PRONOUNS - COMPLETE LESSON
Learn about pronouns and how to use them correctly in English!
LESSON 1: KINDS OF PRONOUNS
- Personal pronouns: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them
- Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what
- Indefinite pronouns: someone, anybody, everyone, none, all, some
- Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that
LESSON 2: PRONOUN CASE
- Subjective case: Used as subject of verb (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
- Objective case: Used as object (me, him, her, them)
- Possessive case: Shows ownership (my, your, his, her, their)
LESSON 3: USING PRONOUN CASES CORRECTLY
- Master "who vs whom" usage and compound subjects/objects with pronouns.
Essential for improving your English writing skills!
Like, Subscribe, and Share with friends learning English!
#EnglishGrammar #Pronouns #Grammar #LearnEnglish #LanguageLearning #Education #ESL #EnglishTeacher
Learn about pronouns and how to use them correctly in English!
LESSON 1: KINDS OF PRONOUNS
- Personal pronouns: I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them
- Interrogative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, what
- Indefinite pronouns: someone, anybody, everyone, none, all, some
- Relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that
LESSON 2: PRONOUN CASE
- Subjective case: Used as subject of verb (I, you, he, she, it, we, they)
- Objective case: Used as object (me, him, her, them)
- Possessive case: Shows ownership (my, your, his, her, their)
LESSON 3: USING PRONOUN CASES CORRECTLY
- Master "who vs whom" usage and compound subjects/objects with pronouns.
Essential for improving your English writing skills!
Like, Subscribe, and Share with friends learning English!
#EnglishGrammar #Pronouns #Grammar #LearnEnglish #LanguageLearning #Education #ESL #EnglishTeacher
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LearningTranscript
00:00:13Hi, I'm Carl Weber, and this is Video Aided Instructions, English Grammar Series.
00:00:19The topic for this program is using pronouns correctly.
00:00:24As you recall, a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or a group of nouns.
00:00:30The noun or group of nouns that the pronoun takes the place of is called its antecedent.
00:00:36Look at this sentence, for example.
00:00:38Angela called Khalid and invited him to go skating with her.
00:00:43Now, this sentence contains two pronouns, him and her, and each of these pronouns has an antecedent.
00:00:49The antecedent of him is Khalid, because that's the noun that the pronoun him takes the place of.
00:00:58The antecedent for her is Angela, because that's the noun that her takes the place of.
00:01:04Notice that those nouns could be substituted for the pronouns, and the sentence would still mean the same thing.
00:01:11Angela called Khalid and invited Khalid to go skating with Angela.
00:01:15The sentence would mean the same thing, but it sounds rather awkward and repetitious, which is why we use pronouns
00:01:22instead.
00:01:23But a pronoun and its antecedent should always match.
00:01:26There are many different kinds of pronouns.
00:01:29He, him, she, her, it, we, some, any, who, which, someone.
00:01:37All of these words are pronouns of different kinds.
00:01:41Now, using pronouns can be tricky.
00:01:43In this program, we'll review some of the rules for using pronouns.
00:01:47We'll also look at examples of the kinds of errors people often make when using pronouns,
00:01:52and we'll show you how to avoid making those same mistakes.
00:02:01There are many kinds of pronouns.
00:02:03The four that are most important are personal pronouns, interogative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and relative pronouns.
00:02:12In this lesson, we'll look at each of these four types of pronouns and see how they're used in English
00:02:18sentences.
00:02:19First, personal pronouns.
00:02:21A personal pronoun refers to the person speaking, the person being spoken to, or the person or thing being spoken
00:02:30about.
00:02:31Some of the most common personal pronouns are I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, and
00:02:44them.
00:02:45Now, remember we said that a personal pronoun may refer to the person speaking.
00:02:50Personal pronouns like I, me, we, and us refer to the person speaking.
00:02:56A personal pronoun may refer to the person being spoken to.
00:03:01There's only one pronoun that plays that role, you.
00:03:05Or a personal pronoun may refer to the person or thing being spoken about.
00:03:09And some of the pronouns that can play that role are he, him, she, her, it, they, and them.
00:03:18Notice that pronouns can be either singular or plural.
00:03:22As you recall, singular means referring to one thing or one person, while plural means referring to two or more
00:03:30things or persons.
00:03:32We saw a moment ago that pronouns and their antecedents need to match.
00:03:36One of the important ways in which a pronoun should always match its antecedent is in number.
00:03:42In other words, if the antecedent is singular, the pronoun should also be singular.
00:03:46If the antecedent is plural, the pronoun should also be plural.
00:03:53Notice one curious thing about the English language.
00:03:56The pronoun you can be both singular and plural.
00:03:59That's the only pronoun in the English language that works both ways.
00:04:03And because of the fact that there is no differentiation between singular and plural in the pronoun you,
00:04:10some linguists have theorized that English language speakers have invented a series of phrases and even new words
00:04:18to stand in for the plural you, which doesn't really exist.
00:04:23So this explains why you'll sometimes hear people use expressions like you people, you guys, yous, or down south, you
00:04:31all.
00:04:32There's no way to take the word you and turn it into a plural.
00:04:37So people have invented their own ways of turning you into a plural.
00:04:40So you can be both singular or plural.
00:04:43Unlike the other personal pronouns, there are no different singular and plural forms for that particular pronoun.
00:04:50The second important category of pronouns is interrogative pronouns.
00:04:56Now, you might recall that an interrogative sentence is a sentence that asks a question.
00:05:00And you might imagine that there's a connection between that kind of sentence and an interrogative pronoun.
00:05:05If that's what you're thinking, you're correct.
00:05:08An interrogative pronoun introduces a question.
00:05:11And there are five interrogative pronouns in English.
00:05:15Who, whom, whose, which, and what.
00:05:20Now, the question that the interrogative pronoun introduces may be a direct question.
00:05:24In which case, the sentence will end with a question mark.
00:05:28And the question is being asked directly of you, the person that hears the sentence.
00:05:33Here's an example.
00:05:35What do you feel like having for dinner tonight?
00:05:37The sentence ends with a question mark.
00:05:40It's asking a question of you, the person who hears the sentence.
00:05:44And notice that it begins with the interrogative pronoun, what.
00:05:48On the other hand, the question may be an indirect question.
00:05:52Here's an example.
00:05:54Andre asked Mark what he wanted for dinner.
00:05:58Here, the question begins with the interrogative pronoun, what, just like before.
00:06:02But it's an indirect question.
00:06:04It's not being asked directly of you, the person who hears the sentence.
00:06:08Instead, it's being described in the sentence as something that Andre asked Mark.
00:06:13And therefore, it's considered an indirect question.
00:06:16And notice that neither the sentence nor the question ends with a question mark.
00:06:20But the same interrogative pronoun in this case has been used, what, to introduce, in this
00:06:27case, an indirect question.
00:06:29The third category of pronouns is indefinite pronouns.
00:06:34An indefinite pronoun refers to an unspecified person, place, thing, or idea.
00:06:40As you can see, when we look at some examples of indefinite pronouns, these are words that refer
00:06:47in a somewhat vague way to one or more people, places, things, or ideas that are not specified
00:06:53or named in the sentence or anywhere near it.
00:06:56Here are some examples of indefinite pronouns.
