Lesson video

Hi everyone, and welcome to today's lesson.

My name is Miss Smith.

In our lesson today, we are going to be exploring our use of pronouns.

So when you're ready and you have everything you need, let's get started.

Today, we'll begin by looking at word classification, classifying the types of words in sentences, before we zoom in and look at identifying pronouns.

Finally, you're going to practise using pronouns in your own writing.

And so, in the lesson, you will need something to write on and something to write with.

And make sure your brain is switched on and that you're able to focus in the space that you are working today.

If you need to go and collect anything for the lesson, pause now and do it now.

So to start our lesson, we are going to match the word class on the left-hand side with the definition that's correct from the right.

So let's just read through the word classes that we've got.

You can see adjective, noun, verb, adverb, and preposition.

And you should choose from the definitions on the right which word class matches which definition.

And I'll read the definitions to you.

We've got a PPT: a person, place, or thing; describes a noun, it tells you what it's like; used before the noun and gives extra information; a doing or a being word; and describes a verb.

So pause the screen and match the word class with the correct definition.

Okay, hopefully, you've matched each word class to the definition.

Let's have a look, shall we? And if any of these were different on your page, you should just correct them as we go through them.

So an adjective, then, describes a noun.

It tells you what it's like.

A noun is a PPT; a person, place, or thing.

A verb is a doing or a being word.

An adverb describes a verb.

A preposition, used before the noun and gives extra information.

Great job.

Pronouns are used to avoid repeating nouns in a sentence or a piece of writing.

Can you just have a pause and think? What do you already know about pronouns? Can you think of any pronouns? So if we think of Lyra, our main character, and you can see her in our image on the right.

A pronoun that we would use in our writing to avoid repeating the noun Lyra, Lyra, over and again would be she.

She is a pronoun that we can replace our noun with.

Lyra and her demon, Pan, might be replaced with the pronoun they.

So they would replace Lyra and Pan, a pair of nouns who are going to appear a lot in our writing together.

So she and they are our pronouns.

Lyra and Pan studied the alethiometer.

They wondered what clues the device was trying to share.

Just pause and see if you can locate the pronoun in the sentence at the bottom of the screen.

That's right.

It's the beginning of the second sentence.

We're introduced our subjects, Lyra and Pan.

And, rather than repeating their names again, we can replace Lyra and Pan with the pronoun they to avoid repetition.

So let's look at the next sentence and see if we can identify the pronoun in the sentence.

It reads "As Lyra rested on the stacked crates, she was mesmerised by the alethiometer." Pause and see if you can locate the pronoun in the sentence.

Let's look.

There it is.

It's she.

As Lyra rested on the stacked crates, she was mesmerised by the alethiometer.

It avoids repeating Lyra.

Let's look at another example.

It reads "Mrs. Coulter could seem calm and unflappable, however in certain circumstances, she was easily angered." Pause and see if you can find the pronoun in this sentence.

Great job.

There it is again.

We've replaced Mrs. Coulter with the pronoun she.

We understand that Mrs. Coulter is our subject, so we can introduce she and the reader understands who we mean.

These pronouns are personal pronouns.

She to replace Lyra and to replace Mrs. Coulter are personal pronouns.

If they were male characters, we would replace them with the pronoun he, also a personal pronoun.

Let's just think, then, about possessive pronouns.

And these are used to show ownership.

So Lyra, we said we can use the pronouns hers and she.

And we've already talked about she.

Hers is our possessive pronoun.

How many different pronouns can you think of, both possessive and personal? How many different pronouns can you list? Can you pause and see how many you can write down now? Okay, let's do a little activity.

We're going to sort the pronouns on screen into those that are personal pronouns and those that indicate possession, that are possessive pronouns.

We've got ours, she, they, his, we, them, I, hers, mine, and it.

Can you sort those pronouns into the two bubbles on screen? You should pause and do that now.

There we go.

Can you check your circles? In your personal pronoun circle, did you have we, I, they, she, them, and it? In your possessive pronouns, we've got ours, hers, his, and mine all indicating possession.

These aren't all of the pronouns that exist.

There are lots of examples of pronouns that help us to avoid repetition in our writing.

So let's see if we can identify the possessive pronoun in the sentence, then.

Let's read the sentence.

It goes "Lyra rested on the stacked crates with Pan by her side.

Together they wondered what the alethiometer was trying to tell them." Can you identify the possessive pronoun in the sentence? Just pause and have a look now.

That's right.

It's in the first sentence, and it's her.

Lyra rested on the stacked crates with Pan by her side.

That's the possessive pronoun.

In the same sentence, there are personal pronouns as well.

I wonder if you can locate the personal pronouns.

Lyra rested on the stacked crates with Pan by her side.

Together they wondered what the alethiometer was trying to tell them.

Let's look.

In the second sentence, we have two personal pronouns: they and them.

Together they wondered what the alethiometer was trying to tell them.

So the important takeaway in today's lesson is that pronouns really help us to avoid repetition in our writing.

And so, we're going to use pronouns to improve this writing and avoid repetition.

Let's read the writing now, and you might read along with me at home.

With a slow step, a dishevelled man approached Lyra and Pan.

The man had a distinctive accent and the man began a conversation with Lyra about the alethiometer.

Pan and Lyra were wary at first, but then realised the man was trying to be helpful and had some useful advice for the quest.

Lyra listened attentively.

Your task today is to edit the paragraph that we've just read using pronouns to avoid repetition.

You might have noticed that I deliberately repeated nouns throughout this paragraph.

Can you edit and avoid the use of the same nouns and avoid repetition? Now, in editing with pronouns, you might also need to check through that the writing makes sense.

There might be other changes that you'll make as well as introducing pronouns that replace nouns.

So make sure you're reading through and checking your edits and that they make sense.

Pause and complete your task now.

Okay, so let's have a look through, and you might use another coloured pen to go through your edits as well as I go through my edits to this paragraph.

And I don't imagine they're exactly the same, but hopefully this is really helpful review of your learning today.

So how did I edit the paragraph and use pronouns to avoid repetition? Well, we have "With a slow step, a dishevelled man approached Lyra and Pan.

The man," so I want to avoid that repetition of the noun the man.

And I've used he, because I already introduced this dishevelled man.

He had a distinctive accent, and began a conversation with Lyra about the alethiometer.

I don't even need the noun that second time.

At the beginning of the next sentence, I've replaced Pan and Lyra with an alternative way of referring to them.

And I chose the two companions.

The two companions were wary at first, but then realised the man, he, realised he was trying to be helpful and had some useful advice for the quest.

Lyra listened attentively.

So simple edits make a huge difference to the overall flow of your writing.

A really important tool, pronouns, to remember to help you to avoid any repetition.

And sometimes, you only notice if you've gone back through and read your writing.

So congratulations! That's the end of the lesson today.

So we reviewed word classification and the definitions for key word classes before identifying pronouns, personal and possessive pronouns in sentences.

And you've used your knowledge of pronouns to edit and improve a short paragraph.

Well done.

You should feel really, really proud of your learning today.

Pronouns are a really excellent tool to remember in your writer's toolkit.

So remember when we're doing writing later this unit to use pronouns to avoid repetition.