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Today’s Puzzle is about Indefinite Pronouns and Confusing Pronouns … and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books about Mulan.

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Today’s Punctuation Puzzle sentence comes from a student writing assignment found in the Mulan’s Twice-Told Tale writing packet.

The post Punctuation Puzzle –Indefinite Pronouns and Confusing Pronouns With Mulan appeared first on Character Ink.

Did you know that there is a group of pronouns called reflexive pronouns? I know, right? Not mentioned that often. I hardly remember studying them in school at all. And yet, we use them all the time—and even eloquent people use them wrong quite often. (How many interviews or speeches have you heard someone say, “Then my friend and myself….” or “He began talking to my friend and myself…” WRONG!

So here is the scoop…that I am giving to you by MYSELF…actually my technical assistant will put this all together HERSELF and make it look amazing, so I can’t really say that I am doing it all by MYSELF. Sorry…..I couldn’t help it…

First of all, myself, yourself, and ourselves are pronouns known as reflexive pronouns. That is, they reflect back to the antecedent (a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence).

When we say that Donna is the antecedent to herself in the sentence “Donna gave herself a pat on the back,” we are saying that herself is a pronoun and Donna is the antecedent (the word that herself refers back to).

So, reflexive pronouns reflect or refer back to another word. They cannot be used alone (i.e. myself can not be used without a noun or pronoun earlier in the sentence as its antecedent).
1.       I bought myself some candy. (Myself refers back to/is reflexive of I.)
2.       Donna bought herself some candy. (Herself refers back to/is reflexive of Donna.)
3.       He looked at himself in the mirror. (Himself refers back to/is reflexive of He.)

The key to understanding and using reflexive pronouns is to not use THEM by THEMSELVES!

Thus, you wouldn’t say the following:
1.       Ray and myself went to town. (There is no noun for myself to refer back to. You need the subjective I in this sentence…Ray and I.)
2.       They gave it to him and myself. (Same thing—no noun or pronoun for myself to refer back to.)

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The post Reflexive Pronouns: Myself, Himself, Herself, Ourselves, and Themselves (Never Theirselves…Let’s Get That Straight in the Title of This Post!) appeared first on Character Ink.

By Zac Kieser & Donna Reish

Welcome to another Punctuation Puzzle! Yep… a puzzle that you solve by putting in the correct punctuation and words/usage fixes—along with explanations and answers about each error!

Perfect for students and teachers alike!

Today’s Puzzle is about Compound Possessives and Pronouns … and it uses an interesting sentence from one of our Write-for-a-Month/Write On books about Mowgli.

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The post Punctuation Puzzle: Compound Possessive Nouns and Pronouns appeared first on Character Ink.

“Susie and me are coming at ten.” How many times do we tell our kids (or students) that it should be Susie and I?

It sounds simple. Even the rule seems simple: Use I in the subjective position (when used as the sentence’s subject). Use me in the objective position (when used as an object—give it to me).

But pronoun use is way more complex than the correcting of our kids when they use me as one of the subjects.

This recently came up on one of my FB pages. Here is what the reader posted:

“Quick grammar question: My third grader wrote ‘They wanted Helen and me to come to Perkins.’ The teacher corrected it to ‘Helen and I.’ I think my son is right…”

My answer was not exactly quick…but here you go:

Your son is right! And this is a good place to learn my Single Pronoun Trick. Every student should be taught this trick as it eliminates so many questions.

When you have two or more pronouns or pronouns/nouns in combo, always isolate each pronoun and read the part of the sentence with that pronoun alone.

It keeps students from having to constantly think “Is that a subjective pronoun or an objective pronoun?” It keeps them from hearing something that doesn’t sound as bad in a group. (It doesn’t sound as bad to say “Give it to Susie, Joe, Tom, and I” as it does to say “Give it to I.”)

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). this post will elaborate on 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 or 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 do you need to know the difference between subjective and objective pronouns if you are not likely to say Me going to town or Give that to I?).

The problem comes when you have two pronouns at or near the beginning of your sentence (subjective pronouns, hopefully!) or two pronouns at or near the end of your sentence (objective pronouns, hopefully!):

Subjective:
1. She and I are coming over.
2. He and she are late.

