If you've ever watched an episode of Sesame Street, you've probably seen Cookie Monster exclaim, "Me want cookies!" While Cookie Monster may be great gobbling up plates of cookies, one thing he's not good at is making sure his pronouns are in the proper case!

Before we talk about pronoun case, let's take a moment to review:

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun. Words like I, she, he, it, me, her, him, they, them, who, etc.

There are two main types of pronouns:

Subject Pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, they) replace the subject of a sentence.

Object Pronouns (me, you, him, her, it, us, them) replace the object of a sentence.

Let's look at this sentence:

Josh learned about the pilgrims.

Josh is the subject of the sentence.

The pilgrims is the object of the sentence.

Now let's say I want to replace Josh , the subject of the sentence, with a pronoun.

I would look at my list of pronouns:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

Since I know Josh is a boy, I know I have to use the pronouns that relate to a boy.

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

That leaves he and him. Since I know Josh is the subject of the sentence, I will replace Josh with a subject pronoun.

He learned about the pilgrims.

Now let's say I want to replace the pilgrims , the object of the sentence, with a pronoun.

I would look at my list of pronouns:

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

Since I know the pilgrims are two people, I know I have to use the pronouns that relate to two or more people not including myself.

I, you, he, she, it, we, they, me, him, her, us, them

That leaves they and them. Since I know the pilgrims are the object of the sentence, I will replace the pilgrims with an object pronoun.

Josh learned about them.

Now what about the case of Cookie Monster? When he says, "Me want cookies!" he is using an object pronoun when he should be using a subject pronoun. He should exclaim, "I want cookies!" instead.

Think you've got a handle on pronoun case? See how well you can do on the quiz!