English Grammar Workbook For Dummies, with Online Practice, 3rd Edition

Chapter 6

Solving Pronoun Case

IN THIS CHAPTER

Placing subject and object pronouns in sentences

Choosing who or whom, he or him, I or me, and other pronoun dilemmas

Selecting pronouns for comparisons

Emphasizing actions with possessive pronouns

Have you figured out that pronouns are the most annoying part of speech in the entire universe? Pronouns are the words that most often take the place of nouns — words that name people, places, things, and ideas. Even more annoying is that sometimes pronouns replace other pronouns. In other words, when it comes to error-potential, pronouns are a minefield just waiting to blow up your speech or writing.

I cover the basics of pronoun number (singular or plural) and gender (referring to male, female, or neutral nouns) in Chapter 5. This chapter deals with case (the difference, for example, between they, their, and them or I, me, my).

Pronouns are very popular with standardized-test writers, so if you plan to bubble little ovals sometime soon, work ...