Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Subject
Object
me
you
you
he
him
she
her
it
it
we
us
you
you
they
them
We use he/him to refer to men, and she/her to refer to women. When we are not sure if we
are talking about a man or a woman we use they/them.
This is Jack. Hes my brother. I dont think you have met him.
This is Angela. Shes my sister. Have you met her before?
Talk to a friend. Ask them to help you.
You could go to a doctor. They might help you.
Subject pronouns
We use subject pronouns as subject of the 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.
Warning
Object pronouns
We use object pronouns:
as the object of the verb:
Can you help me please?
I can see you.
She doesnt like him.
I saw her in town today.
We saw them in town yesterday, but they didnt see us.
after prepositions:
She is waiting for me.
Ill get it for you.
Give it to him.
Why are you looking at her?
Dont take it from us.
Ill speak to them.
English clauses always have a subject:
His father has just retired. Was a teacher. > He was a teacher.
Im waiting for my wife. Is late. > She is late.
Look at the time! Is half past two.> Its half past two.
except for the imperative (see more)
Go away.
Play it again please.
If we have no other subject we use there or it.
there
We use there as a dummy subject with part of the verb be followed by a noun phrase. (see
Clauses, sentences and phrases):
to introduce a new topic:
There is a meeting this evening. It will start at seven.
There has been an accident. I hope no one is hurt.
with numbers or quantities:
There was a lot of rain last night.
There must have been more than five hundred in the audience.
to say where something is:
There used to be a playground at the end of the street.
There are fairies at the bottom of the garden.
I wonder if there will be anyone at home.
with an indefinite pronoun or expressions of quantity and the to-infinitive:
There
There
There
There
WARNING:
We dont say These are John and Michael.
We say This is John and this is Michael.
- to introduce ourselves to begin a conversation on the phone:
Hello, this is David, Can I speak to Sally?
Why do we use that and those?
We use that (singular) and those (plural):
- to talk about things that are not near us:
Whats that?
This is our house, and thats Rebeccas house over there.
Those are very expensive shoes.
- We also use that to refer back to something someone said or did:
- Im very tired.
- Why is that?
this, these, that, those with nouns
We also use this, these, that and those with nouns to show proximity
We use this and these for people or things near us:
We have lived in this house for twenty years.
Have you read all of these books?
and that and those for people or things that are not near us:
Who lives in that house?
Who are those people?
We use one (singular) and ones (plural) to avoid unnecessary repetition.
See those two girls? Helen is the tall one and Jane is the short one.
Which is your car, the red one or the blue one?
My trousers are torn. I need some new ones.
See those two girls. Helen is the one on the left.
Lets look at the photographs. The ones you took in Paris.
Singular:
Plural:
amuse
blame
cut
dry
enjoy
help
hurt
introduce
kill
prepare
satisfy
teach
Some verbs change their meaning slightly when they have a reflexive pronoun as direct
object:
Warning
somebody
anybody
someone
anyone
something
anything
somebody
someone
something
nobody
no one
nothing
everybody
everyone
everything
We use indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things without saying exactly who or what they
are. We use pronouns ending in -body or -one for people, and pronouns ending in thing forthings:
Everybody enjoyed the concert.
I opened the door but there was no one at home.
It was a very clear day. We could see everything.
We use a singular verb after an indefinite pronoun:
Everybody loves Sally.
Everything was ready for the party.
When we refer back to an indefinite pronoun we normally use a plural pronoun:
Everybody enjoyed the concert. They stood up and clapped.
I will tell somebody that dinner is ready. They have been waiting a long time.
We can add -'s to an indefinite pronoun to make a possessive.
They were staying in somebodys house.
Is this anybodys coat?
We use indefinite pronouns with no- as the subject in negative clauses (not pronouns with
any.)
Anybody didnt come >> Nobody came.
We do not use another negative in a clause with nobody, no one or nothing:
Nobody came.
Nothing happened.
We use else after indefinite pronouns to refer to people or things in addition to the ones we
already mentioned.
All the family came, but no one else.
If Michael cant come well ask somebody else.
So that's eggs, peas and chips. Do you want anything else?
The relative pronouns are:
Subject
Object
Possessive
who
who(m)
whose
which
which
whose
that
that
We use who and whom for people, and which for things.
Or we can use that for people or things.
We use relative pronouns:
after a noun, to make it clear which person or thing we are talking about:
the house that Jack built
the woman who discovered radium
an eight-year-old boy who attempted to rob a sweet shop
to tell us more about a person or thing:
My mother, who was born overseas, has always been a great traveller.
Lord Thompson, who is 76, has just retired.
We had fish and chips, which is my favourite meal.
But we do not use that as a subject in this kind of relative clause.
We use whose as the possessive form of who:
Base form
be
begin
break
bring
buy
build
choose
come
cost
cut
do
draw
Past tense
was/were
began
broke
brought
bought
built
chose
came
cost
cut
did
drew
drove
Past participle
been
begun
broken
brought
bought
built
chosen
come
cost
cut
done
drawn
driven
Base form
drive
eat
feel
find
get
give
go
have
hear
hold
keep
know
leave
lead
let
lie
lose
make
mean
meet
pay
put
run
say
see
sell
send
set
sit
speak
spend
stand
take
teach
tell
think
understand
wear
win
write
Past tense
ate
felt
found
got
gave
went
had
heard
held
kept
knew
left
led
let
lay
lost
made
meant
met
paid
put
ran
said
saw
sold
sent
set
sat
spoke
spent
stood
took
taught
told
thought
understood
wore
won
wrote
Past participle
eaten
felt
found
got
given
gone
had
heard
held
kept
known
left
led
let
lain
lost
made
meant
met
paid
put
run
said
seen
sold
sent
set
sat
spoken
spent
stood
taken
taught
told
thought
understood
worn
won
written