Subject Pronouns

Daniela Diana

Professora licenciada em Letras

Na gramática inglesa, os subject pronouns são os pronomes que indicam o sujeito da ação verbal.

Representam um tipo de pronome pessoal e no português são chamados de pronomes pessoais do caso reto.

Regras

Os subject pronouns têm como função substituir os nomes próprios, ou mesmo, os substantivos.

Geralmente, são empregados no início das frases e sempre aparecem antes de verbos. Eles são utilizados no singular (I, you, he she, it) e no plural (we, you, they).

Diferente do português, que somente apresentam os gêneros masculino e feminino, eles possuem três gêneros: masculino, feminino e neutro.

Note que o gênero neutro é utilizado para fazer referência a lugares, animais, objetos, sentimentos, ideias, etc.

Exemplos:

• I read a new romance this week. (Eu li um romance novo esta semana.)
• You spend much time watching television. (Você passa muito tempo assistindo televisão.)
• He bought a new car last week. (Ele comprou um carro novo na semana passada.)
• She loves hanging out with her friends. (Ela adora sair com seus amigos.)
• It is a very beautiful house. (É uma casa muito bonita)
• We go to the beach after lunch. (Nós vamos para a praia depois do almoço.)
• You love to travel by train. (Vocês adoram viajar de trem.)
• They forgot the phone at home (Eles esqueceram o telefone em casa.)

Subject Pronouns x Object Pronouns

Tanto os subject quando os object pronouns são pronomes pessoais em inglês. No entanto, eles possuem diferenças:

• Subject pronouns (pronomes do sujeito): sujeitos que praticam a ação. No português, são os pronomes pessoais do caso reto.
• Object pronouns (pronomes objetos): sujeitos que recebem a ação. No português, são os pronomes pessoais do caso oblíquo.

Além disso, eles se diferenciam pela posição que ocupam numa frase. Isso porque os subject pronouns geralmente aparecem no início da sentença, enquanto os object pronous, no meio ou no final.

Exemplo:

I love my parents. (Eu amo meus pais)
I love them. (Eu amo eles)

Pay Attention!

Importante notar que o you e o it podem ser usados tanto como subject pronouns quanto object pronouns. Portanto, a diferença entre eles é somente percebida pela posição que ocupam na frase.

Exemplos:

• Subject pronouns: Did you see the presentation yesterday? (Você viu a apresentação ontem?)
• Object pronouns: I gave you a new shoe. (Eu lhe dei um novo sapato.)

Exercises

1. (UNIOESTE PR/2015)

Seven portions of fruit and vegetables are better for you

For many years, the nutrition message has been “five a day” – the recommendation that five portions of fruit and vegetables are enough to keep disease at bay and help us to live longer. That advice has been revised upwards. A new study suggests that people who get seven or more portions a day are healthier. Researchers from University College London studied the dietary habits of 65,000 adults over a seven-year period. They concluded that: “A robust inverse association exists between fruit and vegetable consumption and mortality, with benefits seen in up to 7-plus portions daily.” In other words, if you eat more fruit and vegetables, chances are you live longer.

The researchers put people into five different groups, depending on how much fruit and veg they ate. They found that those who ate seven or more portions a day had a 42 percent lower risk of death than those who ate just one portion. They recommended that schools serve healthier meals and that supermarkets put more emphasis on prominently displaying cheaper produce. They warned that frozen and canned fruit was linked to higher mortality rates. Some experts say the findings of the study should be taken with a pinch of salt. One dietician said the findings ignored the fact that people who eat more fruit and veg are generally wealthier and thus lead lifestyles that will help them live longer anyway.

Adapted from: http://www.breakingnewsenglish.com/1404/140403-fruit-and-vegetables.html

Na frase “They found that those who ate seven or more portions a day…”, o pronome “they” refere-se a:

a) pesquisadores.
b) diferentes grupos.
c) frutas.
d) pessoas.
e) vegetais.