00:06:59All, anyone, anything, both, each, everybody, many, no one, some, someone.
00:07:10And there are many other indefinite pronouns.
00:07:13You can probably make up for yourself some examples of sentences using these indefinite pronouns.
00:07:18Here are a couple to illustrate how indefinite pronouns might be used.
00:07:22All are invited to tonight's dance.
00:07:26Now, who's invited to tonight's dance?
00:07:28Have some specific people been named?
00:07:31No.
00:07:31Instead, anybody and everybody that's referred to by that indefinite pronoun all, all of those
00:07:38people are invited.
00:07:40Here's another example.
00:07:42Everybody is welcome.
00:07:44Here, the indefinite pronoun everybody is used as the subject of the sentence.
00:07:48And one more example.
00:07:50No one should feel shy about coming.
00:07:54Who should feel shy about coming?
00:07:56Has a person been named?
00:07:58No.
00:07:59Instead, the indefinite pronoun no one is used to indicate who should feel shy about coming.
00:08:04As you can see, indefinite pronouns don't contain a specific antecedent.
00:08:10Instead, they refer in a more general way to one or more people, places, things, or ideas
00:08:15that are not described or stated specifically in the sentence.
00:08:18But they're very useful words as long as they're used correctly according to some of the rules
00:08:23and procedures we'll talk about later in this program.
00:08:26And the fourth and final important category of pronouns is relative pronouns.
00:08:31A relative pronoun is used to introduce a subordinate clause.
00:08:37Now, you might recall from elsewhere in this series that there are two kinds of clauses that you need
00:08:43to be aware of that go to make up any English sentence.
00:08:46There are independent clauses and there are subordinate clauses.
00:08:51An independent clause can stand alone as a sentence.
00:08:54A subordinate clause cannot.
00:08:56When a subordinate clause tries to stand alone as a sentence, the result is a sentence fragment
00:09:02and a grammatical error.
00:09:04Instead, subordinate clauses are attached to independent clauses and the resulting combination
00:09:10is a correct English sentence, known as a complex sentence.
00:09:14A relative pronoun is used to introduce a subordinate clause.
00:09:19There are just five relative pronouns in English.
00:09:22Which, who, whom, whose, which, and that.
00:09:27You'll notice that some of the pronouns in this list also appeared in the list of interrogative pronouns.
00:09:33And there is some overlap.
00:09:35There are certain pronouns that can be used as either interrogative pronouns or relative pronouns.
00:09:41It all depends on how they're used in the sentence.
00:09:44When these pronouns are used as relative pronouns,
00:09:47what they are doing is introducing subordinate clauses
00:09:50and relating the subordinate clause to something specific in the independent clause.
00:09:56That's why they're called relative pronouns,
00:09:58because they relate the subordinate clause that they introduce
00:10:02to something specific in the independent clause.
00:10:06Let's take a look at a couple of examples.
00:10:09Sean Connery was the first actor who portrayed the secret agent James Bond.
00:10:13Now, here we have the relative pronoun who introducing the subordinate clause
00:10:19who portrayed the secret agent James Bond.
00:10:22Perhaps you can tell from the way that subordinate clause sounds
00:10:26that it can't stand alone as a sentence.
00:10:29It exists in the sentence to give more information
00:10:32about what kind of actor Sean Connery was.
00:10:36Sean Connery was the first actor is what the independent clause tells us,
00:10:41and the subordinate clause tells us exactly what kind of actor he was.
00:10:45He was the actor who portrayed the secret agent James Bond.
00:10:50So the entire subordinate clause introduced by the relative pronoun who
00:10:55relates back to the noun actor.
00:10:59Therefore, in a sense, the entire subordinate clause acts as a modifier,
00:11:03much like an adjective, giving more information about a specific noun
00:11:08in the independent clause.
00:11:09And that's how the subordinate clauses introduced by relative pronouns work.
00:11:15They work as modifiers, giving more information about a noun
00:11:19that appears in the independent clause.
00:11:22Here's another example.
00:11:24Dr. No was the movie that launched the James Bond film series.
00:11:29In this sentence, we have an independent clause,
00:11:31Dr. No was the movie, followed by the subordinate clause
00:11:35that launched the James Bond film series.
00:11:38The subordinate clause is introduced by the relative pronoun that.
00:11:42And the entire clause serves to modify or give more information about the noun movie.
00:11:48Dr. No was the movie.
00:11:50What kind of movie?
00:11:51The movie that launched the James Bond film series.
00:11:54So, once again, we have a subordinate clause
00:11:57which is related to a specific noun that appears in the independent clause.
00:12:02The entire clause is a kind of a modifier,
00:12:04giving more information about that noun.
00:12:07So when you have a relative pronoun in a sentence,
00:12:10it is introducing a subordinate clause which acts as a modifier,
00:12:14giving more information about a noun that appears in the independent clause.
00:12:19So we've seen, then, that there are four kinds of pronouns
00:12:24that are commonly used in English sentences.
00:12:26Personal pronouns, interrogative pronouns,
00:12:30indefinite pronouns, and relative pronouns.
00:12:33In the remainder of this program,
00:12:35we'll talk about some of the basic rules
00:12:37for using these kinds of pronouns correctly in English sentences.
00:12:41First, turn to your study guide.
00:12:43We've provided there an exercise
00:12:45that will enable you to test and practice
00:12:48your understanding of these four different categories of pronouns.
00:12:51Try your hand at the questions,
00:12:53and when you're finished, come back,
00:12:55and we'll look at the questions together.
00:13:04Now, in each of the sentences in this exercise,
00:13:07your job is to first underline each of the pronouns that appears,
00:13:12and then second, decide concerning each pronoun
00:13:15whether it's a personal pronoun,
00:13:18an interrogative pronoun,
00:13:19an indefinite pronoun,
00:13:21or a relative pronoun.
00:13:23Let's start with the first sentence.
00:13:25Gordon was surprised when Angela invited him to visit her in Caracas.
00:13:30There are two pronouns in this sentence,
00:13:33him and her,
00:13:34and both of them are personal pronouns.
00:13:37So that's the answer to that question.
00:13:39Him and her are both pronouns,
00:13:40and both are personal pronouns.
00:13:44Next sentence.
00:13:45Who do you think will win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor this year?
00:13:50As you can see,
00:13:51this is an interrogative sentence,
00:13:53and that might be a clue to you
00:13:55that an interrogative pronoun appears in this sentence.
00:13:58And sure enough, it does.
00:13:59The very first word in the sentence,
00:14:01who,
00:14:02is an interrogative pronoun.
00:14:04Remember,
00:14:04an interrogative pronoun introduces a direct or indirect question.
00:14:09And there are just five interrogative pronouns in English.
00:14:13Who,
00:14:13whom,
00:14:14whose,
00:14:14which,
00:14:15and what.
00:14:15And in this case,
00:14:17who is being used to introduce a direct question.
00:14:20There's also another pronoun in this sentence.
00:14:24Did you recognize it?
00:14:25You is also a pronoun,
00:14:27and it's a personal pronoun.
00:14:29Remember,
00:14:29we saw that personal pronouns may refer to the person being spoken to.
00:14:33And in this case,
00:14:35the pronoun you is being used in that way.
