A personal pronoun is a substitute for the name of a person or object and can indicate gender, as well as singular or plural.
| Person | Subject | Object | Possessive | Reflexive |
| 1st singular | I | me | my/mine | myself |
| 2nd singular | you | you | your/yours | yourself |
| 3rd singular | he, she, it | him, her, it | his, her, its | himself, herself, itself |
| 1st plural | we | us | our/ours | ourselves |
| 2nd plural | you | you | your/yours | yourself |
| 3rd plural | they | them | their/theirs | themselves |
Subject-object confusion
The key to using the correct pronoun is whether it’s the subject or the object of a sentence.
The subject in a sentence is the person performing an action.
- I drive to work every day.
- I am going on holiday in December.
- I phoned Julie yesterday and left a message on her voicemail.
The object in a sentence is the person on the receiving end of the action:
- Julie called me back today.
- My boss asked me to work next Saturday.
- This must remain between you and me.
Confusion often arises when we add another person:
- Joe and I are going on holiday. (subject)
- My boss asked Julie and me to work next Saturday. (object)
The same principle of subject and object applies, but people often get it wrong when it involves two people. If the subject and object in a sentence aren’t clear to you, just try the sentence without the second party or just use the plural.
- “Joe and me are ready.”
Wrong, because you’d never say: “Me am ready”, but rather “I am ready.”
Correct: “Joe and I are ready.”
- “It’s between you and I.”
Wrong, because you’d never say, “It’s between we”, but rather “It’s between us”.
Correct: “It’s between you and me.”
Prepositions
Many people use between with the subject pronoun I.
Between, with, to, and from are prepositions. They must be followed by an indirect object pronoun, in the case of the first person, that’s me.
Reflexive pronouns
A reflexive pronoun represents the subject when that person is mentioned a second time in the same sentence. It never stands alone.
- Example: I baked the cake myself.
- Typical mistake:
Q: Who was at the party last Saturday?
Wrong: Myself and the guys from work.
Correct: The guys from work and I.
This is a phrase consisting solely of the subject. The full sentence would be:
The guys from work and I [subject] were at the party [object].
Reciprocal pronouns: Each other vs one another
Each other is a reciprocal pronoun between two people: Be kind to each other.
One another is a reciprocal pronoun between a group of people: Be kind to one another.
Indefinite pronouns
Indefinite pronouns like everyone, everybody, no one, and nobody are always singular.
The singular “they”
It always sounds clumsy to write he/she to be gender inclusive. Let’s face it, you wouldn’t talk like that. It’s much more elegant to use the singular they, and it’s gender neutral.
Instead of saying: An employee may only apply for leave once he/she has cleared the dates with his/her manager.
Rather say: An employee may only apply for leave once they have cleared the dates with their manager.
©Andrea Paulsen