3. Personal Pronouns - There/It/One

This is Mr. Kath and Mr. Krashy. They are businessmen. Mr. Kath likes travelling, but Mr. Krashy really dislikes it. Mr. Krashy enjoys conferences, but Mr. Kath can’t stand them. They both love meeting new customers they do it a lot.

Subject Pronouns	Object Pronouns
I	me
you	you
he	him
she	her
it	it
we	us
you	you
they	them

• Personal pronouns are divided into subject pronouns (I, you, he, etc), which go before verbs as subjects and object pronouns (me, you, him, etc), which go after verbs or prepositions as objects.

• She (subject pronoun) visits me (object pronoun) quite often.

• We do not use a common noun and a personal pronoun together to talk about the same thing.

The office is next to the park.

(NOT: The office it is next to the park.)

• We use there + be to say that something or someone exists. We use it/they + be to give more details about the thing or the person that has already been mentioned. There is a cake on the table. It is from the baker’s.

• We can use it as the subject to talk about weather, distance, temperature and time.

It’s foggy this evening.

It’s ten miles to the nearest petrol station.

It’s freezing in the office.

It’s 7 o’clock.

• We use it to talk about something that has already been made clear. We use one when it is not clear which thing in particular we are talking about.

• Do you like my new dress? I bought it in the sales. (We use it because it is clear what dress we are talking about.) ‘May I borrow a pen, please?’ ‘Sorry, but I don’t have one with me.' (We use one because it is not clear which pen we are talking about.)

4. Possessive Case

the girl’s dog the girls’ dog ’s for people or animals

• singular noun + ’s my father’s job

• plural noun + ’ the boys’ team

• irregular plural + ’s the women’s team

• compound noun + ’s her brother in law’s wife

• common possession + ’s

Bill and Mark’s car. (The car belongs to both of them.)

• individual possession + ’s

Bill’s and Mark’s CDs. (Each person has his own CDs.)

• a proper noun + ’s

‘Whose is this scarf?’ ‘Linda’s.’

Rome is the Capital of Italy.

• of + inanimate thing or abstract noun The branches of that tree are strong. London is the capital of England.

• determiner + noun + of + possessive She is a colleague of Stella’s.

Note: When we refer to a certain place or time, the possessive form is formed as follows:

• phrase of place (shop/home/business, etc) + ’s

at the butcher’s (we mean the shop)/at Greg’s (we mean his house)

• length of time/specific moment or event

in a month’s time/two weeks’ wages/last year’s winner

• We can use either’s or of when we talk about places or organisations.

IBM’s warehouse or the warehouse of IBM

Possessive Adjectives/Possessive Pronouns

Possessive adjectives (my, your, etc) and possessive pronouns (mine, yours, etc) can be used to talk about ownership or the relationship between people and things.

Possessive adjectives are followed by nouns, while possessive pronouns are not.

These are my customers. They are mine. (NOT: They are mine customers.)

Possessive Adjectives	Possessive Pronouns
my	mine
your	yours
his	his
her	hers
its	-
our	ours
your	yours
their	theirs

its = possessive adjective

Look at that poor dog. Its leg is hurt, it’s = it is or it has

It’s (it is) going to rain today.

It’s (it has) got my name on it.

We use the instead of a possessive adjective with prepositional phrases and verbs such as punch, hit, bite, slap, kick, touch, pat, sting, etc when we refer to parts of the body.

The coach slapped him on the back.

(NOT: The coach slapped him on his back.) BUT: He’s got shoes on his feet.

(NOT: on -the feet)

We use the word own in the following

structures to emphasise the fact that

something belongs to someone.

noun + of + my/your/etc + own or my/

your/etc + own + noun

• can hardly wait to have my own flat/a flat

of my own.

This is the Taylor family. They are sitting outside their house. Mrs Taylor is reading a story to her son. Mr Taylor has his arm around his child. They all look happy.