00:14:37So,
00:14:38in this sentence,
00:14:38there are two pronouns.
00:14:40Who is an interrogative pronoun,
00:14:42and you is a personal pronoun.
00:14:46Let's look at the next sentence.
00:14:48If Luis wants to finish painting the garage by tomorrow,
00:14:51he will have to convince someone to help him.
00:14:54How many pronouns did you notice in this sentence?
00:14:57There are three altogether.
00:14:59He,
00:15:00someone,
00:15:01and him.
00:15:02All three appear in the second half of the sentence.
00:15:05Now,
00:15:05two of the pronouns are personal pronouns.
00:15:08He and him are both personal pronouns.
00:15:12The third pronoun,
00:15:13someone,
00:15:14is a different category.
00:15:15This is an indefinite pronoun.
00:15:18Notice how the indefinite pronoun,
00:15:20someone,
00:15:21refers to a person that is not specified.
00:15:23It doesn't say in the sentence,
00:15:25who is going to help Luis with painting the garage.
00:15:28Probably Luis doesn't even know.
00:15:31And so,
00:15:31an indefinite pronoun is used to indicate that the person being referred to is indefinite, unspecified, or unknown.
00:15:38And that's a typical use of an indefinite pronoun.
00:15:42Next question.
00:15:43The inventor,
00:15:44Thomas Edison,
00:15:45is the historical figure whom I admire most.
00:15:49In this sentence,
00:15:50there are two pronouns,
00:15:51whom and I.
00:15:53We'll do I,
00:15:54the easy one,
00:15:55first.
00:15:55That's a personal pronoun.
00:15:57And,
00:15:58as we discussed earlier,
00:16:00a personal pronoun may refer to the person speaking.
00:16:04And that's who is being referred to by the personal pronoun I.
00:16:08What about whom?
00:16:09What kind of pronoun is that?
00:16:11Well,
00:16:11we've seen that whom can be used in more than one way.
00:16:15Whom may be used as an interrogative pronoun,
00:16:18can also be used as a relative pronoun.
00:16:21How is it being used in this case?
00:16:23Is it being used to introduce a question,
00:16:26either a direct question or an indirect question?
00:16:29No,
00:16:30it isn't.
00:16:31So,
00:16:31therefore,
00:16:31whom is not an interrogative pronoun in this case.
00:16:35Instead,
00:16:36it's being used as a relative pronoun.
00:16:38It introduces the subordinate clause,
00:16:41whom I admire most.
00:16:43Remember that a clause always contains a subject and a verb.
00:16:46Here,
00:16:46the subject is I.
00:16:48The verb is admire.
00:16:50And whom is the relative pronoun that introduces this subordinate clause
00:16:55and relates it back to the independent clause.
00:16:58In fact,
00:16:59the entire subordinate clause acts as a modifier,
00:17:02giving more information about the noun figure.
00:17:05So,
00:17:06there are two pronouns here.
00:17:07Whom is a relative pronoun,
00:17:09and I is a personal pronoun.
00:17:12Next question.
00:17:14Joanne's grandmother asked her what she wanted to do that evening.
00:17:18In this sentence,
00:17:19there are three pronouns.
00:17:20Her,
00:17:21what,
00:17:22and she.
00:17:22Two of the pronouns are personal pronouns.
00:17:26Her,
00:17:26and she.
00:17:27The third pronoun,
00:17:29what,
00:17:29is an interrogative pronoun.
00:17:32Remember,
00:17:32we saw that an interrogative pronoun can be used to introduce either a direct or an indirect question.
00:17:38In this case,
00:17:39the pronoun what is being used to introduce an indirect question.
00:17:44Joanne's grandmother is asking Joanne a question,
00:17:47namely,
00:17:47what she wanted to do that evening.
00:17:49And that question is being reported to us indirectly.
00:17:52So,
00:17:53the pronoun what is an interrogative pronoun because it is introducing that indirect question.
00:18:05In this lesson,
00:18:07we're going to talk about one of the more tricky aspects of using pronouns correctly,
00:18:11namely,
00:18:12pronoun case.
00:18:14Personal pronouns always take one of three different cases.
00:18:18Each case reflects a different way that the pronoun can be used in a sentence.
00:18:22And as we'll see,
00:18:23depending on which case is correct in a particular sentence,
00:18:27the actual form of the pronoun may change.
00:18:29The three cases are the subjective case,
00:18:33the objective case,
00:18:34and the possessive case.
00:18:36Let's take a moment to look at each of these cases
00:18:38and explain exactly how and when they should be used in an English sentence.
00:18:43First,
00:18:44the subjective case.
00:18:46The subjective case is used when the pronoun is a subject or a subject complement.
00:18:51As you recall,
00:18:52the most important word in any sentence is the verb.
00:18:55Now,
00:18:56the subject of the verb is the person,
00:18:58place,
00:18:59thing,
00:18:59or idea that does the action of the verb.
00:19:02Now,
00:19:02when a pronoun is the subject of the verb,
00:19:05it should always be in the subjective case.
00:19:08A pronoun should also be in the subjective case when it serves as a subject complement.
00:19:13Now,
00:19:14you might recall that there are two main types of verbs,
00:19:18verbs of action and verbs of being.
00:19:20When a verb of being appears in a sentence,
00:19:23it is sometimes followed by a subject complement.
00:19:26A subject complement is a noun or pronoun that refers back to the subject of the verb
00:19:31and gives more information about the subject of the verb.
00:19:35When a pronoun is used in that way as a subject complement,
00:19:39it should also be in the subjective case.
00:19:41Now,
00:19:42we've mentioned before a number of the typical personal pronouns that are used.
00:19:47The subjective case personal pronouns are as follows.
00:19:51I,
00:19:53you,
00:19:54he,
00:19:55she,
00:19:56it,
00:19:57we,
00:19:58and they.
00:19:59All of these pronouns are personal pronouns and all are in the subjective case.
00:20:05So,
00:20:05when a personal pronoun is being used as the subject of a verb or as a subject complement,
00:20:11one of the personal pronouns from the list I just gave you should be used
00:20:16because these are all the subjective case pronouns.
00:20:20Take a look at this example.
00:20:22We moved to the United States three years ago.
00:20:25What's the pronoun in this sentence?
00:20:28Well,
00:20:29it's the first word.
00:20:30The personal pronoun,
00:20:31we,
00:20:32is the first word in the sentence.
00:20:34What role does that word play in the sentence?
00:20:37Well,
00:20:37it's the subject of the verb move.
00:20:39The verb moved describes the action being discussed in the sentence and we is the subject.
00:20:45That's the person or persons who are doing the action.
00:20:49Since we is the subject of the verb moved,
00:20:52the subjective case pronoun we is correct.
00:20:57Here's another example.
00:20:59The fastest runner on the track team is she.
00:21:03Now,
00:21:03here the pronoun is the last word in the sentence,
00:21:06she.
00:21:06Again,
00:21:07it's a personal pronoun in the subjective case.
00:21:10Why?
00:21:11In this case,
00:21:12the pronoun she is acting as a subject complement.
00:21:15The sentence contains a verb which expresses not action,
00:21:20but a state of being.
00:21:21Namely,
00:21:22the verb is.
