Personal & Possessive Pronouns
Level A1 · Pronouns & Possessives
Personal pronouns replace a noun that's already clear from context, so you don't have to repeat it: Sarah loves her job — she works hard uses she instead of repeating Sarah. English has two other pronoun jobs beyond simply naming who's involved: possessive determiners and possessive pronouns show who something belongs to, and the form you need changes depending on the pronoun's exact job in the sentence.
Match the pronoun to its job in the sentence:
- Subject pronouns do the action: I, you, he, she, it, we, they — She called me.
- Object pronouns receive the action or follow a preposition: me, you, him, her, it, us, them — She called me; I gave it to him.
- Possessive determiners come before a noun: my, your, his, her, its, our, their — This is my car.
- Possessive pronouns stand alone, with no noun after them: mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs (there is no standalone possessive its) — This car is mine (not this car is my).
The most common mistake is confusing its (possessive: belonging to it) with it's (it is/it has) — The dog wagged its tail, not it's tail. A second frequent error: using a subject pronoun where an object pronoun belongs, especially after and or a preposition — between you and I is wrong (a preposition needs an object pronoun). It should be between you and me, just as it's obviously me who called, not it's obviously I who called.
Look at the pronoun's job: doing the verb's action → subject pronoun; receiving the action or following a preposition (to, with, between, for) → object pronoun; sitting right before a noun → possessive determiner; standing alone with no noun following → possessive pronoun.