Meeting 2

Pronouns

A. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To explain the functions of pronouns
2. To explain the types of pronouns
B. THE AIMS OF THE TOPIC
1. Students are expected to understand nouns and their functions
2. Students are expected to understand types of nouns
C. GUIDANCE AND METHODS OF LEARNING
1. Lectures
2. Discussions
3. Presentations
4. Practices
D. MATERIAL DESCRIPTION

I. INTRODUCTION:

Penguins
There are eighteen different kinds of penguins, and they all live south of equator. The
largest are the emperor penguins, which live in Antarctica. They lay their eggs about fifty
miles from the coast. There the penguins have nothing to make a nest out of, but the eggs
cannot be laid directly on the ice, or they would freeze. The emperor penguins have to take
care of their eggs in a special way.
The female produces one egg. As soon as she lays her egg, the male penguin rolls it on
top of his feet. A special fold of skin on the bottom of his stomach comes down over the
egg to protect it from the cold. For two months the male penguins stand together to protect
themselves from the cold with their eggs on their feet. They cannot move or eat.
The female goes to find food as soon as she lays her egg. Finally, after two months she
returns and takes egg from the male. The male penguin, which now has had no food for
two months, returns to the sea.
After the egg is hatched, the female and the male take turns carrying the baby
penguins on their feet. When the weather gets cold, the baby is covered by the fold of skin,
which keeps it warm.

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Exercise 1:

Pronouns are tested on TOEFL test. Answer the following questions using a pronoun.

1. Where do the emperor penguins live?

……………………………………………………………………………….
2. How many eggs does the female emperor produce at a time?
……………………………………………………………………………….
3. What does the male emperor penguin use to protect the egg from the cold?
……………………………………………………………………………….
4. Why do the male emperor penguins use to protect the egg from the cold?
……………………………………………………………………………….
5. Where do the males put their eggs when they stand together?
……………………………………………………………………………….
6. Where does the female go?
……………………………………………………………………………….
7. When does she return?
……………………………………………………………………………….
8. What does the male penguin do after she returns?
……………………………………………………………………………….

Exercise 2:

From the reading work out whether these statements are true or false. Mark T if it is true or
F if it is false.

1. There are no penguins on the North Pole T F

2. All penguins live south of the equator T F
3. All penguins are the same T F
4. All penguins have folds under their abdomen T F
5. The fold of skin is used only to keep the egg warm T F
6. Only the female takes care of the penguin chick T F
7. Emperor penguins do not make nests T F
8. Emperor penguins lay their eggs very near the sea T F

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II. GRAMMAR: PRONOUNS

There are five forms of pronoun in English: subject pronouns, object pronouns,
possessive pronouns, reflexive pronouns, and relative pronouns. Possessive adjectives will
also be included in this chapter, although they are not pronouns.

STRATEGY
It is important to know the five forms of pronouns and the possessive adjectives that are
often confused with them. Errors may include the use of one type or form of pronoun in
place of another.

1. Subject Pronouns
I we
You you
He/she/it they

The subject pronoun is used:

a. When it is the subject of a verb: T
They live south of the equator.
b. When the subject s of the two clauses are compared.
They are more protected against the cold than we are.
c. After the verb to be
It is he with the egg.
d. After as and than.
She is not as tired as he is.

Exercise 3:

Circle the correct pronoun:

 It is she/her who goes to find food.

 He/him has the responsibility of incubating the egg.
 She/her lays one egg.
 John is stronger than I/me.

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  Are you sure that they/them are here.

2. Object Pronouns
Me us
You you
Him/her/it them

The object pronoun is used:

a. When it is the direct object of a verb
She gives him the egg.
b. After prepositions
When she returns, she takes over the egg from him.
But when the preposition introduces a new clause, the subject pronoun must be
used because the pronoun is now the subject of the new clause.
He leaves after she returns.
c. When the objects of two clauses are compared
It is easier for them than us.

Exercise 4: Correct the pronoun errors in the following sentences where necessary.

1. He helps she take care of the baby penguin.

2. She lays her egg and then leaves.
3. They feed them until they can swim.
4. It is not easy for they to survive under such conditions.
5. It is harder for him than for she.
6. He goes to the sea after she returns.

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3. POSSESIVE ADJECTIVES
My our
Your your
His/her/its their
The possessive adjective is used
a) To modify a noun and show ownership.
They lay their eggs about fifty miles from the coast.
b) To refer to parts of the body.
The male penguin rolls the egg on top of his feet.
c) To modify a gerund.
We are surprised by their nesting in such harsh condition

Exercise 5

1. She lays ……………… egg.

2. He has a special fold of skin on the bottom of ………………stomach.
3. They take care of ………………young in a special way.
4. It is protected from the cold by ………………father.
5. They keep the eggs on ………………feet.
6. The male penguin looks forward to………………coming back from the sea.

4. Possessive Pronouns
Mine ours
Yours yours
His/hers/its theirs

The possessive pronoun is used

1. To replace a possessive adjective and a noun.
She takes her turn, and he take his (his turn)
2. After the verb to be.
The egg is hers.

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 3. After the preposition of when it means “one of many”.
It is a habit of theirs.
4. To replace the second possessive adjective and noun when they are being
compared.
Their life seems more difficult than ours.

