Direct and Indirect Object Pronouns

Pronouns are words that we use to replace nouns in sentences. The reason that we use them is to avoid unnecessary repetition. Take a look at the following conversation.

"Do you have the book?"
"No, I don't have the book."
"Do you know if Mary has the book?"
"No, I don't know if Mary has the book."

Doesn't that sound odd to you? The reason that it sounds so strange is that we aren't used to so much repetition in our sentences. In order to avoid that, we frequently use pronouns to replace nouns once we have made it clear what we are talking about.

Instead of repeating "the book" so many times, we would probably replace the phrase with the word "it". Read the following lines and see if it sounds better to you.

"Do you have the book?"
"No, I don't have it."

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