Harvey's Elementary Grammar and Composition · Lesson 60–62 · Part 2: Part II: The parts of speech in full
56. Personal pronouns in full
Goal: Your child knows the simple and compound personal pronouns and can decline them.
You'll need
- The book, open to this lesson
- Paper and a pencil (or a slate)
What's in the book
Lesson 60 lists the properties of the pronoun, Lesson 61 the simple and compound personal pronouns with remarks on you, we and it, and Lesson 62 gives the declension tables.
The lesson, step by step
Review
Ask: What are the four properties of a noun?
Pronouns have properties too
Read:
To pronouns belong Gender, Number, Person, and Case.
Simple and compound
The simple personal pronouns are I, thou, he, she and it with their forms. Read:
The Compound Personal Pronouns are formed by adding self or selves to some form of the simple personals
List them: myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Three remarks
Read:
You is used to represent both singular and plural nouns.
We is used in place of I, in editorials, royal proclamations, etc.
When pronouns of different persons are used, the second should precede the third, and the third the first.
Decline them
Read the declension tables on pages 89 and 90 aloud, row by row: I, my or mine, me; we, our or ours, us. Then your child declines "he" and "they" from memory, in writing.
Check together
Compare with the table.
Use it today
Notice when someone says "we" but means only themselves, like a newspaper or a king.
Answers to the book's problems
He: nominative he, possessive his, objective him; plural they, their or theirs, them. Compound: himself, themselves. Check other declensions against the book's tables.
Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.