00:21:23It's explaining a state of being and the word she acts as a subject complement
00:21:29because it refers back to the subject of the verb,
00:21:32runner.
00:21:33Who is the fastest runner?
00:21:34She.
00:21:35So the subject complement she gives more information about that subject runner.
00:21:40It tells who the runner is.
00:21:41She.
00:21:42So following the verb of being,
00:21:45we have in this case a subject complement which happens to be a pronoun.
00:21:49And because the pronoun is playing the role of subject complement,
00:21:53it needs to be in the subjective case.
00:21:55So again,
00:21:56the subjective case pronoun she has been used correctly in this sentence.
00:22:02You might have sensed that this second sentence example that we just gave about the fastest runner sounds a little
00:22:09unusual.
00:22:09And sentences like this using a pronoun as a subject complement are fairly rare in English.
00:22:16Nonetheless,
00:22:17Nonetheless,
00:22:17they do appear occasionally.
00:22:19And so it's good to know that rule that a pronoun used as a subject complement should be in the
00:22:24subjective case.
00:22:26The second pronoun case is the objective case.
00:22:29The objective case is used when a pronoun is a direct object, an indirect object, or the object of a
00:22:37preposition.
00:22:39Now you'll recall that in a sentence, a direct object receives the action of the verb.
00:22:44Not all verbs have direct objects.
00:22:48Only certain types of verbs known as transitive verbs may have direct objects.
00:22:53In a sentence where there is a transitive verb, the action flows from the subject through the verb to the
00:23:00direct object,
00:23:01which receives the action of the verb.
00:23:03In those sentences, if a pronoun happens to be the direct object of the verb, it should be in the
00:23:10objective case.
00:23:12Similarly, an indirect object that happens to be a pronoun should also be in the objective case.
00:23:17You'll recall that an indirect object tells who or what the action of the verb is being done to or
00:23:26for.
00:23:26It doesn't receive the action of the verb directly as the direct object does.
00:23:32It receives it indirectly.
00:23:34Once again, not all sentences contain indirect objects.
00:23:38When an indirect object appears, it will appear between the verb and the direct object.
00:23:44And if the indirect object happens to be a pronoun, then it should be in the objective case.
00:23:49Finally, if a pronoun is being used as the object of a preposition, then it should also be in the
00:23:55objective case.
00:23:56You'll recall that prepositions are those words, usually small words like in, of, for, about, by, with, between, after, and
00:24:07so on,
00:24:07all of which connect what follows to the rest of the sentence.
00:24:11Whenever you have a preposition like that, it'll be followed by a noun or a pronoun,
00:24:15which is known as the object of the preposition.
00:24:17If the object of the preposition happens to be a pronoun, it should be in the objective case.
00:24:24So the objective case is used in these three circumstances.
00:24:27When the pronoun is a direct object, an indirect object, or the object of a preposition.
00:24:34Now, here are the personal pronouns which are in the objective case.
00:24:38Me, you, him, her, it, us, and them.
00:24:46You'll notice that the pronouns you and it appear on the list of the subjective case pronouns
00:24:53and the objective case pronouns.
00:24:55It so happens that those two pronouns can be used either way,
00:24:59either as subjective or objective case pronouns.
00:25:03All the other personal pronouns, however, differ from subjective to objective case,
00:25:09and it's important to recognize the difference so that you can use them correctly.
00:25:13Let's look at sentences that illustrate each of the three ways an objective case pronoun might be used.
00:25:19First, the nominating committee selected him.
00:25:23It's usually good to analyze a sentence by finding the verb first.
00:25:29What's the verb here?
00:25:31Selected.
00:25:32Who or what did the selecting?
00:25:34The committee, the nominating committee specifically.
00:25:36So that's the subject of the verb selected.
00:25:39Now, what about the pronoun him?
00:25:41What role does that word play in the sentence?
00:25:43It's the direct object of the verb selected.
00:25:47It receives the action of the selecting.
00:25:50Selected is a transitive verb and the object that receives that action is him.
00:25:56Since this is a pronoun being used as the direct object of the verb,
00:26:01it should be in the objective case as it is, him.
00:26:06Look at this example.
00:26:08Alma sang us two songs.
00:26:10What's the verb in this sentence?
00:26:12The verb is sang.
00:26:14What's the subject of the verb?
00:26:16Who or what did the singing?
00:26:17Alma.
00:26:19Now, what's the direct object of the verb?
00:26:21That is, what did Alma sing?
00:26:23She sang two songs.
00:26:25So, songs is the direct object of the verb sang.
00:26:29Now, what about the pronoun us?
00:26:32What role, what function does us play in this sentence?
00:26:35In this case, us is the indirect object of the verb sang.
00:26:40It doesn't tell what Alma sang.
00:26:42It tells who Alma sang for.
00:26:44Remember, the indirect object explains the person, place, thing or idea
00:26:49to whom or for whom the action is done.
00:26:52And in this case, Alma sang for us.
00:26:56Since us is being used as an indirect object,
00:26:59it should be in the objective case as it is.
00:27:02Us is an objective case pronoun, and it's being used correctly here
00:27:06as the indirect object of the verb sang.
00:27:10And one more sample sentence.
00:27:13The Melendys named their pet parakeet after me.
00:27:17Here we have the pronoun me.
00:27:19What's the subject of, and what's the verb in this sentence?
00:27:24Well, the verb is named, and the subject is Melendys.
00:27:27The Melendys did the action described by the verb naming.
00:27:30Now, what's the direct object of named?
00:27:34The direct object is parakeet.
00:27:35That's who or what the Melendys named.
00:27:38What's the role of the pronoun me?
00:27:40How does that fit into the sentence?
00:27:42In this case, the pronoun me is the object of the preposition after.
00:27:46We have a prepositional phrase in this sentence.
00:27:49After me.
00:27:50After is the preposition.
00:27:51Me is the object of the preposition.
00:27:53And because the pronoun is being used as the object of a preposition,
00:27:57it should be in the objective case as it is.
00:28:00So, these three sentences illustrate the three different ways that an objective
00:28:05case pronoun ought to be used as the direct object of the verb,
00:28:10the indirect object of the verb, or the object of a preposition.
00:28:15The third and final pronoun case to be aware of is the possessive case.
00:28:20The possessive case is used when a pronoun shows possession or ownership.
00:28:26And there are two different ways that possessive case pronouns can be used.
00:28:31First, here's the list of possessive case pronouns that you need to be aware of.
00:28:36My, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, and theirs.
00:28:49Notice, by the way, in looking at the words on this list,
00:28:52although a number of them end in the letter s, none of them ever contain an apostrophe.
00:28:58Many students make a mistake of putting an apostrophe before the s
00:29:04when using some of these possessive pronouns.
00:29:07For example, many students put an s, put an apostrophe s into the word its.
00:29:14They're confusing it with the, with the contraction its, which means it is.
00:29:19When you use its to mean it is, then it's correct to put in an apostrophe s.
00:29:25But when its is being used as a possessive pronoun, no apostrophe should be used.
00:29:31I mentioned that there are two ways that possessive case pronouns can be used.
00:29:36Here are the two ways.
00:29:37The first way is to use the possessive case pronoun like an adjective to modify a noun.
