BUS603: Managing People

Pronouns are stand-ins for nouns. We use them so that we don't need to insert the same noun over and over again in our sentences. To see how pronouns are useful, consider the following two sentences: 

In the first sentence, we get sick of hearing the name "Elon Musk". In the second sentence, the use of pronouns avoids this repetition without compromising the meaning; the use of "he" and "his" clearly refers to Elon Musk. (Note: In some situations, we deliberately avoid using pronouns because the reader can't tell what the pronoun refers to. We'll cover these situations in Fundamental #7: Avoid Ambiguous Pronoun References).

To choose the right pronoun, you need to know whether it's a subject or object in a sentence. We've already learned that subjects do the action in a sentence. Objects, on the other hand, either receive the action in the sentence or come after a preposition.   

With this distinction in mind, which of the two sentences uses the correct pronoun?

First, determine whether the pronoun is operating as a subject or an object. In Sentences 1 and 2 above, the pronoun is doing the action of going to the barbecue; it is the subject. The pronoun needs to be "I" (subjective case), so Sentence 1 is correct.

Now try this pair of sentences:

The "team leader" is doing the action. "Devon" and "you" are the objects of the preposition "with," so the pronoun needs to be in the objective case (me). Sentence 2 is correct. 

Tip: In your mind, leave out the intervening words: "My team leader is going with ___ to the company barbecue". Would you say "I" or "me"? You'll have less difficulty seeing that "me" is correct if you remove "Devon and" from the sentence.  

We've covered situations that call for subjective vs. objective pronouns. We need to introduce a third type of pronoun: possessive. Possessive pronouns indicate that someone possesses or owns something. When referring to the lunch that you brought to school, for example, you wouldn't say "I brought me lunch today" (unless you're deliberately employing a Cockney accent). You would use the possessive pronoun, "my".

Exhibit 2A.1 lists the subjective, objective, and possessive pronouns for each "person" (or potential actor) in a sentence. 

Exhibit 2A.1: Pronouns in the three most common cases

When you pair a pronoun with another noun and you can't determine the proper pronoun case, temporarily remove the noun and read the sentence again (perhaps out loud):

If you ignore the words "Devon and," the correct pronoun is easier to determine: "the sandwiches that were intended for me" is correct. 

To intensify a subject or object, add the corresponding pronoun in the correct case: