What is a personal pronoun in English grammar and give examples

by Jan 15, 2019English and Study Tips

Lydia Lavenza

Community Contributor (Indonesia)

  • Leadership strengths (Level 4)
  • Community Contributor

Personal Pronoun

A personal pronoun (such as I, you, or they) that expresses a distinction of a person and as a simple substitute for the proper name of a person. Any one of the pronouns used to refer to the speaker person, or to one or more to or about whom or which he or she is speaking. 

Personal pronouns are used to represent:

  • number of people (I/we)
  • gender (he/she)
  • person (I/you)
  • case (we/us)

When discussing “person” in terms of the grammatical, the following rules apply:

  • First person, as in “I”
  • The second person, as in “you”
  • The third person, as in “It, he, she”

There are two types of personal pronouns:

  • object – Pronouns that are the subject of the sentence
  • subject – Pronouns that are the subject of the sentence

Now let’s look at some subject and object pronouns example:

# We use subject pronouns when the person or thing is the subject of the sentence.
Examples:
– I went home.
– He is a doctor.
– They are from Berlin.
– It doesn’t work.

# We use object pronouns when the person or thing is the object of the sentence.
Examples:
– Can you help me, please?
– I don’t know him.
– I saw them at the party.
– Can you repair it?

# We use he/him if we are talking about a man.
Examples:
– This is Gerrard. He is my brother.
– That is Jeff. Have you met him before?

# We use she/her if we are talking about a woman.
Examples:
– This is Amanda. She is my girlfriend.
– That is Caroline. Have you met her before?

# We use they/them if we are not using we are talking about a man or a woman.
Examples:
– Tell your friends. Ask them to help you.
– Can they help us?

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