Grammar Quiz - V (Personal Pronouns)

Pronouns are words used in place of nouns.There are different types of pronouns,this quiz covers personal pronouns (called so coz they are used to indicate individuals only).

Since a pronoun is a word used in place of a noun the usage of a pronoun depends on three aspects of the noun.These three aspects are as follows:

• number ( SN takes SPr ; PN takes PPr) e.g Ram will be replaced by a he/him/his but Ram and Shyam will be replaced by we/us/our/they/them/their
• gender (Ram [M] takes a he , Sita [F] takes a she , bench [N] takes a it and students [ common] takes a he/she)
• case : the case of a pronoun depends on the position of the noun in a sentence i.e whether a noun is used as a subject,object or used to indicate possession

In the usage of personal pronouns we also have to take into consideration the person of the pronouns.

first person singular : I
second person singular : you
third person singular : he/she/it
first person plural : we
third person plural : they

All these pronouns have four forms depending on their position in the sentence.The following table will help you understand the concept better:

Subjective case       Objective case       Possessive Adjective   Possessive Pr

[used in the subject  [used in the object            [used to indicate possession]
position]                   position]

         I                             me                              my                                    mine
        you                        you                              your                                 yours
         he                          him                               his                                    his
        she                         her                                her                                  hers
         it                            it                                   its                                     its
        we                          us                                 our                                  ours
        they                        them                             their                                 theirs
        who                       whom                           whose                              whose

Hence it can be said that the noun and the pronouns should agree with each other in terms of  number,case and gender.This error is referred to as Pronoun-Antecedent agreement.

Answers

1) Raghav likes Priya more than me or I (like her is implied with the usage of I) [ either can be used with a change in meaning]

2)  Rahul and I would be attending the party tonight. [ When two or more personal pronouns with different persons are used in the same sentence they follow an order.This order depends on the positive or negative meaning conveyed by the sentence.If the sentence conveys a positive meaning the order is : II,III,I and when it conveys a negative meaning the order is : I,II,III]

3) She is taller than I am.[ since we are comparing two subjects here both the pronouns would remain in the subjective case]

4) The hen lay on her eggs. [ hen is a feminine gender and hence her,it is used for an animate beings when the sex is unspecified]

5) Ram and Shyam are good friends. Ram or Shyam stays in the hostel. [In this sentence we cannot use a pronoun as it would lead to ambiguity.]

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