• Many English learners’ native languages either don’t distinguish between masculine and feminine pronouns, or don’t use pronouns at all.

• Strangely, despite having eliminated sex from regular nouns, all 3^rd-person pronouns referring to people have sex.  It is extremely important to keep them in order, as mixing them up can cause great confusion.

In the following exercise, write in the correct pronoun.

My sister just turned 21 last week, and we threw a huge surprise party for (1)___.  I invited all of (2)___ friends, and all of our family from three states to come.  (3)___ knew I was planning something big, but I know she didn’t know what.  (4)___ boyfriend of two years was a huge help to me: (5)___ made sure that she never found out.  (6)___ help was immeasurable—my sister would surely have found out otherwise—(7)___ is very smart like that.  The party was a huge success: my sister loved seeing all (8)___ friends and family and (9)___ was so grateful to all of us; but since her boyfriend was so helpful, I’m really grateful to (10)___.

Answers:

1. Her
2. Her
3. She
4. Her
5. He
6. His
7. She
8. Her
9. She
10. Him

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