Transcript Unveiling the Mystery The typical English sentence consists of a subject and a predicate.

Unveiling the Mystery
The typical English sentence consists of a subject and
a predicate. In general, sentences are in subject-verbobject (SVO) word order.
Example:
The cat chased the mouse.
S
V
O
The boy caught the ball.
S
V
O
My brother broke the computer.
S
V
O
The dog swallowed the light bulb.
S
V
O
Most nouns can function as either a subject or an object.
Example:
James read a book.
S
V
O
Susan loves James.
S
V
O
Interestingly enough, pronouns change their form depending
on whether they function as a subject, an object, or a
possessive:
I ate a dinosaur.
S
A dinosaur ate me.
O
The dinosaur is mine.
It is my dinosaur.
Subjective
Objective
Possessive
I
me
my-mine
thou-you
thee
thy-thine
he-she
him-her
his-his, her-hers
we
us
our-ours
you
you
your-yours
they
them
their-theirs
who
whom
whose
Pronouns change according to their function or placement within the sentence.
To complicate matters, linking verbs never take objective
pronouns:
Example:
“May I speak to Michael?”
“This is he.”
I thought I could hear Miranda singing. Was it she?
“Jamie is a brat.”
“That she is.
Choose the correct pronoun in each case:
1. (Who, whom) is at the door? Maria?
2. It is (she, her).
3. (Who, whom) did you say was coming?
4. The actor invited my father and (I, me) onto the
stage.
5. “Who made that repulsive noise?”
“It was (I, me).”
Choose the correct pronoun in each case:
1. (Who, whom) is at the door? Maria?
2. It is (she, her).
3. (Who, whom) did you say was coming?
4. The actor invited my father and (I, me) onto the
stage.
5. “Who made that repulsive noise?”
“It was (I, me).”
6. The house belongs to Joan and (I, me).
7. I don’t know (who, whom) he is.
8. (He, him) and James ate Mexican food for dinner.
9. It is (he, him) (who, whom) I adore.
10.It was not (he, him) who called.
11.Between you and (I, me), I hate reading poetry.
12.Jonathan is taller than (she, her).
6. The house belongs to Joan and (I, me).
7. I don’t know (who, whom) he is.
8. (He, him) and James ate Mexican food for dinner.
9. It is (he, him) (who, whom) I adore.
10.It was not (he, him) who called.
11.Between you and (I, me), I hate reading poetry.
12.Jonathan is taller than (she, her).
In the immediacy of speech we confuse our pronouns without
apology. However, in written text we have a responsibility—given
the time involved in formulating ideas and sentences—to be
meticulous, and to eradicate errors in pronoun use.
Of the common writing errors, the most frequent errors are
committed with pronouns, (a) because they change based on
their function within the sentence, (b) because they must agree
in number with their antecedents, and (c) because they must
clearly be related to the referent.
When editing, always look longest and hardest at the pronouns in
your sentences—it is the pesky pronoun which will inevitably trip
you up.
And above all, in academic papers, avoid “I” and “you”
assiduously. Edit them out of your writing and out of your mind.
The End
PowerPoint Presentation by Mark A. Spalding, BA, MEd, MA (2008).