Personal Pronoun Chart printable pdf download

Activity Sheet 17: Pronouns for case, word form, and person (point of view)

To the instructor: If students remember what pronouns are – and most don’t—they will tell you that a pronoun is a word that takes the

place of a noun. While this definition has truth, it may confuse students who do not have much background in formal grammar. Arthur

Whimbey relates an amusing story of his boyhood struggle with pronouns. Based on that previous definition, he thought a pronoun

was the same thing as a synonym; after all, it is a word that takes the place of a noun. Look at a point of confusion: The student wrote

an excellent essay. This writer’s final draft was the best she had written all semester. For poor little Arthur, the pronoun in the second

sentence was writer because it clearly took the place of student in the first. This simple tale shows that without much background

knowledge, even the simple explanations are not so simple or clear. After the introductory activity, we might want to tell students that

the pronouns from the chart below on page 3 are the forms that take the place of single nouns or noun phrases.

Swimming across the lake was difficult.

Swimming across the lake without stopping to rest was difficult.

If my reader knew the subject I was referring to, notice how much of the sentence the pronoun it would replace.

Swimming across the lake was difficult. [becomes]

It was difficult.

Swimming across the lake without stopping to rest was difficult. [becomes] It was difficult.

Students know all about pronouns though they can’t explain them to you. Let’s prove it with this introductory activity. Provide the

students with the blank copy of the chart on page 3. Start with the first column and ask them to fill in the blank with the appropriate

pronoun. So, I would ask, if the first sentence is talking about me, what would I put in the blank? Everyone will say, “I.” Have them

write it in and continue, column by column. (I have included on page 4 what the chart will look like when they finish.) I usually post

the correct chart, but I do not give them a copy of it. I want them to take notes.

When we get to forms they have some disagreement about (himself vs. hisself), we return to that idea of dialect (formal vs. informal

register). Notice I have put an asterisk by some of the forms they may need to study. I have them look visually at the chart and notice

Personal Pronoun Chart