Take Tibbles Out: using subject and object pronouns correctly

The object of this activity is to help children understand when to use the subject pronoun ‘I’ and when to use the object pronoun ‘me’. 

Children will sometimes confuse these pronouns and use them in the wrong positions in sentences.  This usually happens when more than one subject or object fills the subject or object position in a sentence.  For example, children will correctly say:

·        I went to the swimming pool.

However, when another subject is included, they often change the subject pronoun to the object pronoun:

·        Me and my family went to the swimming pool. ) Incorrect as object pronoun

·        Me and Suzie went to the swimming pool.       ) ‘me’ used in the subject position.                             

Similarly, the object pronoun is sometimes confused when another object is added.

·        Grandma loves me.  (Correct)

·        Grandma loves Suzie and I.  (Incorrect as subject pronoun ‘I’ used in the object  position.)

This is Tibbles.  The idea is to use the cards to make a sentence and then ‘Take Tibbles out’ of each sentence to check if the sentence sounds right and the correct pronoun has been used.

Children should choose one sentence card and decide which Tibbles card and pronoun card they need to complete the sentence correctly.

When they have made the sentence, ask them to ‘Take Tibbles out’.  Does the sentence still make sense?

‘Tibbles and I’ should be used before the verb (highlighted red) as this is the subject position. Usually the proper noun comes before the subject pronoun ‘I’.  If children have used ‘me’ in this position, talk to them about whether it sounds right to say, for example, ‘Me chased bubbles’.  What would sound better?

If the object position (after the verb) needs completing, children will need to use the ‘me’ pronoun card.  Again, if they select ‘I’, talk about sense and ask how it sounds.

It is also quite useful for children to notice the positional pattern: ‘I’ is used before the verb and ‘me’ is used after. 

I

me

Tibbles and

and Tibbles

_____ watched TV.

_____  went for a walk.

_____ chased bubbles.

_____ played in the garden.

_____ sat on the sofa.

_____ fell asleep.

Mum gave some treats to _____ .

The thunder frightened _____ .

My brother drew _____ .

The dog barked at _____ .

Using the template cards, children could make up their own sentences to vary the activity.

Return to pronoun post

Nouns and noun phrases

A noun is the name of a person, object or place. 

If the noun refers to an individual person, object or place and identifies it as distinct from any other, it is called a proper noun and will start with a capital letter.  For example, Fred Smith, Buckingham Palace, France.

Nouns used as a general name are called common nouns.  For example, table, field, cat, castle, apple.

We use the term noun for these single words and sometimes they are used as a single word to fill a sentence element slot in the sentence:

Andy won Wimbledon.

I like apples.

Art is enjoyable.

It is more usual for nouns to appear in sentences as part of a phrase, i.e. two words or more, working together to fill a slot in a sentence.  Let’s have a look at examples of how we can combine a noun with other words to make a noun phrase.

an apple

the apple

the green apple

the small, green apple

the small, green apple with spotty skin

the small, green apple which I picked from the tree

Nouns and noun phrases can be used in different places in sentences, but they usually fill the subject and object slots.

Over the primary years, your child will be taught how to expand noun phrases in the ways exemplified above.  You will notice that some words can be placed before the main noun in the phrase (apple); sometimes words can be placed after the main noun.  You can link below to information for how nouns and noun phrases are developed in each year group, along with the new National Curriculum requirements and terminology.  It will be useful to look at all year groups leading up to your child’s current year so you have a complete picture of what they should know.

Nouns and noun phrases in Year 1

Nounsand noun phrases in Year 2

Nouns and noun phrases in Year 3

Nouns and noun phrases in Year 4

Nouns and noun phrases in Year 5

Nouns and noun phrases in Year 6

When learning about nouns and noun phrases, children will also need to understand that sometimes we need to replace these with pronouns to avoid repetition in our writing.

Words, phrases and clauses filling sentence element positions

When we looked at sentence/clause elements, we saw that these could be placed in certain positions or slots to create a sentence.  Sometimes these slots will be filled by one word, often by phrases.

        S (subject slot)         V (verb slot)       O (object slot)           A (adverbial slot)

              Merlin                    followed                 Arthur                        carefully.

The wrinkled, old wizard  was following    the crown prince          into the forest.

In the first sentence, each sentence element slot is filled by one word; in the second sentence, each slot is filled by a phrase.  We can define a phrase as a group of words, working together to fill a sentence element slot.

