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    Nouns and Pronouns

    Nouns
    A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing (including a quality or idea). Nouns fill the headword slot in the noun phrase. Most nouns can be inflected for plural and possessive (boy, boys, boy's, boys'). Nouns have characteristic derivational endings, such as -tion (compensation), -ment (contentment), and -ness (happiness). Nouns can also function as adjectivals and adverbials (The neighbor children went home.)
    Person: woman, Sandra, pet, Sylvia Plath
    Place: kitchen, city, park, Colorado
    Thing: tree, ship, cereal, U.S.S. Iowa
    Quality or idea: love, height, democracy, motion


    Rufus Xavier Sarsaparilla (.au 1.9M)
    courtesy of Schoolhouse Rock

    Pronouns
    A pronoun takes the place of (stands for) a noun (pro- means "for" or "instead of"). The noun that a pronoun stands for is called the antecedent of that pronoun.

    Indefinite Pronouns
    These are quantifiers, universals, and partitives.
    Personal Pronouns
    These refer to a specific person or thing.
    Possessive Pronouns
    These refer to a specific person or thing in a possessive sense.
    Reflexive Pronouns
    A pronoun formed by adding -self or -selves to a form of the personal pronoun, used as an object in the sentence to refer to a  previously named noun or pronoun.
    Relative Pronouns
    These are pronouns that introduce a relative clause.

    Personal Pronouns
     

    Subject Case

    Object Case
    First-Person
    singular

    I

    me
    plural

    we

    us
    Second-Person
    singular

    you
    plural
    Third-Person
    singular masculine

    he

    him
    feminine

    she

    her
    neuter

    it
    plural

    they

    them
    What is it? A personal pronoun is used to refer to a nearby noun or noun phrase antecedent or to stand for a person, place, or thing that has been identified in the nonverbal context.
    Rules:
    1. The first- and second-person personal pronouns (I, we, and you) are used to refer to the speaker and other participants in a conversation.
    2. The third-person personal pronouns (he, she, it, and they) refer to other persons and things.
    3. Subject case is used in formal usage and when the pronoun follows be or certain other verbs that take subject compliments. It is also used after a linking verb.
    4. Object case is used when the pronoun serves in any object function (i.e., object of a preposition). (Also known as the accusative case.)
    Tests:
    1. Try the pronouns one at a time, alone.
      For example, when deciding between For Carla and I and For Carla and me, omit Carla and. Usually you will be able to tell at once that For me is correct and For I is not.
    2. Substitute other pronouns for the entire phase.
      For example, when deciding between Just between you and I and Just between you and me, substitute we and us for you and I or you and me. You may have a clearer intuition that Just between us (the equivalent of you and me) is correct, but Just between we (the equivalent of you and I) is not.

    Reflexive Pronouns
    First-Person
    singular myself
    plural ourselves
    Second-Person
    singular yourself
    plural yourselves
    Third-Person
    singular masculine himself
    feminine herself
    neuter itself
    plural themselves
    What is it? When a sentence contains two references to the same noun or noun phrase, one in the subject and one in the predicate, the second becomes a reflexive pronoun (one ending in –self or –selves).
    Rules: Do not use a reflexive pronoun unless its antecedent appears within the same sentence.

    Indefinite Pronouns
    one
    oneself    		 some
    someone
    somebody
    something    		 any
    anyone
    anybody
    anything    		 none
    no one
    nobody
    nothing    		 everyone
    everybody
    everything    		 another
    any other
    no other
    others
    many, more, most, enough, few, less, much, either, neither, several, all, both, each
    What is it? Indefinite pronouns include pronouns made with one, some, any, no, every, and other, as well as a miscellaneous group of others. They usually have no specific referent and therefore no antecedent.
    Rules: They can be used either as pronouns or as nouns.

    When they occur alone, without modifiers, they lack specific reference and are interpreted as being indefinite pronouns.

    When they follow articles, they name definite things and are thought to be nouns.

    Possessive Pronouns
      Determiner Function Nominal Function
    First-Person
    singular my mine
    plural our ours
    Second-Person
    singular

    your

    yours
    plural
    Third-Person
    singular masculine

    his
    feminine her hers
    neuter

    its
    plural their theirs

    Relative Pronouns

    who (whom, whose), which, that


     

     


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