Meaning & use
subject pronoun
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Meaning
nouncountabletechnical
A word such as I, he or they that stands in place of a noun and is the doer of the verb in a sentence.
Grammar: A grammar term: a subject pronoun usually comes before its verb.
Patterns
- use a subject pronoun
- replace the subject with a subject pronoun
In the sentence She left early, she is the subject pronoun.
Learners often use an object pronoun instead of a subject pronoun, saying me and him went.
In Spanish you can often omit the subject pronoun.
Word forms
| plural | subject pronouns |
|---|
Common combinations
- use a subject pronoun
- Use a subject pronoun to avoid repeating the name.
- drop the subject pronoun
- Some languages let you drop the subject pronoun.
- replace with a subject pronoun
- Replace the noun with a subject pronoun.
- choose the correct subject pronoun
- Choose the correct subject pronoun for each gap.
- third-person subject pronoun
- He is a third-person subject pronoun.
Synonyms and how they differ
- nominative pronoun
- Nominative pronoun is the formal grammar term for the same group, used in discussions of case.
- personal pronoun
- Personal pronoun is wider and includes object forms such as me and them.
- pronoun
- Pronoun is the general class, which includes subject, object and possessive forms.
Opposites
Word family
Commonly confused: subject pronoun or object pronoun?
subject pronoun vs object pronoun
An object pronoun, such as me or them, receives the action; a subject pronoun, such as I or they, performs it.
Practice
Which sentence uses a subject pronoun correctly?
Choose one answer.
She and I are both subject pronouns doing the walking. Her, me and them are object forms and do not work as the subject.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “subject pronoun”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.