The Mother Tongue, Book I: Lessons in Speaking, Reading and Writing English · Secs. 450–452 · Part 2: Part Second

124. Pronouns and person

Goal: Your child finds personal pronouns and tells whether each is first, second or third person.

⏱ About 25 minutes · 6 steps

Open it at the Internet Archive ↗ 🖨 Copywork sheet

You'll need

  • The book, open to this lesson
  • Paper and pencil (a notebook kept just for this book works well)

What's in the book

Section 450 says many mistakes in English come from pronouns, and gives nine sentences to find pronouns in. Section 451 uses Tom Jones of Plymouth to show pronouns for the person speaking, spoken to and spoken of, and names first, second and third person. Section 452 asks for all the pronouns in "In School Days".

The lesson, step by step

  1. Find the pronouns (Section 450)

    Read the nine sentences. Your child lists every pronoun and counts how many different forms they found.

  2. Tom Jones (Section 451)

    Read the four sentences about Tom Jones aloud. In each, who is speaking? Who is spoken to? Who is spoken of?

    Some pronouns show whether the person they stand for is speaking, spoken to, or spoken of. These are called Personal Pronouns.

  3. First, second, third

    Make three short lists together: first person (I, my, me, we, our, us), second person (you, your, thou, thee, thy), third person (he, his, him, she, her, it, its, they, their, them).

  4. In School Days (Section 452)

    Turn to the poem on page 230. Your child finds the pronouns in two or three stanzas, names the noun each stands for, and its person.

  5. Check it gently

    If your child mixes up the person, ask: "Is this one speaking, being spoken to, or being spoken about?"

  6. What a good result looks like

    Example (written for this guide, not from the book):

    I (first person) told her (third person) a story.

    You (second person) may borrow my (first person) pencil.

    They (third person) waited for us (first person).

Answers to the book's problems

Section 450: 1. I, him, he. 2. she, you. 3. them. 4. I, him. 5. thou. 6. I, thy, thee. 7. We, us. 8. They, their. 9. you, you.

Worked out for this site from the scan. If a number in your copy differs, trust the book.

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