The above two sentences are simple, or single clause, constructions.  A single clause contains a minimum of a subject and verb, but can be quite a long structure with object and adverbial positions also filled.  It will only have one verb slot filled.

SV                Merlin shouted

SVO             Arthur raised Excalibur.

ASVOA          At that moment, Arthur raised Excalibur above his head.

AASVOA       That evening, cautiously, Merlin followed Arthur into the forest.

However sometimes a sentence element slot is filled by another clause, which contains its own verb:

SVO             Arthur, who was heir to the throne, welcomed the visitors.

The subject position in this sentence is filled by another clause, containing its own verb. 

Sentences usually contain a mix of words, phrases and clauses filling the sentence element slots. These terms occur in many of the different areas of grammar and we will revisit them often in relevant posts.

Sentence elements: the basic building blocks of sentences

To build a sentence, we need the basic building blocks of grammar and we need to put them in the correct order.  These basic building blocks are often called the sentence or clause elements:

• S – subject   (This position or slot in a sentence is usually filled by a noun or noun phrase.)
• V – verb  (This position or slot in a sentence is filled by a verb or verb phrase.)
• O – object   (This position or slot in a sentence is usually filled by a noun or noun phrase.)
• A – adverbial  (This position or slot in a sentence is usually filled by an adverb or adverbial phrase, often giving information about where, when or how the verb in the sentence takes place.  As a very flexible sentence element, adverbials can be added in various positions in these constructions.)
• C – complement  (In primary education, this is not required terminology.  Children will often use adjectives or nouns/noun phrases in the complement position.  For information beyond the curriculum, click here.)

Examples of how these elements can be used in sentence constructions are:

SV                The sword vanished.

SVO             The sword cut the tree.

SVC             The sword was heavy. 

ASVO           With one strike, the sword cut the tree.

SVA              The sword lay on the ground.

ASVOA          At that moment, the knight raised the sword above his head.

For more information about words, phrases and clauses which can fill these sentence element positions or slots, click here.

Thoughts about English grammar

The grammar of a language is really just the patterns (or order) of words, phrases and clauses that can be used to make sense.  If we use the correct order, we can be understood; if not, we will find it hard to communicate.  Children pick this up at a very early age.  They hear speech and start to make sense of the structure of our language long before they learn to read and write.  As soon as your child starts to understand you when you speak and starts to use words in order to communicate with you, they are using the rules of English grammar.   Of course, they don’t understand that they are using rules; they are just picking up the patterns in the language subconsciously and are rewarded in this learning by the communication with others that it enables.

We often think of English as having a subject (S), verb (V), object (O) word order.  (Subjects, verbs and objects are not the only sentence elements, but we will consider the others later.)  The subject in this structure is the main person, object or place we are considering: who or what the sentence is about.  The verb is the action or state of being/having in the sentence.  Not all sentences have objects but, where they do, this is the person, object or place affected by the verb.  Let's look at some examples.

The boy kicked the ball.      The dog chased the cat.       Dad had a cold.

Young children usually start to focus on the subject: they are concerned with communicating to you what they are talking about.  They may point at something and say the word, e.g. teddy, car, doggie.

As their communication improves, they move on to subject and verb:

Baby cry

Mummy gone

Car crashed

In a short space of time, dependent on the amount of verbal stimulation they experience, their vocabulary and speaking patterns expand dramatically and their attempts to speak increasingly conform to the patterns of English grammar.  

However, when we speak, we don’t speak in sentences, but in a stream of words, phrases and clauses, often joined together with words such as and, but, then, so, etc.  We use the correct grammar or word order, but we certainly don’t punctuate.  Rather, we use body language, expression, tone and volume to help our listener understand us.  And of course, the context is usually shared, so we easily understand each other.  Most pre-school children are able to communicate very effectively, using the grammar patterns of our language. Then we send them to school. 

To read and write, children need to learn new skills in order to communicate.  They use the same English grammar, but need to learn the conventions of punctuation so that they can understand and communicate in a different way.  When reading, they can understand something without the author being present; when writing, they need to communicate to a distant audience.

When children start to write, they once again use basic patterns.   They may have more information in their heads about what they want to write, but focusing on all the technical aspects, e.g. handwriting, spelling, often interferes with the quality of the content. 

As they become more comfortable with the process of writing, we need to help them understand how they can extend sentences to provide additional detail and use punctuation to help their reader understand what they mean.  Using the correct grammatical terminology will help them to talk about parts of sentences and develop these to improve their writing.