What are Personal Pronouns and its Rules? | Language Lesson

This language lesson is designed for 6 to 12-year-old children to teach them about substituting proper nouns with a personal pronouns.

We use different grammar elements, like nouns, adjectives, and adverbs in English to make the text interesting. This helps to make strong writing and reading content. Pronouns are one of these grammar elements. Pronouns are words used to replace nouns. This helps to make the writing faster and more varied. Words like – I, we, they, you, he, she, it are pronouns. There are ten different types of pronouns.

In this video, the child is introduced to using personal pronouns in singular and plural forms for the first, second, and third-person.

What are Personal Pronouns?

Personal pronouns are words that are used to refer to people, places, things, or ideas without having to use their names. They replace proper nouns and also represent the number and gender of corresponding nouns. For example, I, you, he, she, it, we, they, he, she, and we.

Personal pronouns are an essential part of the English language and are used in everyday communication. It also helps avoid the repetition of proper nouns in reading and writing.

What are Different Types of Personal Pronouns?

Personal pronouns can be divided into three categories: first person, second person, and third person, as shown in the video.

First Person Pronouns

First-person pronouns refer to the person who is speaking or writing. The most common first person pronouns are “I” and “we”. For example, “I am going to the store” or “We are going to the park”.

Second Person Pronouns

Second-person pronouns are used to refer to the person or people the speaker is speaking to. The most common second-person pronouns are “you” and “y’all”. For example, “You are my best friend” or “Y’all are invited to the party”.

Third Person Pronouns

Third-person pronouns are used to refer to people, places, things, or ideas that are not the speaker or listener. The most common third-person pronouns are “he”, “she”, “it”, “they”, and “them”. For example, “He is a doctor” or “They are going to the beach”.

What Details are Provided by Personal Pronouns?

Personal pronouns provide us with the following information and details –

The person: Who is speaking – first, second, or third person?
The number: Is the pronoun plural or singular?
The gender: Is the pronoun feminine, masculine, or neuter?

Personal pronouns can be a subject or an object. Subject pronouns are in the nominative case, whereas object pronouns are in the objective case.

	Nominative		Objective
Person	Singular	Plural	Singular	Plural
First	I	We	Me	Us
Second	You	You	You	You
Third	He, She, It	They	Him, Her, It	Them

Exceptions While Using Personal Pronouns

In the English language, there is confusion about the word ‘you’. In the second person, we always use ‘you’ for singular or plural, and subject or object.

For example,

- Would you like to come for a walk?
- You have not completed your assignment.

In the above sentences, we cannot decide if the second person is one or many. We also cannot decide the gender, is it masculine or feminine?

The word ‘they’ in the third person can sometimes be used for specifying a singular noun.

For example – If a parent wants to speak to a teacher, they can visit the school after 1pm.

In the above sentence, ‘they’ is used to specify the noun parent.

Rules for Understanding Personal Pronouns

To understand personal pronouns, easily follow the 3 rules:

Personal pronouns replace a specific person, thing, animal, or group in a sentence.

For example, We have a dog at home. It has white fur.

In this sentence, the personal pronoun, it, replaces the common noun, dog.

Personal pronouns have an antecedent that comes before the pronoun to make sense.

For example: Radhika went shopping. She bought some books.

In this sentence, the personal pronoun, she, refers back to its antecedent, which is Radhika.

If another person, thing, animal, or group interrupts the personal pronoun and its antecedent, a personal pronoun cannot be used.

For example: Nancy gifted Aman a box of chocolates – It’s a pack of assorted homemade chocolates. Aman ate the almond chocolates as they were his favorite ones.

In this sentence, there are two different nouns that could be the antecedent of ‘they’. Therefore, the antecedent, chocolates, is repeated before using the personal pronoun to avoid confusion.

Why are Personal Pronouns Used?

It is imperative to use the right pronouns when communicating in English. Incorrect usage can lead to confusion or misunderstandings. Using personal pronouns effectively in English will become second nature with practice.

It also helps writers to avoid repeating a noun and makes the sentences easy to read. It is easier for the readers also to follow a continuous flow of ideas and to identify important parts in a sentence or text.

Some Ideas to Help the Child Understand the Personal Pronouns

Treasure Hunt: Hide various pictures around the room, then say a personal pronoun to the children. They will search for the pictures that best match the pronoun. For instance, if you say “he,” the children will look for pictures of males. If you say “they,” the children will search for pictures of people together.

Card Game: Create two rows of cards, one with pictures and the other with personal pronouns. Place them face down on the table. Invite a child to select a picture card and a personal pronoun card. Only the card that matches the picture will be left open; the rest should be placed face-down again. Repeat this process with other children.

Watch the video and help the child refer to the surrounding things with different personal pronouns. This will help them get a better understanding of the grammar concepts.

FAQs

What are personal pronouns?

Personal pronouns are the words that are used to replace the proper nouns in a particular perspective. It also indicates the gender and number of the corresponding noun.

What are examples of personal pronouns?

I, we , they, you, he, she, it, his, her, them are a few examples of personal pronouns as they take the place of a particular person or thing in a particular perspective.

What are the three types of personal pronouns?

Personal pronouns can be broadly classified into three types – first person, second person, third person.

What are 12 personal pronouns?

Personal pronouns can be a subject or an object. Subject pronouns are in the nominative case, whereas object pronouns are in the objective case. This further classifieds the personal pronouns in 12 distinct forms – I, we, me, us, you, he, she, it, they, him, her, them.

Personal Pronoun