Maxim Book 8 Inner Page_Sunil_2075_Final for press

5Pronouns Read the story and underline the pronouns. The Three Special Boys One moonlit night, the poor old man, who had no child, saw a shooting star. He knew you should make a wish when you see a shooting star. “I wish I could have three boys. As long as I have them, they will be my favourite,” said the old man. The next day when the old man awoke, he found three boys on his lap. They were sleeping. He didn’t wake them up and went out to find some food. When he got back, his three boys were starting to wake up. A couple moments later, his three boys woke up and one of them said, “Where on earth are we?” Then the other one said, “I think we’re on earth.” Next, the smartest of the three spoke up, “We are on earth, but shouldn’t you be worrying that you don’t have a name yet?” “You’re right. How could I have forgotten that?” said the old man. So he named the first boy Bill, the second boy Edward, and the third boy Adam. 18 years later, Bill, Edward and Adam were in college. They worked hard themselves. They were about to get their jobs, but the old man was still poor. He was waiting patiently until the day his three boys would get their jobs. He remembered when his three boys were young, they had told him the jobs that they had wanted. Bill wanted to be an accountant, the person who puts money in an account. Edward wanted to be a cop, the person who walks around with all that police equipment. Adam wanted to be a scientist, the weird person who plays with chemicals. Finally, the day had come for Bill, Edward and Adam to get their jobs. They got the same jobs they wished for. The money from those jobs made the poor old man turn into a rich old man. Bill, Edward, Adam and the old man lived happily ever after. They loved one another. In the above text, the words like ‘he, I, you, themselves, their, his, who, when, where, one another, etc’ are pronouns. • Pronouns are words used in place of nouns. They give us variety in how we communicate by replacing nouns. • Pronouns have the same functions as nouns. They may act as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. Riya gave Milan a book. She gave him a book. noun (subject) noun (object) She gave a book to me. I have taught them English. pronoun (subject) pronoun (object) prepositional object direct object 76Maxim of English Grammar and Composition Book Eight