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All about me, or is it I? Beware the wild pronoun!

by Gwynneth T. Heaton

137 pages; quality trade paperback (softcover); contains black and white illustrations; catalogue #06-2518; ISBN 1-4251-0760-5; US$18.26, C$21.00, EUR15.00, £10.50

Funny yet comprehensive reference book! At a conference, pronouns argue about and determine their correct roles in sentences. Examples and exercises, with answers, help readers to use pronouns correctly.

About the Book

Readers of this book will capture many wild pronouns, and never start a sentence with me again. All weapons are used to tame our beastly pronouns, to sort out the differences between me and I, and to help everyone to use pronouns correctly.

The pronouns are holding a conference to determine their places in the English language. Me is tired of being an object and although he fights to be allowed to serve as a subject, the conference firmly puts him into his objective place. Mine is so busy with her possessions she has trouble getting to the podium to speak. You is flamboyant and a braggart.

Throughout the book, serious explanations about the pronouns are mixed with humorous discussions amongst the pronouns themselves. Numerous examples provide both correct and incorrect pronoun placement, while exercises (with answers at the back) help readers to put pronouns into their writing.

Serving as a comprehensive reference book, All About Me, Or Is It I? will help anyone who wants to speak or write good English, and who finds pronouns confusing. It can be used as a teaching aid, a reference book, and for intense individual study. Teachers, media staff, parents, writers, speakers, advanced ESL learners, and anyone aged 13 and above will enjoy teaching or learning from this book.

The author, a Canadian academic librarian, has spent most of her life in scholarly libraries and has written extensively in her field.

Reviews

"Pronouns are tricky things, and they seem to be tricking more people than ever these days. Gwynneth T. Heaton agrees and has brought us a wonderfully worthwhile book called All about me, or is it I? Beware the wild pronoun! ... Who is this book for? Everyone is the obvious answer. The book is complete, it is authoritative - the author has a strong background in library science and a profound interest in grammar - and will help all of us over the age of 13 to improve our English. It is a teaching book, a workbook with practical exercises (answers included), and a reference work. In my humble opinion, it is a prize."

Haliburton Echo
July 10, 2007

"Mix one part librarian with one part artist and behold a book that makes grammar fun ...Gwynneth T. Heaton has created a reference book about pronouns. A pet peeve with grammatically incorrect phrases such as "Her and a buddy are going somewhere" inspired Heaton to set the record straight. The book ... is a teaching tool for people 13 and older ...She spiced up a drier draft of the book by personifying pronouns like "Himself" and "me". In some spots, overused pronouns lament their new found popularity, "I'm being kept a whole lot busier than I was some years ago," says the character Myself ... Heaton drew playful cartoons of cats, camels and lions that she sprinkles on each page. The drawings give the impression that another person has already gone through the book and lovingly decorated it with animals."

Peterborough Examiner
July 24, 2007

"a wonderfully worthwhile book ...The book is comprehensive, in that it takes in every aspect of pronoun use and abuse. And Ms Heaton has attempted to make it more palatable, even amusing, by creating a conference in which the various pronouns take part and explain their use ...The best aspect of the book are the chunks of examples for each and every pronoun situation the author is trying to teach. She has given them to us by the bucket - and that's good. By the time I'd worked through a set of examples, I had a good grip on what was right and what was wrong in the particular pronoun situation ... And then I was ready to go on to the exercises.

"The book also provides helpful ways to test whether what you are about to say or write is correct ...Ms Heaton is good at showing us the way around correct but odd-sounding usage. For example, in this: "I'm hungry" "Me too". The "Me" is incorrect. "I" is the correct pronoun but "I too" sounds a little pompous. So the author suggests the simple change, "I am too", or "So am I".

Welland Tribune
August 5, 2007

"It will be a very useful addition to our resources."

Linda Goldspink
Head of the English Department at Havergal College
Toronto, ON, Canada.

"The book looks like a wonderful tool for both students and teachers, and many of the exercises would be useful for my ESL class ... The use of both correct and incorrect examples is very helpful for students. This would be a very useful book to have as a teacher resource for the English department or in our library."

Anna Booth
English Dept./ESL Liaison, Bishop Strachan School
Toronto, ON, Canada.

"University of Toronto's Gwynneth Heaton has written a very helpful book. This should be on the book shelves of all those teaching English or studying English as a second language."

Iris R. Ward
From the March, 2007, issue of Hi-Rise

"Me and her saw them laughing. Her and him love to be bicycling." If you think these sentences look or sound right, then you need to buy this book. The author, an academic librarian and pronoun police person, writes, "You never start a sentence with me, her, him, us, or them... these pronouns cannot be used as subjects." This reference book helps readers win the battle between the me and I pronouns and offers humourous discussions on using each pronoun properly. The exercises - with answers in the back - will help you earn an a-plus!

In Good Times, June, 2007 p. 93

"While the teaching of grammar as a separate disciple tends to be out of favour these days, I feel that there is a place for it. In correcting student writing, no English teacher can avoid commenting on the basics of case, number, person and gender when dealing with student errors in the rules of syntax that govern our language. These basics are most easily taught in conjunction with the personal pronoun, and you cover them so well in your useful reference guide.

Thanks for the useful teacher guide."

David Reid, Curriculum Leader
Dept. of English
Earl Haig Secondary School, Toronto

"I ... passed it on to an excellent teacher of English in the Junior and Intermediate divisions. We agree that your book is succinct and informative. It is playful and entertaining in its approach to and handling of the teaching of pronouns. Many parts of this book can be used in the classroom as the needs arise. It is a great instructional tool."

Annamaria DeNicolais
Teacher/Librarian
St. Margaret School, Toronto

About the Author

Gwynneth Heaton, a Canadian born in Toronto, attended the University of Toronto for a BA in history, and a BLS and MLS in library science. She had a varied career in the USA and Canada including the following libraries: the Library of the Canadian Institute for International Affairs in Toronto; Santa Clara County Public Library in San Jose, California; Jackson Library of Business at Stanford University, California; the library of the State University of New York at Binghamton; and the Libraries at the University of Toronto where she directed the Science and Medicine Library, served as Campus Libraries Coordinator, and as Director of Library Outreach. She sat on the University of Toronto Governing Council and on numerous faculty councils and committees.

She has published many articles in the field of librarianship, and some poetry. Her firm grounding in English grammar began at Bishop Strachan School and her interest in grammar continues. Painting in both water-colours and acrylics, she has had paintings in juried shows in Toronto. She painted the cover and the illustrations for this book using artist pencils and India ink.

Excerpts