Therapy for Pronoun Anxiety

Pronouns are substitutes for nouns. There are eight types of pronouns, but we’ll deal only with a few troublesome types here. Pronouns can be personal (I, me, she, he, it, they, etc), possessive (mine, yours, his, hers, its, theirs) or relative (who, which, that) among others.

An Itsy-Bitsy Problem: It’s or Its?

Confusion between these two forms abounds; it’s a common error because of the use of the apostrophe for both contractions (a letter left out) and possessives (the girl’s coat). The possessive form of the pronoun it is its. The contraction for it is is it’s.

So we’re correct when we write “It’s fun to watch the cat clean its face.”

Who’s or Whose on First?

Same problem as above. Whose is the possessive form (“This is the student whose application we approved”) while who’s is a contraction of who is (“This is the student who’s going to apply to our program”).

You’re on Your Own

Same problem as above. You decide which pronoun is the possessive form and which is a contraction.

Who’s That?

Which is correct? “The girl that married dear old dad or The girl who married dear old dad.” Both. A person can be either a that or a who. A thing, on the other hand, is always a that (“Have you found the application that we approved?”). What about animals? If the animal is anonymous it’s a that (“There’s the dog that won the Frisbee competition”), but if it has a name it’s a who (“Morris is a cat who knows what he likes”).

Whom Sweet Whom

Very few people in conversation play strictly by the rule which is to use who in subject positions and whom in object positions in sentences and clauses. Since written English is more formal than conversational English, anyone who wants to write correctly will have to get a grip on whom. Ask yourself who is doing what to whom to figure it out. Try substituting he/she or him/her in the spot in question, and if you’re a native English speaker, your ear will tell you.

Just Between Me and I

Hardly anyone would make this mistake: “You’ll be hearing from I.” But you might hear “The odds were against you and I.” Why? For some of us I sounds especially “correct” and we use it when in doubt. Just remember that I is used in subject positions and me in object positions. Try eliminating the other pronoun (The odds were against me”) to test by ear.

When you answer the phone and someone asks for you, do you reply “This is she”? Some of us do, but increasingly I answer with my name because “This is she” sounds awfully formal. When you knock on the door and someone asks “Who is it?” what do you say? Most of us, even English teachers, reply “It’s me” because “It’s I” sounds strange even though it’s grammatically correct.

If you appreaciate humor with your grammar, take a look at Woe is I: The Grammarphobe’s Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia T. O’Conner from which I’ve borrowed here. If you’re on campus, stop in The Writing Studio to examine our copy. (Rogers Hall 209)