Transcript[]
Text reads: The Mysteries of Life with Tim & Moby.
Tim, a man, and Moby, a robot, appear on-screen. Tim is sitting at a table, writing on a piece of paper. Moby is in the background reading a magazine.
TIM: Moby and me went to the store . . . Moby and I went to the store . . . Hey, would you say "Moby and me went to the store" or "Moby and I went to the store"?
MOBY: Beep. Beep. Beep.
TIM: That wasn't even an option.
A letter appears on-screen, which Tim reads.
TIM: Dear Tim & Moby, What are personal pronouns? From Tara.
Tim and Moby appear on-screen standing next to each other.
TIM: A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun or another pronoun. Personal pronouns refer to people or things.
The previous two sentences appear above Moby and Tim. “He” and then “Moby” are highlighted.
TIM: For example, Meet Moby. He is my best friend. The word “he” is a pronoun that refers back to “Moby” and replaces it in the second sentence.
The previous two sentences appear. The words “Moby” and “He” are highlighted.
TIM: We could just use Moby's name twice, but sometimes that sounds weird. The word that a pronoun refers to is called its antecedent.
Tim appears on-screen.
TIM: Personal pronouns have to agree with their antecedent in gender, number, and case. I couldn’t say "She is my best friend"; that wouldn’t make sense.
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Right, 'cause you're a boy robot, I think. Pronouns also have to agree with their antecedent in number. There's only one Moby, so I use the singular pronoun "he."
A drawing of Moby appears on-screen next to “He is my best friend” with “He” highlighted. A drawing of both Tim and Moby appears next to “We are best friends” with “We” highlighted.
TIM: If I wanted to go all plural, I could use a plural pronoun and say, "We are best friends."
Tim and Moby appear back on-screen.
TIM: While we're on the subject of numbers, let's talk about that question I had earlier. Which is correct—"Moby and me went to the store" or "Moby and I went to the store"? Now there's a trick to this.
Moby and Tim appear standing in front of a store. Both sentences appear on-screen.
TIM: If you're trying to figure out whether to use "I" or "me" when you're talking about yourself in conjunction with someone else, just try taking the other person out. Now you wouldn't say "Me went to the store." "I went to the store" is correct. So "Moby and I went to the store."
Tim and Moby appear back on-screen in the original setting.
TIM: Finally, the pronoun and its antecedent have to agree in something called case.
Each example of case appears on-screen with the pronouns “he”, “him,” and “his” highlighted.
TIM: There are three cases—subject, object, and possessive. Subject case is when the pronoun is the subject, like "He is my best friend." Object case is when the pronoun is not the subject, but the object, like "I have known him for a long time." And possessive case is when the pronoun tells you that something belongs to the antecedent, as in "I am his best friend."
MOBY: Beep. Beep. Beep.
Tim and Moby appear back on-screen.
TIM: Aren't I . . . aren't I your best friend?
MOBY: Beep.
TIM: Well, don't think too hard!