Top Tips Grammar: Personal pronouns

Main points

+You use personal pronouns to refer back to something or someone that has already been mentioned.
+You also use personal pronouns to refer to people and things directly.
+There are two sets of personal pronouns: subject pronouns and object pronouns.
+You can use ‘you’ and ‘they’ to refer to people in general.

 

a) When something or someone has already been mentioned, you refer to them again by using a pronoun.

- John took the book and opened it.
- He rang Mary and invited her to dinner.
- ‘Have you been to London?’ – ‘Yes, it was very crowded’.
- My father is fat – he weighs over fifteen stone.

In English, ‘he’, and ‘she’ normally refer to people, occasionally to animals, but very rarely to things.

 

b) You use a pronoun to refer directly to people or things that are present or are involved in the situation you are in.

- Where shall we meet, Sally?
- I do the washing; he does the cooking; we share the washing-up.
- Send us a card so we’ll know where you are.

 

c) There are two sets of personal pronouns, subject pronouns and object pronouns. You use subject pronouns as the subject of a verb.

I	He	It	They
You	She	We

Note that ‘you’ is used for the singular and plural form

- We are going there later.
- I don’t know what to do.

 

d) You use object pronouns as the direct or indirect object of a verb.

Me	Him	It	Them
You	Her	Us

Note that ‘you’ is used for the singular and plural form.

- The nurse washed me with cold water.
- The ball hit her in the face.
- John showed him the book.
- Can you give me some more cake?

Note that, in modern English, you use object pronouns rather than subject pronouns after the verb ‘be’.

- ‘Who is it?’ – ‘It’s me’.
- There was only John, Alex, and me in the room.

You also use object pronouns as the object of a preposition.

- We were all sitting in a cafe with him.
- Did you give it to them?

 

e) You can use ‘you’ and ‘they’ to talk about people in general.

- You have to drive on the other side of the road on the continent.
- They say she’s very clever.

 

f) You can use ‘it’ as an impersonal subject in general statements which refers to the time, the date, or the weather.

- ‘What time is it?’ ‘It’s half past three’.
- It is January 18th.
- It is rainy and cold.

You can also use ’it’ as the subject or object in general statements about the situation.

- It is too far to walk.
- I like it here. Can we stay a bit longer?

 

g) A singular pronoun usually refers back to a singular noun group, and a plural pronoun to a plural noun group. However, you can use plural pronouns to refer back to:

*indefinite pronouns, even though they are always followed by a singular verb.

- If anybody comes, tell them I’m not in.

*collective nouns, even when you have used a singular verb.

- His family was waiting in the next room, but they had not yet been informed.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
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See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.

Top Tips Grammar: Impersonal subject ‘it’

Main points

*You use impersonal ‘it’ as the subject of a sentence to introduce new information.
*You use ‘it’ to talk about the time or the date.
*You use ‘it’ to talk about the weather.
*You use ‘it’ to express opinions about places, situations, and events.
*‘It’ is often used with the passive of reporting verbs to express general beliefs and options.

 

a) ‘It’ is a pronoun. As a personal pronoun it refers back to something that has already been mentioned.

- They learn to speak English before they learn to read it.
- Maybe he changed his mind, but I doubt it.

You can also use ‘it’ as the subject of a sentences when it does not refer back to anything that has already been mentioned. This impersonal use of ‘it’ introduces new information, and is used particularly to talk about times, dates, the weather, and personal opinions.

 

b) You use impersonal ‘it’ with a form of ‘be’ to talk about the time or the date.

- It is nearly one o’clock.
- It’s the sixth of April today.

 

c) You use impersonal ‘it’ with verbs which refer to the weather:

anybody	everybody	nobody	somebody
anyone	everyone	no one	someone
anything	everything	nothing	something

- It’s still raining.
- It snowed steadily through the night.
- It was pouring with rain.

You can describe the weather by using ‘it’ followed by ‘be’ and an adjective with or without a noun.

- It’s a lovely day.
- It was very bright.

You can describe a change in the weather by using ‘it’ followed by ‘get’ and an adjectives.

- It was getting cold.
- It’s getting dark.

 

d) You use impersonal ‘it’, followed by a form of ‘be’ and adjective or noun group, to express your opinion about a place, a situation, or an event. The adjective or noun group can be followed by an adverbial or by an ‘-ing’ clause, a ‘to’- infinitive clause, or a ‘that’ – clause.

- It was terribly cold in the trucks.
- It’s fun working for him.
- It was a pleasure to be there.
- It’s strange that it hasn’t been noticed before.