2. (UNITAU SP/2015)

Why National Geographic is a Family Affair

When Gilbert M. Grosvenor retired from the board of trustees of the National Geographic Society on June 21, 2014 – 60 years to the day after he started working here – he left an organization built by five generations of his family. (His daughter, obstetrician Alexandra Grosvenor Eller, continues the tradition: She was elected to the National Geographic board in 2009.)

As the editor in chief of the magazine, president of the Society, and then chairman of the board, Grosvenor has helped broaden National geographic’s reach through chidren’s publications, local-language editions of the magazine and books, television, and geography education.

You should premed at Yale. What made you change course and come to work at the National Geographic Society?

Between my junior and senior years I went to the Netherlands on a summer program to rebuild dikes washed out by the great flood of 1953. I photographed and co-authored a story that was published in the magazine. Although I’m not sure I realized it at the time, it changed my life. I discovered the power of journalism. And that’s what we are all about – recording those chronicles of planet Earth.

Your geography education foundation essentially restored the study of geography to the American classroom. Why is geography so important?

Geography is an essential part of STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathemaics] education. We need to do better with that. To understand environmental issues and the dynamics of Earth you have to understand geography. Why is it that a botlle released off the coast of Florida ends up in Ireland? That’s the Gulf Stream at work. What about global warming, the dramatic shift north of flora and fauna, and the fact that Canada will become the breadbasket of North America? Patterns of immigration are also all about geography.

Your advice to successors?

Always do what we do best, not what others do.

Adapted from National Geographic, march 2015 (printed edition).

Os pronomes pessoais I e WE, destacados no texto, referem-se, respectivamente, a(o)

a) editor da National Geographic e a sua filha.
b) atual presidente da National Geographic Society e à equipe da National Geographic.
c) atual presidente da National Geographic Society e a cinco gerações de sua família.
d) último presidente da National Geographic Society e à equipe da National Geographic.
e) último presidente da National Geographic Society e a cinco gerações de sua família.

3. (UNESP SP/2006)

Knee repair

New ways of fixing the most troublesome joint

By Daren Briscoe.

Knees are the bane of all athletes, but they’re particularly nettlesome to aging amateurs, whose joints have endured years of pounding. Fortunately, some of the technology inspired by doctors who treat professional athletes is trickling down to weekend warriors. Scientists are working on a number of strategies to coax the body’s healing powers to hasten the repair of damaged knee cartilage.

The knee is particularly tricky because it gets such little blood from the circulatory system, so it’s slow to heal. A technique called microfracture surgery is designed to draw blood to the injury. It involves making tiny holes in the bone on either side of the knee socket so that blood from inside the bone can seep up and nourish torn cartilage, supplying it with stem cells needed to repair. Doctors have been refining the technique for the past decade or so, and it’s now achieving its mainstream. The problem is that it’s difficult to control exactly where cartilage is replaced. With a new technique, called chondrocyte-transplant therapy, doctors avoid this problem by removing cartilage cells from the knee, growing them in a culture and transplanting the new tissue directly in the knee. This procedure, though, calls for opening up the knee twice, which is costly and makes for a long recovery. […]

Os pronomes pessoais it, em negrito no segundo parágrafo do texto, referem-se respectivamente a

a) sangue, técnica e buracos.
b) sangue, cirurgia e buracos.
c) joelho, machucado e célula.
d) joelho, técnica e cartilagem.
e) sistema circulatório, técnica e cartilagem.

Leia também:

• Pronomes em Inglês
• Pronomes Pessoais em Inglês
• Who e Whom
• Which e what
• Adjetivos em inglês (adjectives)
• Present Perfect (exercícios com gabarito comentado)

Daniela Diana

Licenciada em Letras pela Universidade Estadual Paulista (Unesp) em 2008 e Bacharelada em Produção Cultural pela Universidade Federal Fluminense (UFF) em 2014. Amante das letras, artes e culturas, desde 2012 trabalha com produção e gestão de conteúdos on-line.