Saying it again the short way
Read this.
“Leo found a rock. Leo put the rock in his pocket.”
Two sentences, and the name shows up twice. It reads like a robot wrote it.
Now read this.
“Leo found a rock. He put it in his pocket.”
Two pronouns doing the work of two nouns. The sentence got shorter and it sounds like a person talking.
The four pronouns in this course
| Pronoun | Stands in for | Example |
|---|---|---|
| he | one boy or man | Leo waved. He waved twice. |
| she | one girl or woman | Ava sang. She sang loudly. |
| it | one animal or thing | The kite flew. It flew high. |
| they | more than one | The ducks swam. They swam fast. |
All four go in the naming part of the sentence, the same slot where “I” goes.
Match the pronoun to the naming word
You cannot pick just any pronoun. It has to match what it stands for.
“Ava lost her hat. He looked everywhere.” is wrong. Ava is not a “he”.
“Ava lost her hat. She looked everywhere.” is right.
Before you write a pronoun, find the naming word it is standing in for and check that they go together.
Words to know
- pronoun: a word that stands in for a naming word
Your turn
Which pronoun fits?
- “Ben waved. ____ smiled at me.”
- “The cup fell. ____ broke.”
- “My sisters left. ____ took the bus.”
Check your answers
- “He smiled at me.”
- “It broke.”
- “They took the bus.”
Remember
- A pronoun saves you from saying a name over and over.
- He and she and it and they go in the naming part.
- The pronoun has to match the naming word it stands for.