English as a Second Language (ESL) ELT » pronoun-case http://www.elt-ingilizce.com ELT-English tools and resources for students, teachers, learners and academics. Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:49:03 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Pronoun Case http://www.elt-ingilizce.com/pronoun-case/ http://www.elt-ingilizce.com/pronoun-case/#comments Mon, 17 Nov 2008 11:13:48 +0000 Ahmet YILDIRIMOĞLU http://www.elt-ingilizce.com/?p=154 Pronoun Case

Pronouns (and nouns) in English display “case” according to their function in the sentence. Their function can be:

  • subjective (they act as the subject)
  • objective (they act as the object)
  • possessive (they show possession of something else)

The following table shows the different forms for pronouns depending on case.

subjective case - objective case- possessive case
personal pronouns singular 1st I me my, mine
2nd you you your, yours
3rd he
she
it		 him
her
it		 his
her, hers
its
plural 1st we us our, ours
2nd you you your, yours
3rd they them their, theirs
relative/interrogative pronouns who whom whose
whoever whomever
which/that/what which/that/what
indefinite pronouns everybody everybody everybody’s

A problem of case: Mary and I or Mary and me?

  1. Mary and I are delighted to be here today. (NOT Mary and me)
  2. The letter was addressed to Mary and me. (NOT Mary and I)

In 1, Mary and I are subjects, which is why the pronoun takes the subjective case (“I”). In 2, Mary and I are objects, which is why the pronoun takes the objective case (“me”). An easy way to check the correct case is to try the sentence without Mary. Would you say “I am delighted to be here” or “Me am delighted to be here”? Would you say “The letter was addressed to me” or “The letter was addressed to I”?


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