00:29:44When this is being done, the possessive case pronoun comes before the noun and acts very much as an adjective.
00:29:51The possessive pronouns which are used in this way as adjectives are my, your, his, her, its, our, and their.
00:30:03Here's a sentence that illustrates this use of a possessive case pronoun.
00:30:07Dr. Chen took his car to the garage for a tune-up.
00:30:12Here we have the possessive pronoun his, and it comes just before the noun car.
00:30:17So it explains exactly whose car was being taken to the garage.
00:30:23In other words, it shows possession or ownership of the car by Dr. Chen.
00:30:28His is the pronoun that refers back to Dr. Chen, and it's a possessive pronoun because it shows Dr. Chen's
00:30:34possession or ownership of the car.
00:30:36And in this case, his is being used very much as an adjective.
00:30:40It gives a little more information about the car.
00:30:43What kind of car?
00:30:44Whose car?
00:30:45It was his car, Dr. Chen's car.
00:30:47So his, in this case, is a possessive pronoun being used as an adjective to modify the noun car.
00:30:56Now, by contrast, some possessive pronouns stand alone and do not modify nouns.
00:31:03For this purpose, the possessive pronouns which can work in this way are as follows.
00:31:08Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, and theirs.
00:31:15Here's an example.
00:31:16The mechanic asked Dr. Chen if the violin in the back seat was his.
00:31:21Now, here we see the possessive pronoun his being used, but notice that it isn't followed by a noun.
00:31:28In some cases, possessive pronouns act as adjectives modifying nouns.
00:31:33In other cases, they stand alone.
00:31:35They don't modify nouns, but instead almost act like nouns themselves.
00:31:39That's what's happening in this sentence.
00:31:41The pronoun his refers back to Dr. Chen.
00:31:44In effect, it means Dr. Chen's or Dr. Chen's violin, but it doesn't precede a noun.
00:31:51Instead, it stands alone, and that illustrates the other way in which possessive case pronouns can be used.
00:31:57So, once again, these are the three cases for all pronouns.
00:32:02Subjective case, objective case, and possessive case.
00:32:06It's important to recognize the difference among the three and to know when to use each of these cases,
00:32:13depending on how the pronoun is being used in the particular sentence.
00:32:17In your study guide, we've provided an exercise which will enable you to test your understanding
00:32:22of this concept of pronoun case.
00:32:24Try your hand at the questions, and then let's look at the answers together.
00:32:36Now, in these sentences, one or more personal pronouns have been omitted,
00:32:41and your job is to choose from among the alternatives which is the correct personal pronoun to insert
00:32:47to complete the sentence correctly.
00:32:49Of course, in order to answer that, you'll need to understand how the pronoun is being used in the sentence,
00:32:55whether it's being used in a way that calls for a subjective case pronoun, an objective case pronoun,
00:33:02or a possessive case pronoun.
00:33:04Let's take a look at the first example.
00:33:06When Audrey's car broke down, Carlos lent her or she another.
00:33:12Now, the personal pronoun in this case is being used in what fashion?
00:33:17What role is it playing in the sentence?
00:33:19Is it the subject of the verb, for example?
00:33:21No, Carlos is the subject of the verb lent.
00:33:25Instead, the personal pronoun that's missing here is an indirect object.
00:33:31Carlos lent what?
00:33:33He lent another, meaning another car.
00:33:35So, another is the direct object of the verb lent.
00:33:38The pronoun that would come in between the verb and the direct object would be serving as an indirect object.
00:33:45It would tell to whom Carlos lent another, meaning another car.
00:33:53And remember that a word that's inserted in that place in the sentence and tells to whom or for whom
00:33:59the action of the verb is being done would be an indirect object.
00:34:03Well, a pronoun that's being used as an indirect object should be in the objective case.
00:34:08And as we've seen, her is the objective case pronoun to refer to a female, a single female individual.
00:34:17So, the sentence should correctly read, when Audrey's car broke down, Carlos lent her another.
00:34:24Here's our second sentence.
00:34:25A group tour is not a good vacation choice for us or we, because us or we prefer traveling independently.
00:34:36Here we have two missing pronouns, and in both cases we have the same two pronouns to choose from, us
00:34:43or we.
00:34:43Well, the correct pronoun in each of these instances will be different,
00:34:47because the purpose to which the pronoun is being put is different in each case.
00:34:52The first pronoun is the object of a preposition.
00:34:55The preposition is for.
00:34:57We have a little prepositional phrase beginning with for and followed by the pronoun.
00:35:02And remember that a pronoun which is the object of a preposition should be in the objective case.
00:35:08Which pronoun is in the objective case, us or we?
00:35:11The answer is us.
00:35:12So, the first choice for this sentence should be us.
00:35:16Now, the second pronoun is being used as the subject of a verb, the verb prefer.
00:35:23The second clause here tells what we prefer doing.
00:35:28And since we is the subject, it needs to be in the subjective case, and we would be correct.
00:35:34So, the sentence should read, a group tour is not a good vacation choice for us, because we prefer traveling
00:35:41independently.
00:35:43Next sentence.
00:35:45Is this bicycle you or yours?
00:35:48Well, what kind of pronoun is missing here?
00:35:51Is it a subjective case pronoun, an objective case pronoun, or a possessive case pronoun?
00:35:57Well, what's missing in this sentence is a possessive case pronoun.
00:36:01We need a pronoun that will refer back to or explain who or what owns the bicycle, because that's what
00:36:07the sentence is getting at.
00:36:09The antecedent would be you, the person hearing the sentence, because that's who is referred to by either you or
00:36:15yours.
00:36:16Since we need a possessive case pronoun, yours would be correct.
00:36:20We saw earlier that the pronoun you can be used either as a subjective or objective case pronoun,
00:36:28but yours needs to be used in this context, because we need a possessive case pronoun.
00:36:33So, the sentence should read, is this bicycle yours?
00:36:38Next example.
00:36:39By a unanimous vote, the judges decided that the best debater on the team was he or him.
00:36:46Well, remember that one of the ways that a subjective case pronoun is used is when the pronoun is being
00:36:53used as a subject complement.
00:36:56In other words, after a verb of being, a noun or pronoun which follows the verb of being
00:37:04and refers back to the subject of the verb would be a subject complement.
00:37:10And in this case, the pronoun he or him is being used in just that way.
00:37:14We have the verb of being, was, and what follows it refers back to debater.
00:37:20It explains more or gives more information about who the best debater was.
00:37:24It was he.
00:37:26Since it's being used as a subject complement, the pronoun should be in the subjective case.
00:37:31And therefore, he is correct rather than him, which would be in the objective case.
00:37:37Last sentence.
00:37:38Mr. and Mrs. Nkrumah have invited I or me to stay for two weeks in their or theirs home in
00:37:48Kenya.
00:37:49Here we have two pronouns to fill in.
00:37:51The first pronoun should be in the objective case because it is being used as the direct object of the
00:37:58verb invited or have invited.
00:38:01The subject of that verb is Mr. and Mrs. Nkrumah.
00:38:05Have invited is the action and receiving the action of that verb is me, the direct object.
00:38:12We want the objective case and therefore the objective case me is correct rather than the subjective case I.
