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Business English
Wann verwende ich welches Pronomen?
Pronoun Soup
Personalpronomen, Besitz anzeigende und refl exive Pronomen – da schwirrt in der Eile schon einmal der Kopf.
Der nachfolgende Beitrag zeigt Ihnen, wie Sie die Fürwörter richtig verwenden.
Personal, possessive and
refl exive pronouns
First, what is a pronoun? Once you are
sure of the answer and know what a pronoun
is and does, using them correctly
becomes simpler. By the way, the answer
to the question is that a pronoun is really
an ersatz noun, ie it saves you from
repeating the noun again and again and
again. For example:
„Ben wanted to give the presentation
but Ben didn’t manage to prepare because
Ben’s computer crashed just when
the computer was really needed.”
All the words in italics above can – and
should - be replaced with pronouns * .
Personal Pronouns
Th e example above uses personal pronouns,
which are the ones we use most
frequently. Th ere are seven personal
pronouns in English, each of which have
several forms (subjective, objective, possessive
and refl exive). Th e seven main
pronouns are:
First person singular: I (always
capitalised)
First person plural: we
Second person: you (the same for
both singular and plural forms)
Th ird person singular, masculine: he
Th ird person singular, feminine: she
Th ird person singular neuter: it
Th ird person plural: they
Th e pronouns listed above are used
so frequently that they do not usually
cause too many problems, rather it is
their possessive and refl exive forms that
prove more tricky for many people (note
the pronouns – italicized - in this sentence).
* The sentence would read better as follows: „Ben wanted to give the
presentation but he didn’t manage to prepare because his computer
crashed just when it was really needed.”
Their other forms are as follows:
subjective objective
I me
you you
he him
she her
it it
we us
they them
Th e subjective pronouns are used when
the pronoun is the subject, as Ben was in
our initial example, and in the fi rst example
below. Th e objective pronouns are
used when the pronoun is the object, ie
when something is being done to it. Eg:
„Th ey are giving a group presentation
at the conference.”
„Graham gave them the printouts.”
Possessive Pronouns
These indicate that something belongs
to someone (or possibly to something).
The possessive pronouns are:
subjective objective
I mine
you yours
he his
she hers
it its
we ours
they theirs
eg: „
Whose briefcase is this?”
„It is mine.” (meaning my briefcase)
or:
„The idea was ours, but the execution
was theirs.”
There are also determiners, sometimes
called possessive adjectives, which look
similar to pronouns. These are:
my, your, his, her, its, our and their.
They are used to describe the possessor,
and are not pronouns, eg:
„I left my coat on his chair.”
„Annabel gave her copy of the
report to David.”
or:
„This chair is useless, its leg wobbles.”
Refl exive Pronouns
Strangely enough there are eight refl exive
pronouns rather than seven: the
second person here has a singular and
a plural form:
subjective relfexive
I myself
you (sin.) yourself
you (pl.) yourselves
he himself
she herself
it itself
we ourselves
they theirselves
They are generally used when the subject
and object are the same, eg:
„They treated themselves to a bottle of
champagne once the deal was signed.”
A Special Case
Be careful: „by“ + refl exive has two special
meanings: it can mean, eg:
„I want to be by myself.”
and it can also mean without help, eg:
„Can you do it by yourself?”
Vocabulary
tricky verzwickt
treated sich etwas gönnen
Die Autoren:
Lucy Renner Jones und Anita Duncan
70 ProFirma 01/02 2011