Nouns and Pronouns

Pronouns

 A pronoun is defined as a word that may be substituted for a noun. Pronouns make up a small subcategory of nouns. The distinguishing characteristic of pronouns is that they can be substituted for other nouns.

A pronoun is a word that replaces a noun in a sentence. Pronouns are used so that our language is not cumbersome with the same nouns being repeated over and over in a paragraph.

Types of Pronouns

Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:

• Indefinite pronouns– those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or places
• Personal pronouns– those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number
• Reflexive pronouns– those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves
• Demonstrative pronouns– those used to point to something specific within a sentence
• Possessive pronouns– those designating possession or ownership
• Relative pronouns– those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to introduce an adjective (relative) clause
• Interrogative pronouns– those which introduce a question
• Reciprocal pronouns– those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one another
• Intensive pronouns– those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize their antecedents

Pronoun Rules

There are a few important rules for using pronouns. As you read through these rules and the examples in the next section, notice how the pronoun rules are followed. Soon you’ll see that pronouns are easy to work with.

• Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences. For example: We did a great job.
• Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject. For example: It was she who decided we should go to Hawaii.
• Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their own. For example: No one likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
• Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us, them, and it. For example: David talked to her about the mistake.
• Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes. For example The cat washed its whiskers.

A pronoun is used in place of a noun that has already been mentioned or that is already known, often to avoid repeating the noun. For example, Kate was tired so she went to bed.

Michael took the children with him.

Kieran’s face was close to mine.

That is a good idea.

Anything might happen. 

Noun

A noun is a word that names something: either a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.

 A noun is a word that identifies a person (name), animal, place, thing, or idea.

There are several different types of noun, as follows:

Common noun

Proper noun

Concrete noun

Abstract noun

Collective noun

Common noun

A common noun is a noun that refers to people or things in general, e.g. boy, country, bridge, city, birth, day, happiness.

Proper noun

A proper noun is a name that identifies a particular person, place, or thing, e.g. Steven, Africa, London, Monday. In written English, proper nouns begin with capital letters.

Concrete noun

A concrete noun is a noun which refers to people and to things that exist physically and can be seen, touched, smelled, heard or tasted. Examples include dog, building, coffee, tree, rain, beach, tune.

Abstract noun

An abstract noun is a noun which refers to ideas, qualities, and conditions - things that cannot be seen or touched and things which have no physical reality, e.g. truth, danger, happiness, time, friendship, humor.

Collective nouns

Collective nouns refer to groups of people or things, e.g. audience, family, government, team, jury. In American English, most collective nouns are treated as singular, with a singular verb:

The whole family was at the table.

In British English, the preceding sentence would be correct, but it would also be correct to treat the collective noun as a plural, with a plural verb:

 A noun may belong to more than one category. For example, happiness is both a common noun and an abstract noun, while Mount Everest is both a concrete noun and a proper noun. 

Recap

• A pronoun is defined as a word that may be substituted for a noun. Pronouns make up a small subcategory of nouns
• Pronouns include I, me, mine, myself, she, her, hers, herself, we, us, our and ourselves.

• Types of Pronouns

• Indefinite pronouns
• Personal pronouns
• Reflexive pronouns
• Demonstrative pronouns
• Possessive pronouns
• Relative pronouns
• Interrogative pronouns
• Reciprocal pronouns
• Intensive pronouns
• A noun is a word that names something: either a person, place, or thing. In a sentence, nouns can play the role of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject complement, object complement, appositive, or adjective.

• Types of a noun:

   Common noun

   Proper noun

   Concrete noun

   Abstract noun

   Collective nouns