Without being too heavy on the grammar (which is nearly impossible when talking about writing or speaking, which is why it is important that grammar is paired with writing whenever possible). I want to discuss subjective and objective pronouns–and when to use each one.
First, we teach our students in our books that a pro-noun is “for a noun”–that is, it often takes the place of a noun. This is the most elementary description of a pronoun and one that is often accurate. (Of course, there are various classes and types of pronouns that can be extremely confusing, but for the instruction in subjective and objective ones, we will stick with the idea that pronouns are FOR nouns.)
Most everybody knows that we say I at the beginning of a sentence: I am going to the store.
And we say me at the end of a sentence: Give it to me.
But do we really know why?
The reason is because at the beginning of a sentence, generally speaking (and not utilizing sentence openers before the subject), the first part of a sentence contains the subject.
And generally speaking, a word at the end of a sentence is not a subject, but is an object.
And we all know that it is wrong to say Me am going to the store and Give it to I.
We usually understand that pronouns that are used as subjects (that is, subjective ones) include, but are not limited to, I, you, he, she, they, we. (Remember, these are used to tell who are what is doing the action–the sentence’s subject.)
We also usually understand that pronouns that are used as objects (that is, objective ones) include, but are not limited to, me, you, him, her, them, us.
So…why worry about subjective and objective pronouns at all? Join us tomorrow to find out!
