Case - Subjective, Objective, Possessive

Pronoun Case - Watch Out

Remember the section on nouns? Remember those nuggets of information we tucked away for the future? Remember those paragraphs mentioning the case of pronouns? Well, the future is now.

1. Pronouns in the subjective case replace nouns used as subjects and subject complements. 2. Pronouns in the objective case replace nouns used as objects of prepositions and objects of verbs. 3. Pronouns in the possessive case replace nouns appearing with possessive endings.

Back in Amber and Igor’s cave when the Pronoun Committee was devising its system of pronouns, it was visited by the Noun Committee. The Noun Committee pointed out that nouns have various functions to perform in sentences. Nouns act as subjects and subject complements, the Noun Committee pointed out. They act as objects. And they can possess stuff, a condition we show with possessive endings.

Therefore, the Noun Committee preached, the pronouns you devise must reflect these different usages of nouns.

The Pronoun Committee responded by devising different forms of pronouns, forms that would reflect the function served by the noun being replaced. So the Pronoun Committee decided to develop three cases:

1. Pronouns in the subjective case would replace nouns used as subjects and subject complements. 2. Pronouns in the objective case would replace nouns used as objects of prepositions and objects of verbs. 3. Pronouns in the possessive case would replace nouns appearing with possessive endings.

All appear in the tables below (keep reading).

Before putting all this together, let’s visit the final pitfall of personal pronouns: gender.

 

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