Identify the subject and object of the sentence. The subject of a sentence is the word that initiates or causes an action. The object of a sentence is the word that the subject acts upon or that receives the action. For example: "Bob drove his car." "Bob" is the subject. His "car" is the object.
Know your pronouns. Pronouns used as the subject of a sentence are "I," "you," "he," "she," "it," "we," "they" and "who." Pronouns used as the object of a sentence are "me," "you," "her," "him," "it," "us," "them" and "whom."
Insert a pronoun in place of the subject of a sentence. "Bob drove his car" becomes "He drove his car."
Add a pronoun in place of the object of a sentence. "Bob drove his car" becomes "Bob drove it." Also, use pronouns in place of both subject and object: "He drove it."
Use the technique of substitution to identify pronouns used inconsistently in the subject or object of a sentence. For example: "Steve and her went to the mall" is incorrect. Remove the proper noun "Steve" and the conjunction "and." The sentence now reads: "Her went to the mall." The correct sentence would be: "Steve and she went to the mall."
Identify the antecedent of a pronoun in sentences. Antecedents are words preceding a pronoun in a sentence to which the pronoun refers. For example: "The basketball team practiced with their coach." "Their" is the pronoun. The antecedent is "the basketball team."
Understand how indefinite pronouns are used as antecedents in sentences. Singular indefinite pronouns are: "another," "anybody, "anyone," "anything," "each," "either," "everybody," "everyone," "everything," "little," "much," "neither," "nobody," "no one," "nothing," "one," "other," "somebody," "someone" and "something."
Look for plural pronouns referring to singular indefinite pronoun antecedents. For example: "Everyone in the orchestra put their instrument down" is incorrect. "Their" is a plural pronoun. Replace "their" with "his or her." The corrected sentence will read: "Everyone in the orchestra put his or her instrument down."
Determine whether the subject and object of the sentence is singular or plural. For example: "Surfers need to pick their wave" is incorrect. "Their" is a plural pronoun. "Surfers" is a plural noun. Change the object of the sentence from singular to plural: "Surfers need to pick their waves."
Possessive pronouns refer to something that belongs to someone. Some possessive pronouns are used alone and do not modify a noun, while others are only used to modify a noun. For example, "The new puppy is hers, not mine" uses two possessive pronouns alone. Change the sentence to use both types of possessive pronoun correctly: "Her new puppy isn't mine, it's hers."
Identify possessive pronouns that are used alone in a sentence. These pronouns include "mine," "yours," "his," "hers," "ours," "theirs" and "whose." For example: "Those shoes are my and hers" is incorrect. Replace "my" with "mine."
Determine if the possessive pronoun is modifying a noun in a sentence even if it is separated by a conjunction. These pronouns include: "my," "your," "his," "her," "its," "our," "their" and "whose." For example: "Hers and my favorite pizza is pepperoni" is incorrect. Replace "hers" with "her."