few basic rules for using pronouns correctly, and hopefully, this will help you prevent making the grammar kooks like me go nuts.
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Subjective
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Objective
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Possessive
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Reflexive
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Singular
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Plural
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Singular
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Plural
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Singular
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Plural
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Singular
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Plural
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I
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We
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Me
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Us
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My/Mine
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Our/Ours
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Myself
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Ourselves
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You
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You
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You
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You
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Your/Yours
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Your/Yours
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Yourself
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Yourselves
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He/She
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They
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Him/Her
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Them
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His/Hers
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Their/Theirs
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Himself/Herself
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Themselves
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It
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It
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Its
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1. Use subjective pronouns as the subject of a sentence or phrase.
- (I, He, We,They) went camping last weekend.
- (I, He, We,They) worked hard today.
- Mary and I will go shopping later.
- He and I had fun at the concert
2. Use subjective pronouns after linking verbs that rename the subject.
- The first one to arrive was he.
- It is I.
- It is we who are responsible for keeping the shelves stocked. (Not us since the word we is renaming the subject and comes after a linking verb.)
- The volunteers are Sue and I. (Use I here since it is after a linking verb and renames the word volunteers.)
- The winners are you and she.
- Sally and John are they.
3. Use objective pronouns after an action verb.
- Call me.
- Please drive us to the park.
- Give Meg and me a few minutes to get ready. (Please don’t use I here! Use me since it is the object of the verb give. Take out the words “Meg” and “and” and you will see which word makes more sense.)
- We passed him and her on the street.
4. Use objective pronouns after prepositions.
- This cupcake is for him.
- I hope you can come with us.
- Please pass the books to Jake and me. (Please don’t use I here! Use me since it is the object of the preposition to. Take out “Jake” and “and” and you will see which word makes more sense.)
- He did it for the librarian and me. (Again, not I!)
- The teacher said that she was pleased with the determination she saw in him and me.
5. When using “than” or “as,” mentally complete the phrase to determine whether or not to use a subjective or an objective pronoun.
- Fran is six years older than I. (am)
- I am as frightened as he. (is)
- Jeff would rather take Natalie than me. (There would be no verb afterward, so use objective form.)
6. Do not use apostrophes with possessive pronouns; however, use an apostrophe with a contraction.
- The dog chewed on its leash.
- It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas.
- May I borrow your fishing rod?
- You’re the fastest swimmer on the team.
7. Use a reflexive pronoun only when it refers back to another word.
- I prefer to do this myself.
- Bryan and Stephen designed the display themselves.
- No no: Be sure to return the form to myself or Penni. Instead, Be sure to return the form to Penni or me.
- You can see for yourself.
8. There are no such words as hisself or theirselves.
May these simple rules help us to be more effective communicators! (Notice I used the word us since it is the direct object of the action verb help.) Now you get it!
Thank you for reading. When I home schooled my children, I had them take sewing classes, but I never really learned how to sew myself. Maybe they should be teaching me! I'll check out your post. Thanks for sharing.
Sharon
I am visiting you from Better Mom. My children are grown now but I think that grammar is so important and so many times overlooked. Thank you for posting this. My post is about teaching children to sew:
http://www.thelostapron.com/2013/05/summer-sewing-camp-materials.html