Subject and Object Pronouns 

Read the following sentences: 

1. A girl is standing. 
2. A girl is reading a book. 
3. A girl is wearing spectacles. 

The word a girl is repeated in all three sentences.  

Has the word that repeats itself umpteen like this ever crossed your mind while framing these sentences? 

Consider writing the given sentences like this: 

A girl is standing. She is reading a book, and she is wearing spectacles. 

Now, look at the underlined word in the sentences above that had helped us avoid the repetition of the word a girl. 

It is called a pronoun. 

A word that replaces a noun is called a pronoun. It helps us avoid the repetition of the noun. 

Examples: 

• I like to write poetry. 
• She hates going to work. 
• I will go with him. 
• She gifted me a watch. 
• John hates working with him. 

In the examples given above, the pronouns take positions other than at the beginning of the sentences. 

Take, for example, the pronouns I and me. Though they both may refer to a single person, most preferably the speaker itself, they are not exactly the same.  

They cannot be used interchangeably.  

Why? 

Well, these are some different exceptional cases, which we call as the subject pronouns and the object pronouns.  

Subjects and objects in a sentence. 

Take the sentence: 

We are writing a book. 

The subject of this sentence is the pronoun we. It is the doer of the action writing here. Therefore, we can define the subject of a sentence as the doer of the action in a sentence. 

Now read the sentence: 

The teacher punished him. 

The object of this sentence is the pronoun him.  

It is the one upon which the action is done.  

In the given instance, him is the object upon which the action punished is acted.  

Therefore, we can define the object of a sentence as the one that receives the action. 

Subject pronouns: 

Let us go back to one of the sentences that we have used earlier: 

We are writing a book. 

Which is the subject of this sentence? 

It is we. And here, the subject we is a pronoun. Therefore, it can be said that we is the subject pronoun of the given sentence. 

What is a subject pronoun? 

The pronoun in a sentence that is the doer/actor of the action is the subject pronoun. They, she, he, it, we, are the commonly used subject pronouns in English. 

Examples: 

• He is a singer. 
• She is an acclaimed basketball player. 
• They are studying. 

Object pronouns: 

Read the sentence: 

The teacher punished him.  

Which is the object in the sentence? 

It is him.  

The object is the pronoun him.  

Therefore, we can say that the object pronoun of the given sentence is him. 

What is an object pronoun? 

The pronoun in a sentence upon which the action is done is called an object pronoun. Them, him, her, it, us, are the commonly used object pronouns in English. 

Examples: 

• I have to call him. 
• John will inform her. 
• She bought us cookies.