Pronouns Name ______________________
Brushing Up Pronoun Skills
Most students learned pronoun usage a long time ago, but many need a brush up.
Here is a brief exercise to refresh hazy skills. English has three pronoun cases:
Subjective (Nominative) Case
Objective Case
me, us, him, her, it, them, you
Use these pronouns as objects of verb or objects of preposition.
Possessive Case
Three Frequent Pronoun Problems
1. Compound subjects
My buddy and I [not me] went shopping. [Ignore “my buddy and”;
focus on subject of verb.]
2. Compound objects
Send the note to him or me [not I]. [Ignore “him or”; focus on object
of preposition.
3. Confused possessive pronouns
Underline any pronoun errors in the following. Write a correct form above. If the
sentence is correct, write C.
1. Jake asked Erin and I for advice on applying for the internship.
2. We wondered whether the manager and him would support the changes.
8. A new profit–sharing plan was sent to the other employees and I early last year.
9. Me and my friend are both interested in applying for the same job.
Solutions
1. Change I to me. Object of verb. Ignore Erin and. (Jake asked me for advice.)
2. Change him to he. Subject of verb. Ignore the manager and. (We wondered
whether he would support the changes.)
3. Change me to I. Object of preposition. Ignore Mark or. (Send all responses to me
before September 1.)
10. Change I to me. Object of preposition. Ignore Franklin and. (. . . please send it to
me.)
11. Change it’s to its. Possessive pronouns do not have apostrophes. Don’t confuse
the pronoun its with the contraction it is.
12. Change him to he. Subject of verb. Ignore the president and. (If only he would
make a decision . . . .)