A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or another pronoun

Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun or another pronoun. Pronouns help you avoid
unnecessary repetition in your writing and speech. A pronoun gets its meaning from the noun
it stands for. The noun is called the antecedent.
Although Seattle is damp, it is my favorite city.
antecedentpronoun
There are different kinds of pronouns. Most of them have antecedents, but a few do not.

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Quick Tip
The word antecedentcomes from a Latin word meaning “to go before.” However,
the noun does not have to appear before the pronoun in a sentence. It often does,
though, to keep sentences clear and avoid misreadings.
1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person, place, object, or thing.
SingularPlural
First personI, me, mine, mywe, us, our, ours
Second personyou, your, yoursyou, your, yours
Third personhe, him, his, she, her, hers, itthey, them, their, theirs, its
2. Possessive pronounsshow ownership. The possessive pronouns are: your, yours, his, hers,
its, ours, their, theirs, whose.
Is this beautiful plant yours?
Yes, it’s ours.
Quick Tip
Don’t confuse personal pronouns with contractions. Personal pronouns never
have an apostrophe, while contractions always have an apostrophe. Use this
chart:
PronounContraction
yoursyou’re (you are)
itsit’s (it is)
theirthey’re (they are)
whosewho’s (who is)

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3. Reflexive pronounsadd information to a sentence by pointing back to a noun or pronoun
near the beginning of the sentence. Reflexive pronouns end in -selfor -selves.
Tricia bought herself a new car.
All her friends enjoyed themselvesriding in the beautiful car.
4. Intensive pronouns also end in -self or -selves but just add emphasis to the noun or pro-
noun.
Tricia herself picked out the car.
5. Demonstrative pronouns direct attention to a specific person, place, or thing. There are
only four demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
Thisis my favorite movie.
That was a fierce rain storm.
6. Relative pronouns begin a subordinate clause. There are five relative pronouns: that,
which, who, whom, those.
Jasper claimed thathe could run the washing machine.
Louise was the repair person whofixed the machine after Jasper washed his sneakers.
SingularPluralSingular or Plural
anotherbothall
anyonefewany
eachmanymore
everyoneothersmost
everybodyseveralnone
everythingsome
much
nobody
nothing
other
someone
anybody
anything
either
little
neither
no one
one
somebody
something

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7. Interrogative pronouns ask a question. They are: what, which, who, whom, whose.
Whowould like to cook dinner?
Which side does the fork go on?
8. Indefinite pronounsrefer to people, places, objects, or things without pointing to a specific
one. The most common indefinite pronouns are listed in the chart on the previous page.
Verbs
Verbs name an action or describe a state of being. Every sentence must have a verb. There
are three basic types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, and helping verbs.
Action Verbs
Action verbs tell what the subject does. The action can be visible (jump, kiss, laugh) or men-
tal (think, learn, study).
The cat brokeLouise’s china.
Louise consideredbuying a new china cabinet.
An action verb can be transitiveor intransitive. Transitive verbs need a direct object.
The boss droppedthe ball.
The workers pickedit up.
Intransitive verbs do not need a direct object.
Who called?
The temperature fellover night.
Quick Tip
To determine if a verb is transitive, ask yourself “Who?” or “What?” after the verb.
If you can find an answer in the sentence, the verb is transitive.
Linking Verbs
Linking verbsjoin the subject and the predicate. They do not show action. Instead, they help
the words at the end of the sentence name or describe the subject. As you read earlier in this

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chapter, the most common linking verbs include: be, feel, grow, seem, smell, remain, appear,
sound, stay, look, taste, turn, become. Look for forms of to be, such as am, are, is, was, were,
am being, can be, have been, and so on.
The manager was happy about the job change.
He is a good worker.
Many linking verbs can also be used as action verbs.
Linking: The kids lookedsad.
Action: I lookedfor the dog in the pouring rain.
Quick Tip
To determine whether a verb is being used as a linking verb or an action verb,
substitute am, are,or isfor the verb. If it makes sense, the original verb is a
linking verb.
Helping Verbs
Helping verbs are added to another verb to make the meaning clearer. Helping verbs
include any form of to be, do, does, did, have, has, had, shall, should, will, would, can, could,
may, might, must. Verb phrases are made up of one main verb and one or more helping
verbs.
They will runbefore dawn.
They still have not yet found a smooth track.
W
a
r
English has eight parts of speech:
a
s
’
p
t
I
Adjectives
?
Adverbs
?
Conjunctions
?
Interjections
?
Nouns
?
Prepositions
?

