Class 8 English Grammar: Pronouns

A word that is used to replace a noun is called pronoun.
(The word ‘Pronoun’ means ‘for a noun’.)

(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.

(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 a noun is plural, persons of either sex as also the non-living things, are referred to by ‘they, them, their, theirs, thems
(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 possessive adjec¬tives. They must agree in gender with the words 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)

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 lot …………… mother.
2. I am two years older than ……….. mother.
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/my/her
3. his
4. his

Exercise 3
(Solved)
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.
Answers:
1. her
2. their
3. your
4. its
5. their

Exercise 4
(Solved)
Fill in the blanks with pronouns or possessives.
1. The small child was crying for ……….. mother.
2. We watched the cow as ……….. placidly chewed the grass.
3. There is a cow with ………… calf.
4. Every student passed ………… examination.
5. The purse was restored to ……….. owner.
6. You must write …………. essay more carefully.
7. We offered to help ………… in their difficulty.
8. Could you please lend ……… your book ?
Answers:
1. its/his
2. it
3. her
4. his
6. your
7. them
8. me

Exercise 5
(Solved)
Rearrange the following into meaningful sentences :
1. him / John / you / has returned / which / the book / lent
2. went / the dog / he / followed / wherever / his / master
3. parents / the children / their / have gone / a holiday / for / with
4. she / her / misplaced / has / handbag.
5. these girls / their / fond of / dogs / very / are
Answers:
1. John has returned the book which you lent him.
2. The dog followed his master wherever he went.
3. The children have gone for a holiday with their parents.
4. She has misplaced her handbag.
5. These girls are very fond of their dogs.

Exercise 6
(Solved)
Rearrange the following into meaningful sentence :
1. his / the manager / into / visitors / the / office / called.
2. Ram / his / her /seaside / in the hope / will improve / health / has taken / wife / to the / that / it
3. examination / he / is very proud / her / his / daughter’s success / in / of
4. he spent / on a birthday present for / his / sister / all / pocket money / his
5. no one likes / to be doubted / word / his
6. Mary / brother / and / have / gone / her / to visit / aunt / their
Answers:
1. The manager called the visitors into his office.
2. Ram has taken his wife to the seaside in the hope that it will improve her health.
3. He is very proud of his daughter’s Success in her examination.
4. He spent all his pocket money for a birthday present for his sister.
5. No one likes his word to be doubted.
6. Mary and her brother have gone to visit their aunt.

Exercise 7
(Solved)
The following passage has not been edited. There is an error in each line. Find the incorrect word and write it along with the correction in your answer sheet. Do not forget to underline the correction.
You am sorry to bring to (a) ______
my notice the very bad condition (b) ______
of their locality. I contacted the (c) _______
municipal authorities and we assured (d) __________
me that she would look into the (e) ____
matter. However he regret to say (f) ______

Answers:
(a) You — I
(b) my — your
(c) their — our
(d) we — they
(e) she — they
(f) he — I

Exercise 8
(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

Exercise 9
(For Practice)
The following passage has not been edited. There Is an error in each line. Find the incorrect word and write it along with the correction in your answer sheet. Do not forget to underline the correction.
There was an old couple their only (a) _________
pet was a dog. The woman made them (b) _____
a cushion. On it sat Muko — for that was her name — as snug as a cat. (c) ________
The kind people fed it with his own. (d) _______
chopsticks. The dog loved your protector like a being with a soul. (e) ________

Multiple Choice Questions

Exercise 1
Fill in the blanks in the following sentences choosing the correct word from the brackets :
1. A reader likes to choose (my/his/our/their) books himself.
2. A motorist should take great care of (its/his/their/our) car.
3. Every student passed (their/my/his/its) examinations.
4. Ramesh gave a present to (her/their/its/his) mother.
5. The children have gone for a holiday with (its/his/their/her) parents.
Answers:
1. his
2. his
3. his
4. his
5. their