Day 127: Reflexive Pronouns

Last week we discussed subjective (used as subject) and objective (used as object) pronouns. If you are one who is unsure of whether to say “Then she gave it to her and I” or “Then she gave it to her and me,” go back and read those last two posts for help.

I want to continue with the pronoun theme, but discuss the use of myself. This actually trips me up more often than I care to admit, and I study grammar and writing on a daily basis!

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.)

Day 126: Wordy Wednesday—root TEN

I missed Wordy Wednesday, and it’s nearly time for another one! Keeping with our root word theme, today we are going to look at TEN and variations of it.

TEN, TENS, TEND, TENU

Definition: STRETCH or THIN

What words do we already know with this root? What can we know about each word—even if we do not know it before?

1. tension
2. extend
3. tendency
4. tendon
5. tent
6. distend
7. intent
8. tenable
9. attention
10. detention
11. extent
12. retention
13. ostentatious
14. malcontent
15. potent

Day 125: Subjective and Objective Pronouns Part II of II

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 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:

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 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:

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 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.

Day 124: Subjective and Objective Pronouns Part I of II

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). I want to discuss 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 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!

Day 123: Independence Day/July 4th

The capitalization of this holiday isn't the grammar/writing issue. It's the spelling!

Of course, like any other holiday, both words are capitalized:

Independence Day

Or if written with the informal name: July 4th.

Spelling independence is a little more of an issue.

You may find long lists of rules for ent/ence vs ant/ance if you begin a study on this--many of which are so confusing and detailed (emphasis on the fourth syllable from the right, use ent!! okay..that's stretching it...) that an average person cannot decipher them much less memorize them.

When rules are too detailed and confusing, a writer is better off memorizing spellings or using spell check.

I will leave you with two simple rules for ent/ence that I think are actually helpful:

1. Use ent/ence (not ant/ance) if the root you are adding it to ends with c or g:
    diligence, innocent

    This rule actually makes sense because if you used ant/ance, the c would then say kuh (innocant--innokant) and the g would then say juh (diligant--dili-gant).

2. Use ent/ence if the root you are adding it to ends with d:
    independent

Hope this helps--and hope you had a happy July 4th!