Writer's Choice Grade 6

Unit 11: Pronouns

Overview

When a player gets tired, the coach often substitutes another player who is rested. When a noun or noun phrase gets overused, a pronoun can fill in for it.

A pronoun can fill any position that a noun or noun phrase can take in a sentence. However, it can' t stand alone. A pronoun always refers to someone or something else, called its antecedent.

Personal pronouns such as I and me can take the place of subjects or objects. A subject pronoun, a pronoun that takes the place of a subject, is in the nominative case: I tried out for the team. An object pronoun, a pronoun used as a direct or indirect object, is in the objective case: Everyone congratulated me.

A pronoun that shows ownership is called a possessive pronoun. Pronouns such as mine, yours, and ours are in the possessive case. A possessive pronoun does not need an apostrophe.

Some pronouns do not refer to any particular nouns. Pronouns such as anyone, everything, or others are called indefinite pronouns.