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Every pronoun decision

Which pronoun, in which form, pointing at what? The five choices every pronoun makes you settle.

A pronoun you write can go wrong in five ways, so check five things. Is it the right type for the job? A reflexive like myself only works when the action bounces back to the subject of its own clause. Can the reader tell which noun it points back to? If two nouns could fit, or none does, name the noun instead. Does it agree in number with that noun, and stay in the same person? Everyone is singular (singular they is accepted), and a team acting as one unit takes it. Is it doing the action or receiving it? The subject form (I, he, who) does it; the object form (me, him, whom) receives it or follows a preposition, and dropping the other person from a pair tells you which. Last, the spelling: an apostrophe marks a contraction (it's, they're, you're), never ownership (its, their, your).

Which type of pronoun?

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The seven families of pronouns, sorted by the job each one does.

Seven families by job, personal, possessive, reflexive, demonstrative, interrogative, relative, and indefinite.

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A pronoun referring to an unspecified person or amount, like everyone or nobody.

Example

Everyone in the choir sings on Sundays.

Refers to no one in particular; everyone, somebody, and nobody are singular.

Please contact me with questions, not myself.

Which noun does it point to?

Term

antecedent

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The noun a pronoun refers back to.

The noun the pronoun stands in for; the reader has to be able to find it.

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A pronoun that could point to more than one antecedent, leaving the reader to guess.

Example

Maya told Lena she had won. → Maya told Lena that Lena had won.

Two nouns could fit, so name the one you mean.

Singular or plural?

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Matching a pronoun's number to its antecedent's number.

Example

Each student brought their own lunch.

A singular noun takes a singular pronoun; singular they is accepted for a person.

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A singular noun that names a group of individual members, like team or committee.

Example

The jury has reached its verdict.

A group acting as one unit takes it.

Subject form or object form?

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Whether a pronoun takes its subject form (I, who) or its object form (me, whom), based on the job it does.

Example

Send the invoice to Sam and me. (drop Sam and: send the invoice to me)

The pronoun's job in its own clause decides; doing the action takes I, he, who, and receiving it or following a preposition takes me, him, whom.

Apostrophe or not?

Term

homophone

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A word pronounced identically (or nearly so) to another word but different in spelling and meaning.

Example

It's late, and the dog wants its dinner.

Its/it's, their/they're/there, your/you're sound alike; the apostrophe marks a contraction, never ownership.