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Foto: privatBusiness Spotlight 2/2020 LANGUAGELANGUAGE
GRAMMARPersonal pronouns
Die Subjekt- und Objektpronomen lernt man
schon in den ersten Englischstunden, und bei
ihrem Gebrauch gibt es einiges zu beachten, wie
TENLEY VAN DEN BERG hier erklärt.
EASY PLUSback: have someone’s ~
[bÄk] US ifml.
, jmdn. unterstützen
Cheers to that!
[)tSIEz tE (DÄt]
, Darauf trinken wir!
feel comfortable
(doing sth.)
[)fi:&l (kVmftEb&l]
, sich wohlfühlen (etw.
zu tun); hier: kein Problem
haben
gender-nonconforming
people
[)dZendE nQnkEn)fO:mIN
(pi:p&l]
, Menschen, die keinem
binären Geschlecht zuge-
ordnet werden möchten
Hey, you guys.
[(heI ju: )gaIz] ifml.
, hier: He, ihr (beiden).
(guy , Typ, Kerl)
nurse [n§:s]
, Krankenpfleger(in)
pronoun [(prEUnaUn]
, Pronomen
staff [stA:f]
, Belegschaft
stick together
[)stIk tE(geDE] ifml.
, zusammenhaltenTENLEY
VAN DEN BERG
is an editor for
Business Spotlight.
Contact:
t.vandenberg@
spotlight-verlag.deAnswersEXPLANATIONS
Personal pronouns come in two forms:
Subject: I, you, he, she, it, we, they
Object: me, you, him, her, it, us, them
Here, we will look at the way these pronouns are used
in modern spoken English.It is polite to mention yourself last when speaking
about more than one person and yourself:
⋅ Indra and I have your back.
⋅ ...he introduced another new colleague and me...
In informal speech, object pronouns are often used
in the subject position when “and” is used:
⋅ Indra and me have your back.Subject pronouns can be used after “than” and “as”.
However, most native speakers would find this
unnatural-sounding and would add the verb as well:
⋅ You’ve got more courage than I (have).
Today, it is more common to use object pronouns:
⋅ You’ve got more courage than me.In informal spoken US English, “you guys” and “you
all” can be used to make it clear that you are address-
ing more than one person:
⋅ H e y, you guys.
⋅ It’s you all who have given me courage.“We” and “you” can be put directly before a plural
noun:
⋅ We friends have to stick together!
In informal speech, “us” + plural noun is common:
⋅ Us friends have to stick together!The pronoun “it” can be used to refer to something
mentioned before:
⋅ How was your first day of work, Andy? — It was
good, thanks.
“It” can also be used to identify a person:
⋅ Yes, it was him, I think.“They”/“them” can be used instead of “he”/“him”
or “she”/“her” when referring back to the pronouns
“someone”, “somebody” or “anyone”:
⋅ Somebody had even put flowers on my desk.
That was nice of them!Gender-nonconforming people sometimes wish to
be referred to as “they”/“them” rather than the gender-
specific “he”/“him” or “she”/“her” (see pp. 10–11):
⋅ I would like to be referred to by the pronoun
“they”. Exercise:Personal pronouns inspoken EnglishWe (also “Us” in A.informal speech)It B.you C.me D.themE.Andy and Indra are sitting in a bar, celebrating
Andy’s first day of work as a nurse. They are wait-
ing for their friend Monica to join them.Monica: H e y, you guys. So glad we could meet for
a beer! How was your first day of work,
Andy?
Andy: It was good, thanks. Somebody had even
put flowers on my desk to welcome me.
Indra: That was nice of them! It was probably
your boss.
Andy: Yes, it was him, I think. And he intro-
duced another new colleague and me
to the staff.
Indra: How did that go? Did you tell them?
Andy: It wasn’t easy, but I did. I simply told
them that I would like to be referred to
by the pronoun “they”. And if they had
any questions about that, I hope they
felt comfortable coming to me to ask.
Monica: Good for you. You’ve got more courage
than me.
Andy: It’s you all who have given me courage.
Thank you.
Monica: Indra and I have your back. We friends
have to stick together!
Indra: Cheers to that!Exercise: Personal pronouns in
spoken EnglishAdd the missing personal pronouns.A. nurses have to stick together.
B. is all I can do to stay awake after a
12-hour shift.
C. I would love to meet guys for dinner.
D. The teacher gave Malik and a lot of
homework.
E. Someone’s buzzing the door. I’ll let in.E