Nouns and Pronouns

Noun: names a person, place, thing or idea. Nouns like fear, honesty, hope, knowledge and love are nouns, though they name things that cannot be seen or touched -- they name ideas (things that we can talk about, but not see or feel).

List all the nouns (include proper nouns) Mercury is the planet nearest to the sun. Recently, spacecraft have shown astronomers that Mercury, like our moon, is covered with craters. The surface of Venus also may have been cratered, but thick clouds of gas hide the landscape from telescopes. Craters are formed when large meteorites, which are fragments of comets or asteroids, collide with a planet.

Pronoun : a word used in place of a noun, or in place of more than one noun. By itself, a pronoun conveys no clear meaning. Its meaning only becomes clear once you know what noun it stands for. The noun that the pronoun stands for is called the antecedent. In this example, “Jane” and “bookcase” are antecedents: Now that Jane has finished building her bookcase, she is ready to stain it dark brown.

DEMONSTRATIVE PRONOUNS Demonstrative pronouns indicate a certain thing or things This That These Those This is the one I want to buy. Can I have those? That is broken. I don’t like these.

Indefinite Pronouns Indefinite pronouns are used for non-specific things (unlike demonstrative pronouns) All, some, any, several, anyone, nobody, each, both, few, either, none, one, no one Oh come on! Somebody must have seen my boyfriend today! All of us wanted ice cream, but some wanted a different flavor. He had none left to give. Nothing was left in his basket.

Relative Pronouns Relative pronouns are used to add more information to a sentence. Which That Who Whom Whose My father, who carried mail for over thirty years, recently retired. The science fair, which lasted all day, was very fun. This is the house that we built.

Interrogative Pronouns Interrogative Pronouns are used in questions. It is sometimes not as easy to see how these words replace nouns. Who, which, what, where, how Who gave you those notes? Which of you kept the answers? What did your mom say? Where are you going? How will you finish?

Possessive Pronouns Possessive pronouns show ownership. They are used as adjectives, so we also call them “possessive adjectives.” My, your, his, her, its, our, their Does Sarah have her book? He wanted my popcorn. It was really his book that she was using. Tina took all of their recipes.

Absolute Possessive Pronouns These pronouns also show ownership, but they stand by themselves, unlike the possessive pronouns. Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs Does Sarah have hers? He wanted mine. It was really his that she was using. Tina took all of theirs.

Reciprocal Pronouns Reciprocal pronouns are used for actions or feelings that are reciprocated (this means both parties do or feel something) Each other One another They really like one another. They talk to each other every day on the phone.

Reflexive Pronouns These pronouns end in “-self” or “-selves,” and they refer to another noun or pronoun in the sentence. Myself, yourself, herself, himself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves. All of you need to behave yourselves. Eric makes the tree houses himself. It can stand up all by itself.

Personal Pronouns Personal pronouns represent specific people or things. “I moved away.” “Ted gave him the ball.” “The food wasn’t theirs; it was mine” We should understand case and number to use them correctly…

Case: Subjective Case If the pronoun is replacing a noun that is the subject of a sentence, it is a SUBJECT PRONOUN I, you, she, he, it, we, they She is a teacher. It was he who broke the window. We ate all the cookies. “Is this Mrs. Lamp?” “Yes, this is she.”

Case: Objective Case If the pronoun is replacing a noun that is the object of a sentence, it is an OBJECT PRONOUN Me, you, him, her, them, us Miss Jones taught me last year. Jon had to pay him for the broken window. Kim and Sarah and I ate all of them. Jim Brown paid us to mow his lawn.

Case: Possessive Case If the pronoun replaces a noun that shows ownership, then it is a POSSESSIVE PRONOUN Mine, yours, his, hers, theirs, ours, its Lisa had a ruler, but then Ted took hers. My mom’s cookies were better than theirs. The money he gave us was ours. The dog wagged its tail.

Number SINGLUAR PLURAL I we He/she they me us Him/her them mine ours His/hers theirs “Number” refers to how many people or things the pronoun replaces. The personal pronoun can be singular or plural

List the pronouns in the following story: Taking part in the teachers’ convention as volunteers, we worked hard all day. A few of us stood at the door to distribute programs. Some made name tags. Several were ushers. Lisa and Joe listened in during a discussion. They were surprised by the comments of two teachers. One argued for tougher grading standards. Another protested that grades do not represent student abilities. Neither seemed to win. Each, however, took a firm stand.