CBSE Class 6 English Grammar Pronouns and Possessive Adjectives
(a) We may say—
Sheela is absent because Sheela is ill.
But it is better to avoid the repetition of the noun Sheela, and say Sheela is absent because she is ill.
Definition. A word that is used to replace a noun is called pronoun. (The word ‘Pronoun’ means ‘for a noun’.)
(b) If the number of noun is singular, persons of the male sex are referred to by ‘he, him, his, himself. Persons of the female sex take, ‘she, her, hers, herself. Non-living things are referred to by ‘it, its and itself.’
(c) If the number of noun is plural, persons of either sex as also the non¬living things, are referred to by ‘they, them, their, theirs, themselves’.
(d) An animal is generally referred to by the neuter ‘it’, even if the noun denotes one sex only.
I watched the cow as it grazed peacefully. However, if there is something in the situation that draws attention to the sex of the animal, then ‘he’ or ‘she’ may be used.
There is a cow with her calf.
For animals which occur in a story as characters or the animals which are thought of as members of the family, he, she etc may be used.
We have a monkey in the house.
Have you seen him ?
(e) The words ‘his’, ‘her’ and others derived from them are called posses¬sive adjectives. They must agree in gender with the worcjs which they refer back. The gender of these possessive adjectives has nothing to do with the nouns they follow :
Ram gave a present to his mother. (not her mother)
Sita gave a present to her brother as well as to her sister. (not his brother or his sister)
The cycle was restored to its owner. (not his or her owner)
Look at the following table. It will help you to use correct pronoun or possessive adjective.
| a person, man, boy, everybody girl, every girl, woman, every woman a thing, an animals one all plurals (men, women, animals, people, things) |
he, him, his, himself she, her, hers, herself it, its, itself one, one’s, oneself they, them, their, theirs, themselves |
The table above gives only the third person.
The one below is more exhaustive.
| Personal Pronoun | Possessive Adjective | Possessive Pronoun |
Reflexive Pronoun |
|
| Subject | Object | |||
| I | me | my | mine | myself |
| you | you | your | yours | yourself |
| he | him | his | his | himself |
| she | her | her | hers | herself |
| it | it | its | its | itself |
| one | one | one’s | one’s | oneself |
| we | us | our | ours | ourselves |
| you | you | your | yours | yourselves |
| they | them | their | theirs | themselves |
Exercise 1
(Solved)
Fill in the blanks with suitable pronouns.
1. Ram and ………….. were present.
2. Can you sing as well as ………….. ?
3. Wait for Mohan and ………….. .
4. It was ………….. that gave you the alarm.
5. We are not so poor as ………….. .
Answers
1. I/you/he/she
2. he/they/I/she
3. me/them/us/her
4. I/he/she
5. he/they/she/you
Exercise 2
(Solved)
Insert his, her, its or their in the blank spaces.
1. The poor boy has lost ………….. mother.
2. I am two years older than ………….. brother.
3. Ram has taken ………….. wife to the doctor.
4. The manager asked the visitors to wait outside ………….. office.
5. Have you seen ………….. pen anywhere ?
Answers
1. his
2. his
3. his
4. his
5. his
Exercise 3
(For Practice)
Fill in the blanks with pronouns or possessives.
1. Sita has returned the book which you lent ………….. .
2. These girls are very fond of ………….. dog.
3. You must write ………….. letters carefully.
4. The dog followed ………….. master wherever he went.
5. They have gone with ………….. parents.
Exercise 4
(For Practice)
Fill in the blanks with correct pronouns.
1. We scored as many runs as ………….. .
2. Let you and ………….. try.
3. You know that as well as ………….. .
4. Between you and ………….. I do not believe him.
5. Ram is as old as ………….. .
Multiple Choice Questions
Read the statements given below and tick the correct option :
I. Identify the type of pronoun :
Question 1.
Martha likes to do her work herself
(i) possessive
(ii) distributive
(iii) demonstrative
(iv) reflexive
Question 2.
This pen is mine
(i) possessive pronoun
(ii) distributive pronoun
(iii) demonstrative pronoun
(iv) interrogative pronoun
Question 3.
The boy has lost his mother
(i) possessive pronoun
(ii) possessive noun
(iii) possessive adjective
(iv) possessive verb.
II. Fill up the missing word :
Question 4
have done the work
(i) He
(ii) It
(iii) She
(iv) They
Question 5.
You must write alphabets clearly
(i) his
(ii) these
(iii) her
(iv) this
III. Tick the correct option :
Question 6.
(i) This is the boy which 1 met yesterday
(ii) This is the boy who I met yesterday
(iii) This is the boy that I met yesterday
(iv) This is the boy whose I met yesterday
Question 7.
(i) This is the pen whom belongs to me
(ii) This is the pen who belongs to me
(iii) This is the pen which belongs to me
(iv) This is the pen whose belongs to me
Question 8.
(i) The dog whose was sleeping did not bark
(ii) The dog that was sleeping did not bark
(iii) The dog whom sleeping did not bark
(iv) The dog which sleeping did not bark
Question 9.
(i) My brother who is a physician lives in Burma
(ii) My brother which is a physician lives in Burma
(iii) My brother whom is a physician lives in Burma
(iv) My brother that is a physician lives in Burma
Question 10.
(i) The cobra whom is a large snake is poisonous-
(ii) The cobra who is a large snake is poisonous
(iii) The cobra whose is a large snake is poisonous
(iv) The cobra which is a large snake is poisonous
Answers
1. (iv)
2. (i)
3. (iii)
4. (iv)
5. (ii)
6. (ii)
7. (iii)
8. (ii)
9. (i)
10. (iv)