Pronouns in English – How to Learn More About Them
“You are what you eat.” In other words, you are what you eat. By extension, you are what you wear. In our culture, the assumption is that what we wear says something about us. It’s either we look cool or we don’t. And it’s usually accompanied by an implied judgment.
“You are such an individual,” said a friend recently. “You are in the pink shirt!” Or “You’re such a geek, you are so articulate!” These homophones are easy to identify because they are used so often.
The trouble is that these kinds of homophones are not only used so often but also become embedded in our thinking. This happens because most people have a tendency to assume what someone else thinks or feels. You may think you know what your homophone is because you hear it all the time. So, if you hear somebody talk about a certain term, chances are you will assume it is the correct word. If you learn english online or with some exposure to the language at home, you will also learn to pick up these homophones on the spot. Not only will you get the correct term, you’ll also sound cool and unique.
For example, many people assume they know when someone is talking about the weather. “I am in love with the weather” or “The weather is nice.” However, these homophones are incorrect. They are not correct words for the person being talked to. You will hear these words being used all the time in a casual conversation, so they are always followed by the wrong pronoun.
A pronoun that has no spelling or pronunciation is called a single person pronoun. These are always followed by the first person, either he/she, you or she/him. For example, John is the subject in a sentence, so we use the singular “John” to refer to John Smith. The pronoun “you” is used when talking about another person, so “you are” is used instead of “you’re”.
An interesting way to learn more about the singular and nominative case in english is to take an English grammar quiz. Some websites offer online English quizzes, and you can take one of these. You will see that there are questions about pronouns. Then, simply plug in the correct pronoun and click enter. You will see the correct explanation of the different pronoun forms and their meanings.