Subject Pronouns (I, He) vs. Object Pronouns (Me, Him) – English Grammar Exercises for A1
Read the sentences about a missing dog named Buster. Choose the correct pronoun to fill in the blank.
1 Excuse me, have you seen my dog? ______ is a small brown poodle.
(a) Him
(b) His
(c) They
(d) He
2 I lost my dog, Buster. Can you help ______ find him?
(a) me
(b) us
(c) my
(d) I
3 Buster wore a blue collar. I bought ______ last week.
(a) he
(b) it
(c) its
(d) him
4 If you see Buster, please call ______. My number is on the flyer.
(a) mine
(b) I
(c) me
(d) my
5 The children next door usually play with Buster. ______ love him.
(a) We
(b) They
(c) Their
(d) Them
6 I showed a photo to the shop owner, but he hasn’t seen ______.
(a) them
(b) he
(c) him
(d) his
7 My sister is crying. Buster always sleeps in the bed with ______.
(a) hers
(b) her
(c) him
(d) she
8 The neighbors are so kind. I gave ______ some flyers to give out on the street.
(a) their
(b) us
(c) they
(d) them
9 “Did the police officer find your dog?” “No, ______ only found a stray cat.”
(a) he
(b) his
(c) it
(d) him
10 Buster ran away when the fireworks started. ______ were very loud.
(a) They
(b) Them
(c) It
(d) Their
11 A little girl pointed down the street and said, “I saw ______ run that way!”
(a) his
(b) her
(c) him
(d) he
12 My parents are worried sick. I need to call ______ right now.
(a) they
(b) them
(c) him
(d) their
13 Buster likes the park. Maybe ______ went to the duck pond.
(a) it
(b) his
(c) he
(d) him
14 Please, if you and your husband find Buster, can ______ hold him for me?
(a) them
(b) your
(c) they
(d) you
15 Let my friend and ______ check the dark alleys behind the houses.
(a) us
(b) my
(c) me
(d) I
16 Everyone on the street is looking for Buster, except ______ because he is at work.
(a) him
(b) them
(c) his
(d) he
17 Just between you and ______, I am very scared Buster won’t come back.
(a) me
(b) my
(c) I
(d) us
18 The animal shelter called! They have a dog, and it looks exactly like ______!
(a) he
(b) me
(c) him
(d) his
19 My brother and ______ printed 100 posters to put on the trees.
(a) my
(b) me
(c) I
(d) he
20 We finally found Buster! He ran straight to my sister and ______!
(a) me
(b) I
(c) we
(d) my
ANSWER KEY & EXPLANATIONS
1 (d)
Explanation: – Key (d) He: Correct. We need a subject pronoun for the verb “is”. “He” is commonly used for a male pet.
- Common Mistake (a) Him: “Him” is an object pronoun, which cannot be the subject of a sentence.
- Structural Error (b) His: “His” is a possessive adjective/pronoun, not a subject pronoun.
- Meaning Trap (c) They: Grammatically a subject pronoun, but “They” is plural and Buster is one dog.
2 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) me: Correct. “Help” is a verb that requires an object pronoun.
- Common Mistake (d) I: “I” is a subject pronoun. A very common mistake is using “I” after a verb.
- Structural Error (c) my: “My” is a possessive adjective and needs a noun after it.
- Meaning Trap (b) us: Grammatically correct, but logically incorrect because the speaker says “I lost my dog”, indicating a singular person asking for help.
3 (b)
Explanation: – Key (b) it: Correct. “It” replaces the object “a blue collar” (a thing).
- Common Mistake (d) him: “Him” refers to the dog Buster, but the speaker bought the collar, not the dog, last week.
- Structural Error (c) its: “Its” is possessive and incorrect here.
- Meaning Trap (a) he: Subject pronoun used in the object position, and refers to a person/pet, not an object.
4 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) me: Correct. Object pronoun after the verb “call”.
- Common Mistake (b) I: Subject pronoun placed where an object pronoun belongs.
- Structural Error (a) mine: Possessive pronoun; we don’t say “call mine” in this context.
- Meaning Trap (d) my: Possessive adjective that requires a noun (e.g., “call my phone”).
5 (b)
Explanation: – Key (b) They: Correct. Subject pronoun referring to “The children” (plural).
- Common Mistake (d) Them: Object pronoun used incorrectly as the subject of the verb “love”.
- Structural Error (c) Their: Possessive adjective; incorrect sentence structure.
- Meaning Trap (a) We: Grammatically possible, but it changes the meaning. The sentence talks about “The children”, so “They” is the logical reference.
6 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) him: Correct. Object pronoun referring to Buster after the verb “seen”.
- Common Mistake (b) he: Subject pronoun used incorrectly after a verb.
- Structural Error (d) his: Possessive adjective/pronoun; cannot be used as an object here.
- Meaning Trap (a) them: Grammatically an object pronoun, but “them” is plural and Buster is singular.
7 (b)
Explanation: – Key (b) her: Correct. Object pronoun following the preposition “with”, referring to “my sister”.
- Common Mistake (d) she: Subject pronoun incorrectly used after a preposition.
- Structural Error (a) hers: Possessive pronoun, wrong structure.
