STANDARD 1.2   English Language Conventions w Level 4

SUBJECTS / PRONOUNS

We have learned that a sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought, and in order to express a complete thought, a sentence must have a complete subject, which is all of the words that tell what the sentence is about.

We have also learned that the complete subject usually includes a noun, which is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea (and is also the first of eight basic parts of speech).

And finally, we learned that a noun is most often used as the simple subject of the sentence.

However, a pronoun, which is the second of the eight basic parts of speech and can also be used in different ways, is sometimes used as the subject of a sentence, too.

For you see, a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.

EXAMPLES:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they

yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs,

anybody, anyone, each, either, none, someone, somebody, both, everyone,

no one, neither, many, few, several, one, whom, what, which, whose, this,

these, those

RECAP

• A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
  

• To express a complete thought a sentence must have a complete subject.
  

• The complete subject is all of the words that tell what the sentence is about, and it usually includes a noun as the simple subject.
  

• Since a pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun, a pronoun can be used as the simple subject of a sentence as well.
  

• The easiest way to find the subject of a sentence is to look for the person or the thing that is doing something.
  

I, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, we, us, they, them,

me, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, their, theirs,

anybody, anyone, each, either, none, someone, somebody, both, everyone,

no one, neither, many, few, several, one, who, whom, what, which, whose, this,

these, those

Directions: Write the numeral 1 above the noun in each of the sentences below, the

numeral 2 above each pronoun, and the numeral 4 above each verb. The first one

has been done for you.

  2      4           1

1.   We ate pickles.

2.   They told stories.

3.   Carlos helped us.

4.   She laughed.

5.   Bernadette makes jewelry.

6.   He loves candy.

7.   Victor told them.

EXAMPLES:

A noun may name a person: Mr. Jones, Father, girl, Mary, lady

A noun may name a living thing: tree, horse, roach

A noun may name a nonliving thing (animate object) that exists physically: rock, office, city, car, house, bracelet, book, desk, sink

A noun may name a mental or spiritual idea or concept (an abstract thing): mercy, patriotism, love, mistake, truth, sadness, dictatorship, fear, obedience

RECAP

• A sentence is a group of words that expresses a complete thought.
  

• To express a complete thought a sentence must have a complete subject.
  

• The complete subject is all of the words that tell what the sentence is about.
  

• The complete subject usually includes a noun.
  

• A noun is a word that names a person, place, then, or idea.
  

And a noun may name an action: running, swimming, reading

Note: In the sentence, "Swimming is a good form of exercise," swimming is a noun because it is the name of an act and is the subject of the verb is; but notice that in "He was swimming this morning," swimming is not a noun: it is a part of the verb was swimming, which tells what he was doing.

Copyright © 2006 by Fred Duckworth

Objective: Students will identify and correctly use pronouns.

ENGLISH GRAMMAR