Teaching Pronouns

Without understanding the pronouns and their usage, I think that the pupils can not express themselves correctly and clearly.

Teaching aids are very useful and helpful and sometimes they are very essential.  I found it a very successful way to explain the pronouns by using  a poster like this :-

First of all the teacher should tell the pupils that any statement consists of : subject  + verb + object or a complementary part.  For example :-

1-    He saw her.

The first word is always a subject and the second word is a verb and the third word(s) is an object or a complementary part.

Note :

This is a simple form of the statement.  There are a lot of forms for making statements but I prefer to teach the beginners this form.

The teacher should tell them that these pronouns (subject pronouns) always come before the verbs.  The pupils practice.  After that she/he should explain that the object pronouns always come after the verbs. The pupils practice.  Then she/he should mix the subjective pronouns and the objective ones by giving exercises.  For example:-

1-  Choose the correct words:-

a-     ( I – me – him – us ) watch TV every Friday.

b-     They visit ( I – he – we – she – him ).

Then she/he should explain that in the first sentence ( I )  is the correct word and the other pronouns are wrong because they always come after the verbs and here we need a pronoun comes before the verb.

But in the second sentence ( him ) is the correct word and the other pronouns are wrong because the come before the verb and her in this case we need a pronoun before the verb.

But for the possessive pronouns she/he should give an example :- e.g.  This is my book.

The pupils practice.  Then they change the pronoun “my” with the other pronouns from the same column.

After that, she/he should write on the board the same example.  Then she/he underlines “my book” and write under it “mine”. e.g.     1-   This is my book.

2-   This is mine.

The practice.  Then they change the pronoun mine with the other pronouns from the same column.

Then she/he gives exercises: e.g. choose the correct words:-

1-   This is ( my – mine – hers – ours ) pen.

2-   This is ( my – mine – her – our ).

After that, she/he should explain that “my” is the correct word because there is the name of the possessed thing after it, and the other pronouns are wrong because those pronouns do not need the possessed thing after them.

As for the second sentence the word “mine”  is the correct word because there is a full stop after it, and there is not any word after it indicates the possessed thing and the other pronouns are wrong because those pronouns do need a word after them.

As for the reflexive pronouns:-

The best way to teach them is to drill them, e.g.

The teacher can give examples like this:-

* fill in with the given words :-

she  ,  she  ,   her  ,   herself

1- I saw drinking tea. was alone, but   cut

Written by: Salem Mraheel Quraisha