Lesson Four

LESSON FOUR

Third-person pronouns are used when writing a narrative paragraph from the Third-person point of view. A pronoun is a word that is used in place of a noun. It replaces a noun (a person, place, or thing). Without pronouns, a paragraph would be repetitive drawn out, long, and boring. For instance, the word cat can be replaced with the word it. Without pronouns, writing would be repetitive and uninteresting to the reader.

Please read the sentence pairs below. Sentence A does not contain pronouns. Sentence B contains pronouns. Notice the difference as you read.

Sentence Containing No Pronouns

Sentence A: Dad lost Dad's glasses and Dad was very upset at Dad.

Sentence Containing Pronouns

Sentence B: Dad lost his glasses, and he was very upset with himself.

Sentence Containing No Pronouns

Sentence A: Jenny took Jenny's bike to the bike shop because Jenny's bike had a flat tire.

Sentence Containing Pronouns

Sentence B: Jenny took her bike to the bike shop because it had a flat tire.

Sentence Containing No Pronouns

Sentence A: Robert has never gone to the dentist to get Robert's teeth cleaned.

Sentence Containing Pronouns

Sentence B: Robert has never gone to the dentist to get his teeth cleaned.

As you may recall, the Third-person point of view is one in which the narrator is not a character in the story but is an observer of it. An observer is "one who watches attentively and is aware." Third-person pronouns are used when writing a narrative paragraph from the Third-person point of view. Third-person pronouns occur in compositions when you are talking about someone or something. Some third-person pronouns include he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them their, theirs.