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Pronouns
?
Verbs
?
The way a word is used in a sentence determines what part of speech it is.
QUESTIONS
True-False Questions
Test
Yourself
1.A noun names a person, place, or thing.
2.Common nouns name any one of a class of person, place, or thing.
3.Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are never capi-
talized.
4.Plural nouns show ownership.
5.Verbs express action, condition, or state of being.
6.There are six basic types of verbs: action verbs, linking verbs, helping verbs, transi-
tive verbs, intransitive verbs, and plural verbs.
7.Helping verbs are added to another verb to make the meaning clearer. Helping
verbs include any form of to be.
8.Adjectives describe nouns and pronouns.
9.Never use an adjective after a linking verb.
10.Adverbs describe verbs, adjectives, or other adverbs.
11.All adverbs are formed by adding -ly to an adjective.
12.Prepositions link a verb to another word.
13.A pronoun gets its meaning from the noun it stands for. The noun is called the
antecedent.
14.Conjunctions connect words or groups of words.
15.Interjections express strong emotions and are usually set off with an exclamation
mark (!).
Completion Questions
Select the word that best completes each sentence.
1.Proper adjectives are formed from (common nouns, proper nouns).
2.The three articles are a, an,and (the, then).
3. Theis called the (indefinite article, definite article).
4.(Predicate adjectives, Proper adjectives), which describe the subject of the sentence,
are adjectives separated from the noun or pronoun by a linking verb.

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5.(Interjections, Conjunctive adverbs) are used to connect other words and to link
ideas and paragraphs.
6.There are (three, seven) different coordinating conjunctions.
7.Correlative conjunctions also link similar words or word groups, but they are always
used (in pairs, one at a time).
8.Collective nouns (name groups, show ownership).
9.(I, Which) is a personal pronoun.
10.(Yours, Herself) is a possessive pronoun.
11.Intensive pronouns, unlike reflexive pronouns, (begin a subordinate clause, add
emphasis).
12.(Interrogative pronouns, Indefinite pronouns) ask a question. They are: what, which,
who, whom, whose.
13.Every sentence must have a noun and a (preposition, verb).
14.Action verbs can be visible and (mental, linking).
15.In the sentence “Luis dropped his hat,” the verb dropped is (transitive, intransi-
tive).
16.In the sentence “Nita awoke early,” the verb awoke is (transitive, intransitive).
17.To determine if a verb is transitive, ask yourself (“Who?”/“What?”, “How many?”)
after the verb.
18.(Helping verbs, Linking verbs) join the subject and the predicate and do not show
action.
19.Helping verbs, which are added to another verb to make the meaning clearer, can
include any form of (to be, to see).
20.In the sentence “I traded my sandwich for three oatmeal cookies,” the word oatmeal
is a/n (noun, adjective).
Multiple-Choice Questions
Identify the part of speech for the underlined word in each sentence.
1.The outside
of the boat needs scraping.
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
help.
2.You should scrape the boat without outside
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition

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3.Let’s sit outsideand laugh at you as you work in the blazing sun.
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
the yard, next to the beehive.
4.The ambulance is parked right outside
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
mistakes.
5.The politician repented of his past
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
the store with the neon sign in the window.
6.Turn right past
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
7.Did you hear that song before?
(a)Conjunction
(b)Adjective
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
what you start.
8.Always follow through with
(a)Interjection
(b)Conjunction
(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
one ear and out the other.
9.The remark went right through
(a)Noun
(b)Adjective
(c)Conjunction
(d)Preposition
he reread Lady Chatterly’s Lover.
10.The gardener mowed the lawn after
(a)Conjunction
(b)Adjective

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(c)Adverb
(d)Preposition
ANSWER KEY
True-False Questions
1. T2. T3. F4. F5. T6. F7. T8. T9. F10. T11. F12. F
13. T14. T15. T
Completion Questions
1. proper nouns2. the3. definite article4. Predicate adjectives5. Conjunc-
tive adverbs6. seven7. in pairs8. name groups9. I10. Yours11. add
emphasis12. Interrogative pronouns13. verb14. mental15. transitive
16. intransitive17. “Who?”/“What?”18. Linking verbs19. to be20. adjective
Multiple-Choice Questions
1. a2. b3. c4. d5. b6. d7. c8. c9. d10. a