00:38:18What about the second pronoun?
00:38:20To stay for two weeks in their or theirs home in Kenya.
00:38:24Well, both their and theirs are possessive case pronouns.
00:38:28And we can see from the context here that a possessive case pronoun is what is wanted.
00:38:34We want the possessive case pronoun which can work as an adjective modifying the noun home.
00:38:40Because we see the noun home follows the pronoun and therefore we want the pronoun to describe or define the
00:38:48ownership or possession of that noun.
00:38:50And the correct pronoun to serve as an adjective in the possessive case would be their without the letter s
00:38:59at the end.
00:39:00So the correct sentence would finally read Mr. and Mrs. Nkrumah have invited me to stay for two weeks in
00:39:06their home in Kenya.
00:39:08Theirs would be a correct choice if we were choosing a possessive pronoun to stand alone without having a noun
00:39:16following it.
00:39:16That's not the case here, which is why we want to use their rather than theirs.
00:39:27So we've seen there are three different pronoun cases.
00:39:30The subjective case, the objective case, and the possessive case.
00:39:34Choosing the right pronoun case to use is usually not too hard.
00:39:39But there are a few instances in which pronoun case can be a little tricky.
00:39:43Let's look at those now.
00:39:45First, many people find it tricky to remember how to use the pronouns who and whom.
00:39:52I'm going to give you a simple rule which should enable you to avoid any errors in using who and
00:39:57whom.
00:39:58First of all, remember that both who and whom can be used in more than one way.
00:40:03Both of these can be used as interrogative pronouns as well as relative pronouns.
00:40:09Having said that, the same rule applies in either case.
00:40:13Here's the rule.
00:40:14Who is in the subjective case and must be used as the subject of a verb.
00:40:20Whom is in the objective case and must be used as the direct object of a verb or as the
00:40:27object of a preposition.
00:40:28So here's the way to apply that rule to avoid mistakes in using who or whom.
00:40:34Whenever you see a clause that includes who or whom, find the verb and ask who or what is the
00:40:41subject of this verb.
00:40:43The answer to that question will tell you whether who or whom should be used correctly.
00:40:48Let's look at a couple of examples.
00:40:50First, let's look at a couple of examples using who or whom in the interrogative form.
00:40:56That is to introduce a question.
00:40:59Who or whom is your favorite athlete?
00:41:02Question mark.
00:41:03Okay, here's the pronoun being used as an interrogative pronoun.
00:41:07Should it be who or whom?
00:41:09Well, let's find the verb.
00:41:11The verb is is.
00:41:13Now, what's the subject of the verb is?
00:41:15Is it athlete?
00:41:17Is the sentence saying athlete is?
00:41:19No, not really.
00:41:20The subject of the verb is is the pronoun, who or whom.
00:41:25Therefore, since who is being used as the subject of the verb, that's the correct form.
00:41:29The subjective form who would be correct, not the objective form whom.
00:41:35What about this sentence?
00:41:37Who or whom did you invite to the party?
00:41:40Once again, who or whom is being used as an interrogative pronoun.
00:41:44Now, what's the verb in this clause?
00:41:47The verb is invite.
00:41:50And who or what is the subject of invite?
00:41:52That is, who is doing the inviting?
00:41:54Well, the answer is you.
00:41:56You are the one doing the inviting.
00:41:58Therefore, who or whom can't be used as the subject of the verb.
00:42:04Instead, it's the object of the verb.
00:42:06It's the one being invited.
00:42:08It's the one receiving the action of the invitation.
00:42:11You is the subject of the verb invite, and the object of the verb is who or whom.
00:42:17Since the pronoun is the object of the verb, whom is correct rather than who.
00:42:23So, in both of these sentences, where the who or whom pronoun is being used as an interrogative pronoun,
00:42:32once you find the verb and ask who or what is the subject, it's not too hard to see that
00:42:38in one case, the pronoun is in the subjective case, and in the other, in the objective case.
00:42:46Now, let's look at a couple of sentences in which who or whom is being used as a relative pronoun.
00:42:52In other words, to introduce a subordinate clause.
00:42:55Here's the first one.
00:42:56She is the one who or whom painted that picture.
00:43:00Now, here, who or whom is being used as a relative pronoun to introduce the subordinate clause,
00:43:07who or whom painted that picture.
00:43:10In order to determine which pronoun is correct, again, look for the verb and then ask who or what is
00:43:16the subject of that verb.
00:43:18Now, the verb in the subordinate clause is painted.
00:43:21Who or what did the painting?
00:43:23Well, who or whom would be the subject of the verb painted.
00:43:28That's the one that's doing the painting.
00:43:30Since the pronoun is being used as the subject of the verb painted, it should be in the subjective case,
00:43:36who.
00:43:37So, who would be correct.
00:43:38She is the one who painted that picture.
00:43:41Here's a different example.
00:43:43She is the one who or whom I love.
00:43:47Once again, who or whom is being used as a relative pronoun to introduce a subordinate clause.
00:43:53Who I love or whom I love.
00:43:56Now, which is correct?
00:43:57Is it who or whom?
00:43:58Well, let's look at the subordinate clause, find the verb and then ask who or what is the subject of
00:44:04that verb.
00:44:05The verb is love.
00:44:08Who or what is doing the loving?
00:44:09I am.
00:44:10I am the subject.
00:44:12So, who or whom is not the subject of the verb.
00:44:15Instead, it's the object of the verb.
00:44:17Who or whom is the one that I love.
00:44:19Who or whom then is receiving the action of the verb and therefore should be in the objective case.
00:44:25So, whom would be correct in this sentence.
00:44:28She is the one whom I love.
00:44:31So, when who or whom appears in a sentence, whether it's an interrogative pronoun or a relative pronoun,
00:44:38just look at the clause in which who or whom appears, find the verb and then ask who or what
00:44:44is the subject of the verb.
00:44:46If the subject is who or whom, use who.
00:44:49If the subject is not who or whom, use whom.
00:44:53That's the rule.
00:44:54A second situation in which choosing the correct pronoun case can be tricky involves elliptical clauses beginning with than or
00:45:04as.
00:45:05Okay, what does all this mean?
00:45:06Well, an elliptical clause is a clause from which a few words have been omitted,
00:45:11since the clause is understandable without those words.
00:45:15Now, when a pronoun is used in this kind of clause, what you need to do is complete the clause.
00:45:21That is, fill in the entire meaning of the clause.
00:45:25Add back in the words that have been omitted.
00:45:28Usually, when you do this, you can then tell whether the pronoun is the subject of a verb or the
00:45:34object of a verb.
00:45:35If it's the subject of the verb, then, of course, it should be in the subjective case.
00:45:40If it's the object of the verb, it should be in the objective case.
00:45:43But in order to determine this, you need to add back in the words that have been omitted from the
00:45:49elliptical clause.
00:45:51Okay, are you confused?
00:45:53Let's look at some examples, and this will help make it a little bit clearer.
00:45:57Eduardo is a better dancer than I or me.
00:46:02Okay, we have the word then, which is one of the telltale signs that we're dealing with an elliptical clause,
00:46:08a clause from which some words have been omitted.
00:46:11Remember, these will begin with then or as.
