Nouns & Pronouns

Nouns A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, idea, quality, or action. A proper noun names a particular person, place or thing. A proper noun always starts with a capital letter. Examples: Norman, California, Delta Airlines, New York City

Nouns A common noun names any one of a class of person, places or things Examples: state, island, explorer, airline, city, apple A compound noun is a noun made of two or more words. Examples: ice cream, cell-like, bookcase, lightbulb, sister-in-law, extra-large, twenty- two, battlefield

Nouns Compound noun rules: Use a hyphen with a compound word where omission of the hyphen could cause confusion: re-creation (distinct from recreation). Write prefixes and combining forms without hyphens: today; byway; afterthought; antitoxin; semicircle

Nouns A collective noun names a group of people, places or things of the same kind: group, class, majority, crowd, herd, mob, club, team. The gender of a noun refers to the gender of the person or persons named, or to the inapplicability of sex, as with things, ideas, qualities, or actions. There are three types of gender: Masculine-man, father, Dr. John Arthur Feminine-woman, mother, Dr. Mary Byrd Neutral-tree, house, ink, doctor

Nouns The number of a noun tells whether the noun names one thing (singular) or more than one thing (plural). Singular-boy, girl, movie, insect, guess Plural-boys, girls, movies, insects, guesses

Pronouns A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun. It is a substitute for a noun. (The prefix pro means for.) With the exception of indefinite pronouns, a pronoun must agree in person, number and gender with its antecedent. The antecedent is the noun to which the pronoun refers or for which it stands. Examples: Mr. Bennett has misplaced his keys. Mrs. Bennett loaned him her keys.

Pronouns Personal pronouns refer to the person who is speaking, spoken to, or spoken about Examples: I, me, my, you, your, he, his, she, her, hers, they, their, them Interrogative pronouns ask questions Forms: who, whose, whom, which, what Demonstrative pronouns point out something Forms: this, that, these, those

Pronouns Indefinite pronouns stand for a person, place or thing that has not been definitely defined. Samples: all, any, both, either, each, many Relative pronouns introduce a subordinate clause and refer to an antecedent Forms: who, whose, whom, which, what, that

Pronouns The person of a pronoun is defined in three classes: First person indicates that the person is the speaker Examples: I, we, my, mine, our, ours, me, us Second person indicates that the person is one spoken about Examples: you, your, yours

Pronouns Third person indicates that the person is one spoken about. Examples: he, she, it, they, him, her, hers, its, their, theirs, them