Pronouns are words like he, she, it, we and they that stand in for nouns, so we don’t repeat the same name again and again. Possessive pronouns like mine, yours and theirs show who something belongs to.
What your child will learn
- Replace nouns with pronouns to avoid repetition
- Choose between I and me, we and us, they and them
- Use possessive pronouns such as mine, its and their
- Put yourself last: “Sam and I”, not “I and Sam”
I or me?
A handy trick: take the other person out of the sentence. “Grandma gave sweets to Kai and me” → “Grandma gave sweets to me” sounds right, so “me” is correct. “Sam and I went swimming” → “I went swimming”, so “I” is correct.
Its or it’s?
“Its” (no apostrophe) shows belonging: the cat licked its paw. “It’s” is short for “it is”. If you can say “it is” instead, use the apostrophe.
Example questions
Here are a few questions like the ones in the first quest. Can you solve them?
1. True or false? A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun.
Show answer
Answer: True. He, she, it, we and they are pronouns.
2. Which word can replace “the girls” in “The girls are singing.”?
- It
- She
- He
- They
Show answer
Answer: They. More than one person, so we use “they”.
3. “Mia and I are friends.” Which pronoun could replace “Mia and I”?
- We
- She
- They
- Us
Show answer
Answer: We. Mia and I together are “we”.
Tips for grown-ups
- Read a sentence with the same name used three times and fix it together with pronouns.
- Practise the “take the other person out” trick with I and me.