Parts of Speech Notes Nouns and Pronouns

Nouns A noun is the part of speech that names a person, place, thing, or idea. A concrete noun names something you can see, touch, taste, hear, or smell. Examples: person, cannon, road, city, music An abstract noun names something you cannot perceive through any of your five senses Examples: hope, improvement, independence, desperation, cooperation A collective noun names a group of people or things. Examples: army, choir, troop, crew, class, faculty A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words acting as a single unit. Examples: life preserver, coffee table, self-rule, daughter-in-law, battlefield, dreamland

Nouns A common noun names any one of a class of people, places, or things. Examples: building, writer, nation, month, leader, place, book, war A proper noun names a specific person, place or thing. Proper nouns are capitalized, but common nouns are not. Examples: Revolutionary War, White House, Mark Twain, France, June

Pronouns Pronouns are words that stand for nouns or for words that take the place of nouns. Antecedents of Pronouns- Pronouns get their meaning from the words they stand for. These words are called antecedents. Examples: The arrows point from pronouns to their antecedents. Michael said he lost his watch at the fair. Because of its carnival, Rottweil, Germany is my favorite city.

Personal Pronouns- Refer to the person speaking (1st person), the person spoken to (2nd person), or the person, place, or thing spoken about (3rd person). Singular Plural First Person I, me, my, mine We, us, our, ours Second Person You, your, yours Third Person He, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its They, them, their, theirs A reflexive pronoun ends in –self or –selves and indicates that someone or something in the sentence acts for or on itself. An intensive pronouns ends in –self or –selves and simply adds emphasis to a noun or pronoun in the sentence. Example: I mowed the lawn myself. Singular Plural First Person myself ourselves Second Person yourself yourselves Third Person Himself, herself, itself Themselves

The Reciprocal Pronouns each other and one another refer to a plural antecedent. They express a mutual action or relationship. Examples: The two dogs shook water all over each other. The class collected books from one another. A Demonstrative Pronoun directs attention to a specific person, place, or thing. A Reflexive Pronoun introduces an adjective clause, and connects it to the word that the clause modifies. SINGULAR PLURAL This, that These, those Reflexive Pronouns That Which Who Whom Whose

An interrogative pronoun is used to begin a question. Example: Who picked up the children? An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, or thing that may or may not be specifically named. Singular Plural Both Another Everyone Nothing All Anybody Everything One Few Any Anyone Little Other Many More Anything Much Somebody Others Most Each Neither Someone Several None Either Nobody Something Some Everybody No one