Objective:
1. Give that gift to him and her.
2. We will present them and her with a gift later.

“Single Pronoun Trick”: The key to using the correct pronouns in this case is to say each pronoun by itself in the sentence (without the second one) to see if it sounds correct:

1. Correct: She and I are coming over.
a. She is coming over.
b. I am coming over.

2. Incorrect: Her and I are coming over.
a. Her is coming over (wrong!).
b. I am coming over.

3. Correct: Give that gift to him and her.
a. Give that gift to him.
b. Give that gift to her.

4. Incorrect: Give that give to him and she.
a. Give that gift to him.
b. Give that gift to she (wrong!).

The problem also occurs with a pronoun and noun combination:

1. Correct: Jon and I are coming over.
a. Jon is coming over.
b. I am coming over.

2. Incorrect: Jon and me are coming over.
a. Jon is coming over.
b. Me is coming over (wrong!).

3. Correct: Give that gift to Jake and her.
a. Give that gift to Jake.
b. Give that gift to her.

4. Incorrect: Give that gift to Jake and she.
a. Give that gift to Jake.
b. Give that gift to she (wrong!).

Again, unless you are 100% sure of your subjective and objective pronouns (and even then you might have tricky situations in which the “Single Pronoun Trick” would help), you can run into problems with pronoun use.

Use the “Single Pronoun Trick” when you are unsure—and you will almost always “hear” the correct way to write it/speak it.
It works for us with our one hundred-plus “test students” each year in our Character Ink Cottage Classes. So give it a try!

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The post The Single Pronoun Trick: Key to Unlocking Subjective and Objective Pronouns appeared first on Character Ink.

 

To tell whether you need to use who or whom, you have to do two steps, and the second step is rather laborious:

1. Remember the little trick from earlier:

he/who
him/whom

2. Then reword the sentence so that you can answer the question with he or him–and use the who or whom that goes with your answer (he/who and him/whom).

                                                   
1.   They didn’t say who/whom was going to lead the group.
a. Who did they not say was going to lead the group?
b. They did not say HE was going to lead the group.
c. They didn’t say WHO was going to lead the group. (He/Who)

2. I hope that whomever/whoever wins will be good for the job.
a. Who do you hope will be good for the job?
b. You hope that HE will be good for the job?
c. I hope that WHOever wins will be good for the job. (He/Who)

3. I think that we should ask whoever/whomever arrives first.
a. Who will arrive first?
b. HE will arrive first.
c. I think that we should ask WHOever arrives first. (He/Who)

4. Give honor to whom/who honor is due.
a. Who should we give honor to?
b. We should give honor to HIM.
c. Give honor to WHOM honor is due.(Him/Whom)

5. I didn’t think he was one whom/who could carry out the job.
a. Who could carry out the job?
c. HE could carry out the job.
c. I didn’t think he was one who could carry out the job. (He/Who)

6. I didn’t pass it to the one who/whom they said I should.
a. Who did you not pass it to?
b. I did not pass it to HIM.
c. I didn’t pass it to the one WHOM they said I should. (Him/Whom)

The post More Who Vs Whom Practice appeared first on Character Ink.

The problem with the subjective and objective pronoun does not occur when only one pronoun is present (though I do occasionally hear someone say something like, “Them aren’t ripe yet…”

The problem comes when you have two pronouns at or near the beginning of your sentence (subjective pronouns, hopefully!) or two pronouns at or near the end of your sentence (objective pronouns, hopefully!):

Subjective:

Objective:

“Single Pronoun Test”: The key to using the correct pronouns in this case is to say each pronoun by itself in the sentence (without the second one) to see if it sounds correct:

The problem also occurs with a pronoun and noun combination:
 

Again, unless you are 100% sure of your subjective and objective pronouns (and even then you might have tricky situations in which the “Single Pronoun Test” would help), you can run into problems with pronoun use.

Use the “Single Pronoun Test” when you are unsure—and you will almost always “hear” the correct way to write it/speak it.

The post Day 125: Subjective and Objective Pronouns Part II of II appeared first on Character Ink.

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!

The post Day 124: Subjective and Objective Pronouns Part I of II appeared first on Character Ink.