English A1 · Pronouns and possessives
Tiếng Anh A1 Chủ đề 2 6:06 Giọng đọc tiếng Anh · phụ đề tiếng Anh + 中文 được ghi trực tiếp
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A pronoun is a small word that stands in for a name: I, you, he, she, it, we, they. Chinese has them too, so the idea is old news. The new part is that English pronouns change shape depending on their job in the sentence. One shape for doing the action, one for receiving it, and two ways to show ownership. The memory hook: English pronouns have a work uniform and weekend clothes. Same person, different outfit.
The subject does the action, and its pronouns are the ones you met with the verb be. I and we, the speakers. You, the listener, singular and plural both, because English threw away the difference centuries ago and never looked back. He, she and it for everyone and everything else, and they for crowds. One proud detail: the word I is always a capital letter, everywhere, always. English has exactly one word this proud.
The object receives the action, and English gives it different clothes. I becomes me, he becomes him, she becomes her, we becomes us, and they becomes them. I help him, and he helps me: watch the two shapes swap places as the helper and the helped trade roles. Two lucky words never change at all: you and it wear the same outfit to work and to the weekend.
After a preposition, with, for, to, between, use the object shape. Come with me. This gift is for her. And the famous trap, loved by exams and pop songs alike: between you and me, never between you and I. The wrong version sounds fancy, which is exactly why it spreads. The test is easy: say the pair alone. Nobody says between I, so nobody gets to say between you and I.
Pause and choose. My sister helps me with maths every day. She does the helping; I receive it, so the object shape, me. I is the doer's uniform, and my and mine belong to the ownership office, which is the next section.
English shows ownership twice. Before a noun, the possessive adjective: my book, her bag, their classroom. It is never alone, like a bodyguard without a client. Standing alone, the possessive pronoun: the book is mine, the bag is hers. Mine already carries the noun inside it, so nothing follows. Two forms, two jobs, and they are not interchangeable, as the next frame shows.
Here is the collision, side by side. My book is correct, and the book is mine is correct. But mine book is impossible, and the book is my is impossible. The adjective needs its noun; the pronoun refuses one. Chinese uses one little word for both jobs: wo de shu and shu shi wo de both use the same piece. English changes the word instead: my book, the book is mine.
Pause and choose. This is my pen; it is mine. Before the noun pen, the bodyguard, my. Standing alone at the end, the pronoun, mine, carrying the pen inside itself. Any other mix leaves either a noun without its bodyguard or a pronoun tripping over a client it never needed.
Now the traps, and the first one is famous. In speech, ta, ta and ta, the man, the woman and the thing, are all the same sound. English forces you to choose out loud: he, she or it, and your listener will notice which one you picked. This is the most common slip even among advanced speakers, so build the habit now: see a woman, think she; see a phone, think it. Your mouth learns what your eyes practise.
Whose book? Look at the owner, not the book. If he owns it, ta de shu is his book. If she owns it, ta de shu is her book. The possessive follows the owner's gender, and the book itself has no opinion in either language. And one returning trap: its, belonging to it, has no apostrophe; it's always means it is. The rule from topic one has not changed its mind.
Pause and choose. It is raining. Chinese happily drops the subject: xia yu le needs nothing in front. English cannot; every sentence needs its subject, so an empty it steps in and does no work except keeping the grammar police calm. Is raining and rains both leave the subject's chair empty, and the sky, whatever poets say, does not rain.
Make these true, then say them to a partner. My name is, and your name; this bag is mine. She is my friend; I sit next to her. They are my classmates; I study with them. The cat is cute; its tail is long, with no apostrophe, because nobody is saying it is tail. Then the quick game: point at things in the room and answer whose they are. It's his. It's hers. It's ours. Fastest finger owns the room.
Pause for four checks. I am a student: the doer shape, and always a capital letter. She helps me every day: she does the action, I receive it. This is my book; it is mine: the bodyguard before the noun, the pronoun alone. And between you and me, because after a preposition the object shape steps up. Next topic: pointing at things near and far — this, that, these and those.