Grammar

Pronouns in English

2,780 fill-in-the-gap exercises across 6 forms

Words that stand in for a noun. Which form you need depends on the job the word is doing in the sentence.

Pick a form to practice

Five columns, one decision

The table above is the whole topic. What changes is which column you need, and that depends on the job the word does:

• doing the action → subject: She called.
• receiving it → object: I called her.
• in front of a noun → possessive adjective: her phone
• standing alone → possessive pronoun: The phone is hers.
• pointing back at the subject → reflexive: She hurt herself.

The commonest errors

After a preposition, use the object form. between you and me, not between you and I. The word I is not more polite; it is simply the wrong column.

In a pair, decide by removing the other person. He gave it to John and me. Take John out: He gave it to me — correct. He gave it to I — obviously wrong.

its and it’s are different words. Its is the possessive, like his. It’s is only ever short for it is or it has. Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: yours, hers, ours, theirs.

they for one person

They is now standard for a single person whose gender you do not know or do not need to state:

Someone left their coat. — this has been ordinary English for centuries.

Indefinite pronouns

Somebody, anybody, nobody, everybody, something, anything, nothing, everything behave as singular:

Everybody is here. Nothing works.

But they are referred back to with they: Somebody called — they left a message.

The some/any split is the same as with nouns: some in positive sentences and offers, any in negatives and questions.

All forms

Mistakes to avoid