Exercise 6: circle the correct pronoun

1. It is an experiment of his/him.
2. The Adelie penguins live in a cold climate, but the emperor penguins live in a
harsher climate than them/theirs.
3. Seven nations claim that Antartica is their/theirs.
4. The researcher in the picture is a friend our ours/us.
5. His research was good but her/hers is better.
6. Studying penguins is a hobby of mine/my.

5. REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Myself ourselves
Yourself yourselves
Himself/herself/itself themselves

The reflexive pronoun is used

a) To emphasize the subject noun or pronoun it refers to and to emphasize the fact
that the subject did the action alone.
He takes care of the egg himself. Or
He himself takes care of the egg.
b) As the object of a verb when the subject and objects are the same.
They stand together to protect themselves from the cold.
c) As the object of the preposition by when the subject did the action alone.
The penguin chick is unable to get food itself.

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 Exercise 7: complete the sentences with the correct reflexive pronoun.
1. Penguins push ………………along the ice using their flippers.
2. To protect………………from the cold, the penguin has a layer of fat under its
feathers.
3. The female lays her egg and walks back to the sea by………………
4. During the two months the male penguin cannot………………
5. The male penguin………………incubates the egg.
6. Since humans do not have the insulation that penguins do, we cannot protect
…………… from such temperatures without special clothing.

6. RELATIVE PRONOUNS

The relative pronouns in English are who, whom, whose, which, and that.
STRATEGY
It is important to make sure that the relative pronoun agrees with that subject

Who refers to people and household animals.

Whom refers to people and household animals. It is used in the object position in
formal written English or with who plus a preposition in spoken English.

Whose refers to people, animals, and things. It shows possession.

Which refers to things, collective nouns, and animals.

That refers to people, animals, and things.

Exercise 8: correct relative pronoun errors where necessary in the following

sentences.
1. There are eighteen different kinds of penguins whom live south of the equator.

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 2. The biologist which went to the South Pole is studying emperor penguins.
3. Emperor penguins survive winds who blow at speeds up to ninety-five miles an
hour in winter.
4. Emperor penguins, who are the largest penguins do not make nests.
5. Emperor penguins, who are the largest among penguins, do not make nests.
6. The United States has sent researchers to Antartica which are making experiments
to measure the energy expended by emperor penguins.

III. On the TOEFL test

Pronouns are tested in Written Expression action of the exam. Check for the following
types of errors with pronouns.
1. The incorrect pronoun form or type may be used. The possessive pronoun (hers) may be
used instead of the possessive adjective (her).
Ex: The young emperor chick stands in front of one of it parents to be protected from
A B C D
The cold.
 The best answer is C; the possessive form its must be used, not the object form.
Ex: Some penguins they live in warmer places like to make their nests in holes in the
A B C D
ground.
 The correct answer is (A): the relative pronoun which or that must be used
instead of the subject pronoun they.
2. The pronoun may not agree with the noun it refers to.
Ex: Sometimes penguins slide on their stomachs, pushing itself with their flippers.
A B C D
 The correct answer is (C). The noun penguins is plural; therefore, the reflexive
pronoun referring to penguins must also be plural. The correct answer is
themselves.

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 Ex: Penguins have special glands who remove salt from the water they drink and the
A B C
food they eat.
D
 The best answer is (B); the relative pronoun who refers to people. In this
sentence, the referent is glands; therefore, either that or which should be used.

3. Pronouns that are not necessary may be included.

Ex: The male Adelie penguin which may not leave the nest until his mate returns.
A B C D
 The correct answer is (B): the relative pronoun which is not necessary in this
sentence because there is only one verb, leave.
Ex: Under the feathers is a layer of fat that it protects the penguin from the cold.
A B C D
 The best answer is (C): the pronoun it is not necessary.

IV. Exercises on Pronouns

Directions: From the four underlined words or phrases (A), (B), (C), or (D), identify the one
that is not correct.

1. The penguin chicks cannot go into the water to get themselves own food until they have
A B C
waterproof coats of feathers like their parents.
D
2. Balloons rise into their air because they contain a gas who is less dense, or lighter, than
A B C D
air.

3. The narwhal is the only animal in the world that has a tusk on only one side of it body.
A B C D

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4. Silver is too soft to use by itself, so it is mixed with another metal to make themselves
A B C D
harder.

5. Most slugs and snail breath using a lung which opens through a small hole in the side of
A B C
it bodies.
D
6. Every fuel has their own particular temperature at which it begins to burn.
A B C D
7. Harriet Tubman, she an escaped slave, led more than three hundred slaves to freedom on
A B C
the Underground Railroad.
D
8. Dreaming, like all other mental processes, it is a product of the brain and its activity.
A B C D
9. Snails produce a colorless, sticky discharge that forms a protective carpet under them as
A B C
their travel along.
D
10. George Washington Carver won international fame for his agricultural research,
A B
who involved extensive work with peanuts.
C D
11. Enzymes enable the smallest virus to enter cells in order to reproduce themselves.
A B C D
12. Jack London, whom was known for his stories of Alaska, lived there during the Klondike
A B C D
gold rush.

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