3 Nouns and Gender

Nouns are divided into four categories according to the gender they refer to.
• A noun that refers to a male is said to be of the masculine gender.
uncle duke tiger lion
• A noun that refers to a female is said to be of the feminine gender.
aunt duchess tigress lioness
• A noun that can refer to both a male and a female is said to be of the common
gender.
child parent servant cousin
• A noun that refers to a non-living thing that is neither a male nor a female is
said to be of the neuter gender.
car table book valley

A Fill in the blanks with suitable nouns of the neuter gender.

grapes room books cups plants toys

1. The children had scattered the in their roo m..

2. need care and love to grow well.
3. That does not get enough sunlight.
4. Samarth picked a bunch of from the basket.
5. The children broke the on the table while playing with a ball.
6. Blessy went to the library to borrow some history .

B Write nouns of opposite gender beside the following nouns.

1. milkman 6. peahen
2. hero 7. host
3. monk 8. emperor
4. gander 9. witch
5. king 10. bride

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Everyday English Grammar

C Rewrite the sentences replacing the nouns in red with nouns of opposite
gender.

1. A thief was caught by a policeman.

2. There are five men living in the hostel at present.

3. The king and the prince are walking in the garden.

4. My father has two nieces who live in Bangkok.

5. The instructor asked the boys to follow him while exercising.

6. The peacock did not like being in a cage.

7. The duke had a beautiful white horse.

8. The wizard turned the goose into a tigress.

9. The priest blessed the poet.

10. The milkman was ill, so his daughter delivered the milk.

Grammar Game

Divide the class into 4 teams. Make about 40 cards, each of which will carry a noun
indicating gender. Call a child from one team. Let him/her stand with his/her back
towards the class. Show any one card to the other children. A child from his/her team
will call out the noun opposite in gender to the noun on the card. The child with his/
her back to the class has to guess and say the word and write it on the board. If he/
she guesses correctly, his/her team wins 5 points.

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 4 Pronouns

Pronouns are the words that are used in place of nouns. They help us avoid
repetition of nouns. There are various kinds of pronouns. Given below are some
pronouns of different kinds.
I, we, me, you, he, him, she, her, it, us, them, they, mine, ours, yours, his,
hers, theirs, who, whom, which, myself, yourself, this, that

Personal Pronouns
Personal pronouns are used in place of the names of persons, animals and things.
The table below lists the personal pronouns in English.

Personal Pronouns Gender

I, me, mine (singular)
First Person: speaker(s) common
we, us, ours (plural)
Second Person: listener(s) you, yours (singular and plural) common
he, him masculine
Third Person: person(s),
she, her (singular) feminine
animal(s) or thing(s) spoken
it neuter
about
they, them (plural) common

A Fill in the blanks with suitable personal pronouns.

1. The captain and the team members posed with the trophy. had
won again after five years.
2. The little boy started crying whenever his mother left alone.
3. Robert asked Akhil, ‘Can get a cup of coffee?’
4. When I entered the office, the guard asked for the identity
card.
5. Satheesh and I saw some poor children begging in the street.
bought bread and eggs for .

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Everyday English Grammar

Possessive Pronouns
Mine, ours, his, hers, yours, its and theirs are possessive pronouns. They replace
nouns and also show possession, ownership or belonging. They are written
without an apostrophe.
The ball is his and the bat is mine.
That dress is not yours. It is hers.
The books are not theirs.

Keep in Mind
Possessive forms of nouns need an apostrophe whereas possessive pronouns don’t.
Is that kitten Aman’s? (possessive form of noun)
Is that kitten yours? (possessive pronoun)

B What are the possessive pronouns that can replace the words in red? Write
them in the given space.

1. These spectacles are John’s ( ).

2. My umbrella is broken. May I borrow the one that belongs to you
( )?
3. These pills are my grandmother’s ( ).
4. The red dolls are Nicky and Leela’s ( ).
5. The bags on the table are the ones belonging to Shirshendu, Sonia and me
( ).

Reflexive Pronouns
When the subject in a sentence is also the receiver of the action (object), we use
reflexive pronouns to avoid repetition.
The cat saw itself in the mirror.

Reflexive Pronouns
First Person myself, ourselves
Second Person yourself, yourselves
Third Person himself, herself, itself, themselves

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 Pronouns

C Fill in the blanks with the reflexive pronouns given below.

herself itself themselves

ourselves himself myself yourself

1. She hurt during dance practice.

2. He taught Japanese by reading books.
3. We were satisfied with after painting the wall.
4. Some animals clean es.
with their tong ues.
5. The cat licked clean.
6. I looked at in the mirror.
7. Give more practice if you want to win the match.

Relative Pronouns
Who, whom, whose, which and that are relative pronouns. They are used to join
parts of a sentence. Relative pronouns begin a descriptive part of the sentence.
The girl is wearing a red dress. The girl is my sister.
The girl who is wearing a red dress is my sister.
Ravi met an old man on the riverbank. The man is a wizard.
The old man whom Ravi met on the riverbank is a wizard.

Keep in Mind
• Who, whom and whose are used to talk about people.
• That is used to talk about people, animals and things.
• Which is used to talk about animals and things only.

D Fill in the blanks using appropriate relative pronouns.

1. Please return the book I gave you.
2. The man fell from the stage
yesterday was an actor.
3. The boy is painting is my brother.
4. The lady purse was stolen went to the police.
5. The novelist won the prize will visit our city next month.

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Everyday English Grammar

E Join the sentences using relative pronouns.

1. The vase is blue. It is from China.

2. I saw a dog. It was rather ferocious.

3. My friend lives in Ludhiana. She swims very well.

4. This is the girl. You gave her a flower.

5. This is the man. His car broke down yesterday.

Demonstrative Pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns this, that, these and those show or point out the person
or thing to which they refer. They are usually followed by verbs.

This is a mouse. These are mice.

F Complete the sentences by choosing suitable demonstrative pronouns from

those given in brackets.

1. is the room where we practise dance. (These/This)

2. Whose shoes are ? (these/this)
3. is the most expensive variety of tea available. (Those/This)
4. are the kites I want to buy. (Those/That)
5. Tina’s mother said, ‘ are your aunts from Guntur. They will
be with us for a week.’ (These/That)

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 Pronouns

Interrogative Pronouns
Interrogative pronouns like who, whom, whose, which and what are used to ask
questions. They are usually placed before a verb. As we have already seen who,
whom, whose and which function as relative pronouns when they are not part of
questions.
What was that noise?
Who will introduce the singer?
With whom will you go to the market?
Whose is that blue jacket in the corner?
Which is your school?

G Complete the sentences with suitable interrogative pronouns.

what who whom which

1. will bring the books from the shelf?

2. are the books you want?
3. With did you come to the library?
4. will you do if nobody brings them for you?
5. To will you give the books after reading them?
6. is your opinion about the maintenance of this library?

H Replace the words in red with pronouns and rewrite the sentences.
1. Amina plays the veena and the guitar very well.

2. Mr Sarkar gives lessons to Amina every Sunday.

3. Amina is Mr Sarkar’s favourite student.

4. This beautiful veena is Amina’s.

5. Amina hopes to play the veena on stage some day.

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