ENGLISH WARM-UP

UNIT 1

 PERSONAL PRONOUNS
Subject pronous Object pronouns
I, YOU, HE, SHE, IT, WE, YOU , THEY ME, YOU, HIM, HER, IT, US, YOU,
THEM
El sujeto de una oración es la persona o Este pronombre se coloca a continuación
cosa que realiza la acción del verbo del verbo al que complementa o a
continuación de preposiciones como “for”,
“to”, “with” y “at”.

o El pronombre personal “it” se utiliza cuando nos referimos a cosas, a animales que
no sabemos su sexo o al tiempo (calendario y meteorológico). La forma plural de
“it” es “they”.

 POSSESIVES
Possesive determiners Possessive pronouns
MY, YOUR, HIS, HER, ITS, OUR, MINE, YOURS, HIS, HERS, ITS, OURS,
YOUR, THEIR YOURS, THEIRS
(We only use the possessive pronoun “its”
with the adjective “own”.)
These pronouns function as the In this case, the possessive pronoun
determinative article of the noun that acts as a direct complement.
they accompany and therefore precede - The blue car is mine
the object. - The big house is his
- My car is blue
- His house is big

o POSSESSIVE PRONOUNS VS. THE GENITIVE CASE

 The “-’s” termination which indicates the genitive is not to be
confused with the possessive determiners
o Her dress
o Andrea’s dress
 In both cases we are expressing a possession and a possessor
 In the first sentence “her”, indicates that both the speaker
and the listener know who is being referred to
 In the second sentence, the speaker wants to acknowledge
the name of the possessor.

o GRAMMARICAL RULES
1. ALWAYS use genitive to refer to people
a. Paul’s house
2. Reference to places or things: preposition of
 a. The wheel of the bike
3. Use a genitive at the end of a sentence, when response to a prior
question. (We don’t need to use the noun)
a. Where is your sister?
b. She is at my parents’
4. More than one possessor, the “ ‘ “ comes after the “s”
a. The girls’ toys
5. When the name of the possessor ends in “s”, we do not add the
genitive “-’s” termination, but only the apostrophe after the “s” of the
possessor’s name.
a. Luis’ house

o DEMOSTRATIVE PRONOUNS
Can be singular or plural and that THIS – este, THAT – ese, aquél, aquello, THESE –
they make reference as well to distance. estos, THOSE – esos, aquellos

Singular & here I like this car

Singular & there I like that car
Plural & here I like these cars
Plural & there I like those cars

o Demonstrative pronouns can be accompanied by a noun, as in the examples above, or

they may be found alone
a. This is a good book
b. What is that?

o OTHER USES OF DEMOSTRATIVE PRONOUNS

 We use this when we present ourselves to someone on the phone
a. Hello. This is Alicia
 We use that when we are not sure with whom we are speaking
a. Peter, is that you?
 We use this when we are introducing people
a. Lucy, this is my friend Jill
 That can be use to refer to something in the past
a. That pizza was delicious
That pizza con refer that we just finished eating or one that we ate on a
holiday last year.

o REFLEXIVE PRONOUNS
Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and the complement of the
verb are the same.
MYSELF I saw it myself
YOURSELF Don’t burn yourself
 HIMSELF He hurt himself
HERSELF She did it herself
ITSELF The cat scratched itself
OURSELVES We made it ourselves
YOURSELVES Did you paint the house yourselves?
THEMSELVES They were speaking to themselves

1. We can use them with most transitive verbs, but the most common are
a. Blame, cut, enjoy, help, hurt, introduce, prepare, teach

How did he hurt himself? We really enjoyed ourselves I blame myself

while on holiday

2. We can use them when we want to emphasize the subject. Is common to place the
pronoun at the end.
a. We painted the house ourselves
b. What a great party! Did you prepare everything yourself?
3. We use “by” + reflexive pronoun to indicate ALONE
a. I often prefer to be by myself
b. She learned to read all by herself
4. We use them with some verbs that can change the meaning
a. Help yourself to some coffee
i. Meaning – take some coffee
b. We found ourselves in the middle of a very complicated situation
i. Meaning – to discover unexpectedly
5. We don’t use them for actions thar people usually do for themselves
a. I have to shave every other day
b. I have to shave myself every other day
6. We use them with certain expressions
a. Behave yourselves!
i. Meaning - behave well
b. Help yourself
i. Meaning - said to someone when offering something, such as food
or drink
c. Make yourself at home
i. Meaning - said to a guest to encourage them to feel comfortable in
your home

o Reciprocal pronouns are formed with the phrase “each other”. In contrast to the
reflexive, we have two different subjects that are talking one to one.
 John and Peter speak to each other every day
