Adjetivos Y Pronombres

Word groups punctual review – Adjectives

and pronouns

In order to be able to communicate effectively and to understand what is being communicated correctly it is

necessary to understand different types of words and word groups. The most important of these word

groups are nouns, verbs, adjectives and prepositions. It is how you use these words, and their forms, that

makes what you are trying to convey understandable and intelligent.

Nouns, as you probably know, are names of people, places or things. Verbs are action words, and

adjectives are description words. We are going to take a deeper look at these word groups and their

different forms.

Nouns are used to identify the subject of a sentence. If we did not use nouns, we would not know who or

what you were talking or writing about. The use of nouns is continued throughout a text or conversation to

tie all of the information together. Nouns may be replaced with pronouns or possessive adjectives. You

know some of the forms of the pronouns and the possessive adjectives but we are going to review them

again. Following is a table with a list of the pronouns in their different forms and possessive adjectives.

Pronouns may replace nouns but only after the subject has been introduced or the other person or persons

know who or what you are talking about. Here is an example

Personal or

Subject

Pronouns

Possessive

Adjectives

Possessive

Pronouns

Object

Pronouns

Reflexive

Pronouns

I my mine me myself

you your yours you yourself

he his his him himself

she her hers her herself

it its its it itself

we our ours us ourselves

you your yours you yourselves

they their theirs them themselves

1. RandersOpenWater swimmer. Wikimedia

(2009).

Mario is a good swimmer. Mario swims every morning. Mario’s

brother also swims.

Reading or listening to this example is rather monotonous. This is why

we use pronouns to replace, in this case, the proper noun Mario.

Now read these sentences

Mario is a good swimmer. He swims every morning. His brother also

swims.

Looks better? YES! Sounds better? YES!

Possessive Adjectives are used to describe a noun and like other adjectives come before the noun. They

are also considered a Possessive Pronoun.

Examples:

My horse is faster then hers.

My is the possessive adjective.

horse is the noun.

hers is the possessive pronoun.

Remember that there no apostrophes with possessive

adjectives or with possessive pronouns. Apostrophes

are used only with possessive nouns.

2. Horse Ride. Feser (2009).

3. Viljo koirarannalla 9. Wikimedia (2010).

This is the dog’s ball. This is its ball.

dog’s is the possessive noun. (with the ‘s)

its is the possessive adjective because it

comes before the noun ball.

Possessive Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives

An adjective is used to describe a noun. A pronoun is used in place of a noun. Pronouns are used in

grammar in the same way nouns are. They refer to persons or things named or understood in the context of

a conversation or reading. Possessive pronouns and adjectives are used to indicate the ownership of

something. Below you can see how they are used:

Possessive Adjectives Possessive Pronouns

I have my car. I have mine.

You have your homework. You have yours.

He has his dog. He has his.

She has her dress. She has hers.

We have our books. We have ours.

You have your uniforms. You have yours.

They have their lunch. They have theirs.

Object Pronouns

With object pronouns you are trying to find the object in the sentence, or what the action is being

done to, from, or with. In this example, can you find the object in the sentence?

The boy traveled with friends.

He traveled with friends.

In this example, our object is the friends. The same goes for The girl flew the kite or Jonathan kissed

Katie. Sometimes there is no object, so you need to make sure that you ask yourself what the action

in the sentence is being done to, from, or with and you will be able to find it.

Again, try finding the appropriate object pronoun to replace friends from the original example.

You could try saying The boy traveled with them. or The boy traveled with us. Each pronoun could

be correct as long as you continue speaking in the same person.

Reflexive Pronouns

Reflexive pronouns are used in three main situations.

1. Reflexive pronouns are used when the subject and object are the same.

I hurt myself.

The band call themselves Dire Straits.

He shot himself.

2. They are used as the object of a preposition, when the subject and the object are the same.

I bought a present for myself.

She did it by herself. (She did it alone.)

That man is talking to himself.

3. They are used when you want to emphasize the subject.

I'll do it myself. (No one else will help me.)

They ate all the food themselves. (No one else had any.)

References

1. Wikimedia Commons. (2009). RandersOpenWater swimmer [digital picture]. Retrieved on

October 25th from http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:RandersOpenWater_swimmer.jpg under

GNU free documentation license.

2. Fesser, C. (2009). Horse Ride [digital picture]. Retrieved on October 25th from

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Horse_Ride.jpg under GNU free documentation license.

3. Wikimedia

...