Pronouns

The person, gender, number and case must agree and be correct when using pronouns in a sentence.

Correct form

I trusted himself him not to tell anyone.
One understands my one’s hesitance to perform the task.
My partners and I would like to thank you for giving me us the contract.
When I was writing the report we I had to consult with many different people.
That is definitely only yours your view.
The whale is very possessive about it’s its territory. (it’s only means ‘it is’ or ‘it has’ – the possessive has no apostrophe!)
It was him he who started the practice. (‘he’ is the subject)
Them Their watching TV until late at night was worrying.

Joining nouns and pronouns

When two people are joined together, or an extra noun is placed next to the pronoun, it’s often difficult to work out which pronoun to use. A good idea is to take away the other person and use the pronoun which is right, then add the other person back into the sentence:

My boss gave the project to John and I me. (You wouldn’t say ‘my boss gave the project to I’)
We Us three researchers are finding our jobs very interesting. (Take away the extra information: We are finding…)
My neighbour used to give we us children sweets after school. (used to give us…)

Comparatives

Robert Brown was not as famous as him. (This is OK for speaking; but for formal writing, choose one of the following)
Robert Brown was not as famous as he.
Robert Brown was not as famous as he was.

Other pronouns

Again it’s important to decide if the noun being replaced is singular or plural (as well as thinking about countable and uncountable nouns), the case, and perspective.

this, that, these, those, who, whom, whoever, whomever, which, whichever, what, whatever, that, whose, any, many, much, enough, few, fewer, less, little, one, several, some, most, more, all, both, another, one, oneself.

Intensive pronouns – use the reflexive form directly after the noun it is referring to, in order to make the noun stronger. This has the effect of making the sentence convey importance or surprise.

The boss herself said that we could do it.
The Pope himself will be there.

Singular or Plural

Either…or, neither…nor – the pronoun takes the number of the closest noun to it.

Neither John nor Dave knew where he was going.
Neither my brother nor sister eats his or her breakfast before ten. (different genders require different pronouns)
The government or the people will have their way after the results of the referendum are in. (people is plural)
The government will alter its policy soon. (A collective noun that is treating the group as a single entity, uses a singular pronoun)

And takes a plural pronoun.

My secretary and my typist use the internet a lot to do their work. (note the extra ‘my’ before typist to show this is a separate person)
My secretary and typist is extremely good at what she does. (This is only one person)

Parenthetical additions to a sentence (extra information) does do not change the pronoun needed. Ignore any information and nouns given in these. Often they start with: instead of, as well as, in addition to, rather than.

Mrs Brown, instead of the usual group of managers, will give her feedback on the new product.
The CEO, as well as the board of directors, is going to give his view of the situation.

Singular Pronouns

Everyone, everything, nobody, someone, no, every, each, either, neither, anyone, none.

These pronouns must take a singular verb and any other pronoun which refers back to them must also be singular.

Everyone was happy to donate some of his or her money.
(Everyone was happy to donate some of their money is fine for speaking.)

Always using ‘he or she’ becomes very tedious very quickly though, so it’s much better if a sentence can be altered to use a plural pronoun or exclude the pronoun.

All the people present were happy to donate some of their money.
Money was happily donated by everyone present.

Non-sexist language

In the past, if a noun could be either male or female then generally the masculine form was used. However, nowadays, we try not to do this as we try to be non-sexist. To fix this problem, change the subject to a plural or use a passive construction.

Each student gave his essay to the teacher. (Old fashioned)
Each student gave his or her essay to the teacher. (Correct but wordy)
The students gave their essays to the teacher. (Plural form is much better)
All essays were given to the teacher. (Passive form)

It must be clear what the pronoun is referring back to.

If it is unclear what or who the pronoun is referring to, then the meaning will be hard to understand:

The United Nations told China that they didn’t understand the issue.
Who is they? Was it The United Nations or China who didn’t understand?

John told David that he didn’t get the position. Who is he? Which person applied for a job?

She’s going to study science because she thinks it’ll be good to be one. (Does she want to be a student or a scientist?)

By not clearly defining who or what is meant, a statement can appear too personal or ineffectual. This is particularly true for the use of the general ‘you’ and ‘they’ and therefore these should not be used in a formal piece of writing.

They say that unemployment is rising.
You really need to see the poverty first hand to understand it.

Another clarity problem is when a clause starting with ‘which’ is used to refer back to a whole clause or idea instead of a specific subject.

Lunch is roast chicken and I’m starving, which is really good. (What is good? That the lunch is chicken, or that I’m hungry?)

He’s well-qualified and friendly, which is excellent for the company. (Which adjective is important for the company?)

The study found that most people were against marijuana being made legal, which was quite obvious. (the ‘which’ has no noun to refer back to)