 

e) You use ‘it’ followed by a verb such as ‘interest’, ‘please’, ‘surprise’, or ‘upset’ which indicates someone’s reaction to a fact, situation, or event. The verb is followed b a noun group, and a ‘that’- clause or a ‘to’- infinitive clause.

- It please me that he should want to talk about his work.
- It surprised him to realize that he hadn’t thought about them until now.

 

f) You can also use ‘it’ with the passive of a reporting verb and a ‘that’- clause when you want to suggest that an opinion or belief is shared by many people. This use is particularly common in news reports for example in newspapers, on the radio, or the television.

- It was said that he could speak their language.              
- Nowadays it is believed that the size is unimportant.
- It is thought that about a million puppies are born each year.

Note that the passive of reporting verbs can also be used without impersonal ‘it’ to express general opinions.

- The factories were said to be much worse.
- They are believed to be dangerous.

 

 

 

 

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Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.

Top Tips Grammar: Possession

Main points

*Possessives and possessive pronouns are used to say that one person or ting belongs to another or is connected with another.
*You use apostrophe s(‘s) to say who something belongs to
*You use phrases with ‘of’ to say that one person or thing belongs to another or is connected with another.

 

a) You use possessives to say that a person or thing belong to another person or thing or is connected with them. The possessives are sometimes called ‘possessive adjectives’.

my	his	its	their
your	her	our

Note that ‘your’ is both singular and plural.

- I’d been waiting a long time to park my car.
- They took off their shoes.

Remember that the possessive ‘its’ is not spelled with an apostrophe. The form ‘it’s’ with an apostrophe is the short form for ‘it is’ or ‘it has’.

 

b) You put numbers and adjectives after the possessive and in front of the noun.

- Their two small children were playing outside.
- She got a bicycle on her sixth birthday.

 

c) You use a possessive pronoun when you want to refer to a person or thing and to say who that person or thing belongs to or is connected with. The possessive pronouns are:

mine	his	our
yours	hers	theirs

- Again note that ‘yours’ is both singular and plural.
- Is that coffee yours or mine?
- It was his fault, not theirs.

Remember that there is no possessive pronoun ‘its’.

 

d) You can also say who or what something belongs to or is connected with by using a noun with apostrophe s(‘s). For example, if Javier owns a motorbike, you can refer to it as ‘Javier’s motorbike’.

- Sylvia put her hand on John’s arm.
- I like the car’s design.

You add apostrophe s(‘s) to singular nouns and irregular plural nouns, usually referring to people rather than things.

- I wore a pair of my sister’s boots.
- Children’s birthday parties can be boring.

With plural nouns ending in ‘-s’ you only add the apostrophe (‘).

- It is not his parents’ problem.

You add apostrophe s(‘s) to people’s names, even when they end in ‘-s’.

- Could you give me Charles’s address?

Note that when you use two or more names linked by ‘and’, you put the apostrophe s(‘s) after the last name.

- They have bought Sue and Tim’s car.

 

e) When you want to refer to someone’s home, or to some common shops and laces of work, you can use apostrophe s(‘s) after a name or noun on its own.

- He’s round at David’s.
- He bought it at chemist’s.
- She must go to the doctor’s.

 

f) You can also use apostrophe s(‘s) with some expressions of time to identify something, or to say how much time is involved.

- Did you see the cartoon in yesterday’s newspaper?
- They have four weeks’ holiday per year.

 

g) You can use a prepositional phrase beginning with ‘of’ to say that one person or thing belongs to or is connected with another.

- She is the mother of the boy who lives next door.
- Ellen aimlessly turned the pages of her magazine.

After ‘of’ you can use a possessive pronoun, or a noun or name with apostrophe s(‘s).

- He was an old friend of mine.
- That word was a favourite of your father’s.
- She’s a friend of Stephen’s.

 

h) You can add ‘own’ after a possessive, or a noun or name with apostrophe s(‘s), for emphasis.

- My own view is that there are no serious problems.
- The professor’s own answer may be unacceptable.

 

 

 

---------------------------------------------
Top Tips Abz Ingles: Part A    -    Part B
---------------------------------------------

 

See also:

Words related to Failure to Cooperate	Irregular Verbs list
Common Phrasal Verbs	Common Slangs
Common misspellings	Regular vs Irregular Verbs
Common Errors	Frequently confused words
Common Slangs	Lista de Términos Gramaticales
Common Clichés	Common Prepositions

 

No te olvides de compartir esto con tus amigos y compañeros, hagamos de este Blog una comunidad de difusión del Inglés como segundo idioma. Antes de irte deja tu comentario y haz clic en Me Gusta.