English Language · Lesson 9

Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions & articles

JAMBWAECNECO

What the syllabus asks

JAMB: sentence structure: pronouns (case, reflexive, relative), prepositions (including phrasal and fixed prepositions), conjunctions (coordinating, subordinating, correlative), articles and determiners

WAEC: Lexis and Structure (sentence completion), Paper 2 accuracy of expression

NECO: Lexis and Structure (sentence completion), Paper 2 accuracy of expression

What you will learn

Choose the correct case of pronouns, including in compound subjects and objects and after "than" and "as".
Use who/whom/whose/which/that correctly.
Use reflexive, emphatic and reciprocal pronouns correctly.
Select fixed prepositions after common verbs, adjectives and nouns.
Use coordinating, subordinating and correlative conjunctions correctly and in parallel form.
Use a, an and the, and determiners with countable and uncountable nouns.
Detect and correct common Nigerian English errors tested in JAMB and WAEC.

Key points

Subject case (I, he, she, we, they, who) for subjects and after "be" in formal English; object case (me, him, her, us, them, whom) after verbs and all prepositions.
Test compound pronouns by removing the other person: "between you and me", "Kemi and I".
After "than/as", complete the hidden clause to choose the case.
who = he, whom = him; whose for possession; which for things; that only in defining clauses.
Reflexives need an antecedent; "theirselves/hisself" do not exist; each other (two), one another (more).
at (time point/place point), on (day/surface), in (month, year, enclosed area); since a point, for a period.
Learn fixed prepositions: congratulate on, married to, different from, prefer to, comply with; discuss/request/comprise take none.
Do not double conjunctions (although … but); no sooner … than; hardly … when; unless = if not.
Correlatives must be complete and parallel; with either/neither the verb agrees with the nearer subject.
a/an by sound (an hour, a university); information, advice, furniture, equipment, luggage are uncountable.

Start here: Personal pronouns and case

Pronouns save us from repeating nouns. Instead of "Chidi said Chidi would bring Chidi's book", we say "Chidi said he would bring his book". But English pronouns change form according to their job in the sentence. This is called case, and it is one of JAMB's favourite traps.

Subjective (doer)	Objective (receiver)	Possessive adjective	Possessive pronoun	Reflexive
I	me	my	mine	myself
you	you	your	yours	yourself/yourselves
he	him	his	his	himself
she	her	her	hers	herself
it	it	its	its	itself
we	us	our	ours	ourselves
they	them	their	theirs	themselves
who	whom	whose	whose	—

Rule 1: the subject of a verb takes the subjective case: "She sings." "We students are tired."

Rule 2: the object of a verb or of any preposition takes the objective case: "The teacher praised him." "Share it among us." "This is for her."

Worked example 9.1

Choose: "The principal asked Emeka and (I / me) to see him."

Remove the other person: "The principal asked ___ to see him."
You would say "asked me", because the pronoun is the object of "asked".

Worked example 9.2

Choose: "(Us / We) prefects must set a good example."

Remove "prefects": "___ must set a good example."
"We must" — subject of "must set".

⚠️ Common mistake: "it's" (= it is) vs "its" (possessive). "The dog wagged its tail." Possessive pronouns never take an apostrophe: hers, ours, yours, theirs, its.

Try it yourself. Correct: "The money was shared between Musa and I."

Show solution

"between Musa and me" — "between" is a preposition, so the object case is needed.

Continue this lesson in the free app →

Practice questions

1. The meeting was called ___ because of the rain.

Show answer

A: off
Call off = cancel.

2. She takes ___ her mother; they look alike.

over
up
in
after

Show answer

D: after
Take after = resemble a parent.

3. The pupils were warned to desist ___ noise-making.

to
about
from
of

Show answer

C: from
Desist from.

4. The governor was accused ___ embezzlement.

about
of
for
with

Show answer

B: of
Accused of (but "charged with").

5. Our team was able to make ___ for the lost time.

up
out
off
over

Show answer

A: up
Make up for = compensate.

Key words

Pronoun: A word used in place of a noun, e.g. she, it, them.
Antecedent: The noun a pronoun refers back to.
Case: The form of a pronoun showing its job: subjective (I), objective (me), possessive (my/mine).
Reflexive pronoun: Pronoun ending in -self/-selves referring back to the subject.
Emphatic pronoun: A -self pronoun used for emphasis: "She herself did it."
Relative pronoun: Who, whom, whose, which, that, introducing a relative clause.
Reciprocal pronoun: Each other (two), one another (more than two).
Preposition: A word showing the relation of a noun or pronoun to another word (in, on, at, by).
Phrasal verb: Verb + particle with a special meaning: put off, give up.
Conjunction: A word joining words, phrases or clauses.
Correlative conjunction: A pair of conjunctions used together: either…or.
Article: A, an (indefinite) or the (definite).

Learn Pronouns, prepositions, conjunctions & articles step by step, free.
The Cara's Tips app teaches every topic from the very basics, with quick checks, worked examples and exam practice. It works offline.
Open this lesson in the free app Download for Android