- Meaning Trap (c) him: Object pronoun, but wrong gender. The sister is female.
8 (d)
Explanation: – Key (d) them: Correct. Object pronoun referring to “The neighbors” (plural).
- Common Mistake (c) they: Subject pronoun used in the object position.
- Structural Error (a) their: Possessive adjective; needs a noun.
- Meaning Trap (b) us: Grammatically correct, but the speaker gave flyers to the neighbors, not to themselves.
9 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) he: Correct. Subject pronoun referring to “the police officer”.
- Common Mistake (d) him: Object pronoun incorrectly used as a subject.
- Structural Error (b) his: Possessive adjective/pronoun.
- Meaning Trap (c) it: We do not use “it” for a police officer (a person).
10 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) They: Correct. Subject pronoun referring to “the fireworks” (plural).
- Common Mistake (b) Them: Object pronoun used as a subject.
- Structural Error (d) Their: Possessive adjective.
- Meaning Trap (c) It: Fireworks is a plural noun, so “It” (singular) is grammatically and logically incorrect.
11 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) him: Correct. Object pronoun after the verb “saw”.
- Common Mistake (d) he: Subject pronoun incorrectly placed after a verb.
- Structural Error (a) his: Possessive pronoun.
- Meaning Trap (b) her: Wrong gender for Buster (who is male).
12 (b)
Explanation: – Key (b) them: Correct. Object pronoun replacing “My parents” (plural).
- Common Mistake (a) they: Subject pronoun used in object position.
- Structural Error (d) their: Possessive adjective.
- Meaning Trap (c) him: Parents are plural, so “him” (singular male) is incorrect.
13 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) he: Correct. Subject pronoun for Buster before the verb “went”.
- Common Mistake (d) him: Object pronoun used as a subject.
- Structural Error (b) his: Possessive pronoun.
- Meaning Trap (a) it: While “it” can be used for animals, we already established Buster as a beloved pet with a name, and usually use “he” or “she”. “He” is the best fit.
14 (d)
Explanation: – Key (d) you: Correct. “You” can be plural and acts as the subject for the verb “hold”.
- Common Mistake (a) them: Object pronoun used as a subject.
- Structural Error (b) your: Possessive adjective.
- Meaning Trap (c) they: Grammatically possible, but the speaker is talking directly to the person (“you and your husband”), so “you” is the correct pronoun.
15 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) me: Correct. The verb “let” requires an object pronoun (Let me…).
- Common Mistake (d) I: A very common hypercorrection. Students often say “my friend and I” even when it should be an object.
- Structural Error (b) my: Possessive adjective.
- Meaning Trap (a) us: “Us” means “me and someone else”, so saying “my friend and us” is redundant and incorrect in meaning.
16 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) him: Correct. Prepositions like “except” are followed by object pronouns.
- Common Mistake (d) he: Subject pronoun incorrectly used after a preposition.
- Structural Error (c) his: Possessive.
- Meaning Trap (b) them: The second clause says “because he is at work”, indicating the missing person is singular male, not plural.
17 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) me: Correct. “Between” is a preposition and must be followed by an object pronoun.
- Common Mistake (c) I: Another frequent hypercorrection (“between you and I” is grammatically incorrect).
- Structural Error (b) my: Possessive adjective.
- Meaning Trap (d) us: “Between you and us” changes the meaning and doesn’t fit the singular speaker context.
18 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) him: Correct. Object pronoun after the preposition “like”.
- Common Mistake (a) he: Subject pronoun after a preposition.
- Structural Error (d) his: Possessive.
- Meaning Trap (b) me: Grammatically correct, but the dog looks like Buster, not the speaker.
19 (c)
Explanation: – Key (c) I: Correct. “My brother and I” form the compound subject of the verb “printed”.
- Common Mistake (b) me: A very common native-speaker and learner mistake (“Me and my brother printed…”).
- Structural Error (a) my: Possessive.
- Meaning Trap (d) he: “My brother and he” is awkward and changes the person doing the action (the speaker is involved).
20 (a)
Explanation: – Key (a) me: Correct. Object pronoun after the preposition “to”.
- Common Mistake (b) I: Hypercorrection. Many learners think “my sister and I” is always correct, even at the end of a sentence.
- Structural Error (d) my: Possessive.
- Meaning Trap (c) we: Subject pronoun used incorrectly as an object.
GRAMMAR POINTS TO REMEMBER
- Subject Pronouns (I, You, He, She, It, We, They): – They do the action.
- They always come before the verb (e.g., He runs. They help.).
- Object Pronouns (Me, You, Him, Her, It, Us, Them):
- They receive the action.
- They come after the verb (e.g., Call me. I saw him.).
- They come after prepositions like with, to, for, like, except, between (e.g., with her, to me, except him).
- The “Hypercorrection” Trap: – Always be careful with “and”.
- If it’s the subject: use I (My brother and I went out).
- If it’s the object: use me (He ran to my sister and me).
- A good trick is to remove the other person to check: He ran to (my sister and) me -> He ran to me (Correct!).
- Pets in English:
- While animals can be called “it“, native speakers usually use “he” or “she” (and “him/her”) for their own pets because they are considered family members.