00:46:14Now, in this case, if we were to fill in the missing words or the missing ideas,
00:46:20what would those last few words of the sentence say?
00:46:25Right now, the elliptical clause reads than I, and there's no verb there.
00:46:30If we were to fill in the missing verb, which has been omitted, what would it say?
00:46:34Well, it would probably have to say the following.
00:46:37Eduardo is a better dancer than I am.
00:46:41Notice that the verb am has simply been omitted because you can tell what the sentence says without it.
00:46:47And in using language, people tend to cut out unnecessary words.
00:46:52So in this case, the elliptical clause means that the verb am has been omitted.
00:46:58Once we plug the verb am back in, we can see that the pronoun I or me is the subject
00:47:05of that verb,
00:47:06and therefore I is the correct pronoun to use.
00:47:10It would not be correct to say, Eduardo is a better dancer than me,
00:47:14because if you were to say that, it would be as if you were saying that the elliptical clause should
00:47:21read,
00:47:22Eduardo is a better dancer than me am, and that's clearly not correct.
00:47:27Instead, the subjective case of the pronoun I should be used even when the verb am is omitted.
00:47:34So the sentence should correctly read, Eduardo is a better dancer than I.
00:47:39Take a look at this example.
00:47:42My dog barks at my sister as much as I or me.
00:47:47Okay, once again, we have an elliptical clause at the end of the sentence from which
00:47:52some words have been omitted.
00:47:53And in this case, it begins with as.
00:47:56That's the other word that often begins an elliptical clause.
00:47:59Now, what is being said here? Is the sentence saying, my dog barks at my sister as much as I
00:48:06do?
00:48:06No, I don't think so, because most human beings don't bark.
00:48:10Instead, I think what the sentence is saying, if you fill in the missing words is,
00:48:15my dog barks at my sister as much as he barks at me.
00:48:20Okay, assuming that that's the correct meaning, which seems logical in the context of what we know about dogs
00:48:27and human beings, so if that's what's being said, then the correct pronoun should be
00:48:32me, because you use the objective case pronoun based on the fact that once the omitted words
00:48:39have been stuck back in, we see that the pronoun is the object of the verb barks.
00:48:45So once the omitted words are stuck back in, the sentence would read,
00:48:49my dog barks at my sister as much as he barks at me.
00:48:53Therefore, once we omit the words again and turn it back into an elliptical clause,
00:48:58me should be used.
00:48:59My dog barks at my sister as much as me.
00:49:03One more example.
00:49:05Elaine danced with him more than I or me.
00:49:09Here, the sentence is somewhat ambiguous.
00:49:13Probably me is the correct choice if we assume, for example, that a man is speaking
00:49:18and that men and women tend to dance together, because that, under that interpretation,
00:49:25the sentence would mean Elaine danced with him more than she danced with me.
00:49:30And since me, the object form of the pronoun would be correct, then me would be correct
00:49:37once those words have been omitted.
00:49:39On the other hand, for example, if a woman were speaking, or for that matter, if a man were
00:49:45speaking and men could dance with one another, then it might be possible that the sentence is
00:49:50trying to say, Elaine danced with him more than I did, in which case the pronoun I would be correct.
00:49:58So you see, in this particular sentence, choosing the correct pronoun I or me
00:50:03makes a difference as to what the sentence says.
00:50:06And therefore, you have to think through what you're trying to say, fill out the elliptical clause,
00:50:13add back in the omitted words, discover which pronoun would be correct with those omitted words,
00:50:19and that will tell you what the pronoun should be in the elliptical clause.
00:50:23Sound a little tricky? A bit. But once you get used to the idea of filling back in the missing
00:50:28words,
00:50:29it's not too hard to see what is the correct pronoun to use in this kind of elliptical clause.
00:50:36The third and final tricky pronoun case problem that we'll talk about is really the simplest of the
00:50:42three. When a pronoun is used in a compound subject or a compound object, use the same case as if
00:50:50the
00:50:50subject or object were not compound. As you recall, the subject of a verb or the object of a verb
00:50:57may
00:50:57sometimes be compound. In other words, there may be two or more subjects or objects joined together with
00:51:04another word like and. When this is the case, it shouldn't affect the case of the pronoun.
00:51:10So here's a tip. When you've got a compound subject or a compound object and you're not sure what pronoun
00:51:16to use, break the sentence into two sentences with two separate subjects or objects. And that will tell you
00:51:24whether the pronoun should be in the subjective case or the objective case, or at least it will make it
00:51:30much easier to tell. Here's an example. She or her and Raphael spent the winter holiday in Sao Paulo.
00:51:39Here we have a compound subject of the sentence. There are two people who spent the winter holiday in
00:51:45Sao Paulo. She or her is one of the subjects. Raphael is the other. Since we have a compound subject,
00:51:55the pronoun should be in the subjective case. Therefore, she would be correct. However, if this isn't obvious,
00:52:02break it into two sentences and then it becomes obvious. One sentence would be, Raphael spent the
00:52:07winter holiday in Sao Paulo. The other would be, she spent the winter holiday in Sao Paulo. Once you separate
00:52:14out the two subjects, then it becomes very obvious that the subjective case is correct and she would be
00:52:21used rather than her. One more example. Raphael's father threw a party for Lana and he or him. Once again,
00:52:30if you're not sure which is correct, break the sentence into two and then it'll be fairly obvious
00:52:35whether we're dealing with a subject or an object. Raphael's father threw a party for Lana. Raphael's
00:52:41father threw a party for him. This is the object of the preposition for. It is a compound object,
00:52:48Lana and him. When you break it into two and it becomes clear that him is the object of the
00:52:54preposition and therefore should be in the objective case. Him is correct rather than he. So whenever you
00:53:01have a pronoun that is linked to another word in a sentence and you're not sure whether there should
00:53:07be a subjective case pronoun or an objective case pronoun, break the sentence into two sentences and
00:53:14then see what the pronoun ought to be. And it would be the same once the sentence is compounded back
00:53:20again.
00:53:22Try your hand at the exercise in the study guide which gives you a chance to test your understanding
00:53:27of these rules related to tricky instances of pronoun case agreement. After you've tried the exercise,
00:53:33come back and we'll look at those sentences together. In the sentences in this exercise, some pronouns have
00:53:48been omitted. Your job is to figure out which is the correct pronoun to insert from the choices that
00:53:54we've offered. And I think you'll find that the rules that we discussed in this lesson should enable you
00:53:59to do that in each case. Let's look at the first example. No one in my town knows as much
00:54:05about local
00:54:05history as I or me. Here we have an elliptical clause beginning with as at the end of the sentence.
