This handout can be used for a review of pronouns. It is helpful when the students already know something about them. Otherwise, the exercises would be difficult to solve.
Review of pronouns and their use
Pronouns are words that are used to substitute nouns/ noun phrases or show ownership. They can be used when the referent or thing is known because it was mentioned earlier or when the noun is described, i.e. mine, she, her, its, our, theirs.
Normal sentence:
1. Katharina lost her phone. Look, that is Katharina´s phone.
2. Peter has a new bike. The bike is green and white.
3. My uncle Steve is the best uncle in the world. My uncle Steve has a big house and the dog of uncle Steve is very gentle.
4. The Millers house is huge.
Using the appropriate pronoun:
1. Katharina lost her phone. Look, that is her phone.
2. Peter has a new bike. It is green and white.
3. My uncle Steve is the best uncle in the world. He has a big house and his dog is very gentle.
4. Their house is huge.
Pronouns as an overview
Remeber that the possessive adjectives are used like adjectives to show ownership and stand before a noun or noun phrase, whereas the possessive pronouns can stand alone and replace nouns.
Personal Pronouns (Subject) | Personal Pronouns (Object) | Possessive adjectives | Possessive pronouns |
I | my | ||
you | |||
he | him | ||
her | hers | ||
it | its | - | |
us | ours | ||
they | their |
Pronoun Hunt
Today I visited sister Hannah in the hospital. is in there because she had an accident with bike. But it was not fault. was the fault of a taxi driver who was drunk. He did not see and lost the control of car. Therefore, she broke arm and has to stay for one or two nights in the hospital. cried a lot. I said to her: will be all right. Do not worry!
However, she got a cast and has a lovely and bright red colour. dad was very angry about the taxi driver and irresponsible behaviour. After calmed down again, it came out that Hannah did not ride her own bike, was . Then I was really sad as well because she did not ask if she is allowed to use .
Digital Camera Pronoun Hunt
- The teacher will give you a digital camera.
- Search a quiet corner (i.e. outside, another room, corridor) where you can work as a group.
- Make up 3 sentences with pronouns in your group. Find together all pronouns used in the sentences (e.g. They danced around him in a circle. We sat on top of his shoes.)
- Try to depict your sentences in a funny and creative way. The focus of each photo should be on the pronoun of the sentence.
- Take photos of every portrayed sentence.
- After 20 minutes, you should come back to the classroom. We will have a look at the photos and your fellow students have to guess the sentences.
- In the end we will award the funniest and craziest photos.
The focus of the portrayed sentence should be on the pronoun(s) of the sentence.
Be creative and have fun!!!