00:54:13And in order to figure out whether the correct pronoun is the subjective case I or the objective case
00:54:20me, we need to fill in the missing word. What is the sentence really saying if we were to add
00:54:26in
00:54:26any missing word or words? Well, I think what the sentence is saying is no one in my town knows
00:54:32as
00:54:32much about local history as I do. Therefore, once we insert the missing word, we can see that the verb
00:54:39do has as its subject the pronoun I. And since I is the subject of that missing or invisible verb,
00:54:48it should
00:54:48be in the subjective case I. So the correct sentence would read no one in my town knows as much
00:54:55about local
00:54:55history as I. If you made it me, it would almost be saying no one in my town knows as
00:55:03much about local
00:55:03history as they know about me, which doesn't sound very plausible. So the most natural and logical
00:55:10interpretation of the meaning of the sentence would make I the correct pronoun here. Let's look at our next
00:55:17sentence. Who or whom is the architect who or whom designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London? Here we have
00:55:26the pronoun who and whom being used twice in the sentence. The first time it's being used as an
00:55:31interrogative pronoun to introduce the question. The second time it's being used as a relative pronoun to
00:55:38introduce the subordinate clause. In both cases, who turns out to be correct. And remember, our rule is
00:55:47to look for the verb that follows who or whom and decide where the subject of that verb appears. If
00:55:55who
00:55:55or whom is the subject, then who is correct. If who or whom is not the subject, then whom is
00:56:01correct.
00:56:02Let's start with the first who or whom. Who or whom is the architect. Where's the verb in that clause?
00:56:09Well, the verb is is. And we're looking now for the subject of the verb is. Who or what is
00:56:14the subject of
00:56:15the verb? Well, the subject is who. Who is the architect. So who is the subject of the verb is,
00:56:23and therefore,
00:56:23the subjective case who is correct. Now let's look at the relative clause introduced by the other who or
00:56:31whom pronoun. Who or whom designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London. What's the verb in that clause? Well,
00:56:38the verb is designed. And what's the subject of the verb designed? Who or what did the designing? Well,
00:56:44again, the pronoun who is actually the subject of the verb designed. Since who is the subject of the verb
00:56:53designed, it should be in the subjective case who. So the sentence would correctly read who is the
00:56:59architect who designed St. Paul's Cathedral in London. Next example. When the tennis match was over,
00:57:07Alvin realized that winning the match had mattered more to his opponent than he or him. Again, we have
00:57:14an elliptical clause at the end of the sentence beginning with then. And in order to know whether
00:57:19he or him is correct, we need to complete the clause and see what it's actually saying. When the tennis
00:57:26match
00:57:26was over, Alvin realized that winning the match had mattered more to his opponent than it had
00:57:32mattered to him. That's what the sentence is really saying, that his opponent cared more about winning
00:57:38the match than Alvin did. So winning the match had mattered more to his opponent than it had to him.
00:57:44Once we fill in the blanks and complete the the meaning of the clause, we can see that the pronoun
00:57:51him is actually the object of the preposition. It's not the subject of the verb. Since it's the
00:57:57object of a preposition to him, then the objective case him would be correct. And so we fill in the
00:58:05missing words in the elliptical clause. We see what the meaning is, and that tells us whether the object
00:58:10or subjective case pronoun is correct. And in this case, him is the correct pronoun.
00:58:18Our next sentence gives us another who-whom question. Helen of Troy was the famous beauty over
00:58:24who or whom the Greeks and the Trojans fought. Here we have who and whom being used as a relative
00:58:33pronoun to introduce the subordinate clause. Now let's look at that clause. Who or whom the Greeks and the
00:58:39Trojans fought, or over who whom the Greeks and the Trojans fought. Now within that subordinate clause,
00:58:46what's the verb? The verb is fought. Now let's look for the subject of the verb fought. Who did the
00:58:52fighting?
00:58:52The Greeks and the Trojans. They're the ones who did the fighting. They are the subject of fought. So what
00:58:59is the role of who-whom?
00:59:01Who-whom is the object of the preposition over. They fought over who or whom. Therefore,
00:59:11whom is not the subject of the verb. Rather, it's the object of the preposition over. And for that reason,
00:59:17the objective case whom is correct. We looked for the verb, and then we asked, is who or whom the
00:59:24subject of
00:59:24the verb? And the answer is no. The Greeks and the Trojans are the subject of the verb. Since who
00:59:31or whom
00:59:31is not the subject of the verb, instead it's the object, the object of the preposition, and therefore whom is
00:59:36correct. So this sentence should read, Helen of Troy was the famous beauty over whom the Greeks and the Trojans
00:59:43fought.
00:59:45One more sentence. The two couples who-whom will be sharing the bungalow by the lake are the Savio's and
00:59:53us or we. Once again, we have who or whom to contend with. And once again, who or whom is
00:59:59playing the
01:00:00role of a relative clause. Let's look at the clause. Who or whom will be sharing the bungalow by the
01:00:06lake?
01:00:07Now, we're looking for the verb in that clause. What's the verb? Well, the verb is will be sharing.
01:00:13Now, what's the subject of the verb will be sharing? Who or what is doing the sharing? The answer is
01:00:19who.
01:00:19The pronoun who is the subject of the verb will be sharing, and therefore the subjective case who
01:00:27is correct. So the two couples who will be sharing the bungalow would be correct. Now,
01:00:32what about the pronoun at the very end of the sentence, us versus we? Well, the two couples
01:00:37are the Savio's and us or we. Well, we have a compound situation here. It's the Savio's and us or
01:00:46we,
01:00:46which may complicate this a bit. But remember, what we really need to figure out is whether this is a
01:00:52subject or an object. Now, remember that when you have a verb of being, what follows may be a subject
01:01:01complement. And that's what we have in this case. The verb of being is the verb are. The sentence as
01:01:08a
01:01:08whole is saying that the two couples, blah, blah, blah, are the Savio's and us or we. So the two
01:01:15couples, that's the subject of the independent clause. Are is the verb, and the Savio's and us
01:01:21or we is the subject complement. That is giving further information about the two couples who are
01:01:28mentioned way back at the beginning of the sentence. Since the Savio's and us or we is the subject
01:01:35complement, we need to use the subjective case of the pronoun, just as we would if it weren't
01:01:40compound. In other words, if the Savio's were out of the picture and if we were the only ones in
01:01:46the
01:01:47cabin or in the bungalow, we would treat this as a subject complement and therefore use the subjective
01:01:53case pronoun. So we, the subjective case, is correct. And the complete sentence should read,
01:02:00the two couples who will be sharing the bungalow by the lake are the Savio's and we. That last
01:02:07pronoun is a little tricky because it's a compound situation. But again, just pretend it isn't a compound
01:02:14situation. Eliminate the other object and you can clearly see that in this case it's a subject
01:02:20complement and therefore the subjective case we is correct. If you found the topics in this particular
01:02:32program a little tricky, all I can say is it could be much worse. As you may know, in some
01:02:37other
01:02:38languages, every noun can take on a number of different forms depending on exactly how it's used
01:02:43in a sentence. And in English, centuries ago, that was also the case. Over the last few centuries,
01:02:50however, English has become greatly simplified and now just a few words such as the pronouns take on
01:02:57these different forms which we call cases depending on how they're being used in the sentence. The vast
01:03:03majority of English nouns don't change their form at all except to become plural or to become possessive.
01:03:10So it could be a lot worse. Please remember that next time you find yourself tripped up by something
01:03:15like an elliptical clause or the who-whom question. And remember that English, after all, isn't the most
01:03:21complicated subject in the world, even though at times it may feel that way. Remember that you can always
01:03:27go back and view portions of this program again if you need a brief refresher. I hope you did find
01:03:33this
01:03:33program helpful and I look forward to speaking with you about other English topics on other programs in
01:03:39this series. Thanks for watching.
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