Parts of Speech: Nouns and Pronouns

You’ve read the title and you probably think nouns and pronouns are easy, and as far as speech goes they are probably the easiest to recognize.  But we have to remember that they also have special classifications.

Knowing the parts of speech can help you as a writer because understanding the functions of grammatical elements allows you to recognize agreement problems, like in subject and verb agreement.  If you can identify certain clauses you’ll be able to incorporate them into your writing.

Nouns are probably the one thing you remember from English class, it may be the only thing you remember because it was so simple.  A noun is a person, place, thing or idea.  There are more nouns than any other part of speech.  I guess you could say, ‘nouns abound’.  In the noun category there are also classes of nouns, which we will cover here.

Common nouns:  A common noun names a person, place or thing. 
Common nouns include: teacher, car, quarterback, table, chair, dog, dish, etc.

Proper nouns:  Proper nouns name a specific person, place or thing. 
Proper nouns include: John Brown, Honda, New York, Empire State Building, Tiffany Lamp, etc.

Concrete nouns:  Concrete nouns name people or objects that we can actually see, hear, taste, smell or touch. 
Concrete nouns include: table, salt, pillow, feather, orange, apple, etc.

Abstract nouns:  Abstract nouns refer to qualities or ideas that can’t be perceived through the senses. 
Abstract nouns include: courage, joy, happiness, freedom, etc.

Compound nouns:  Compound nouns are made up of more than one word.  They can be written as one word, hyphenated or written as separate words. 
Compound nouns include: brother-in-law, bird-watcher, skateboard, peacemaker, lawmaker, etc.

Collective nouns:  Collective nouns refer to a group of people or things. 
Collective nouns include: flock, crew, team, orchestra, etc.

Pronouns are simply words that replace a noun.  When a pronoun replaces a noun it’s called an antecedent.  The antecedent may be in the same sentence or in a completely new sentence.

John wore his new shoes.  In this sentence, John is the noun (antecedent), his is the pronoun.

John and Jane are in the pool.  They have their competition tomorrow.  John and Jane are the nouns (antecedents), but the pronouns referring to John and Jane (they, their) are in a separate sentence.

There are times when the antecedent will come after the pronoun.  Dialog is a good example.

“Those shoes are mine,” John said.  In this sentence, mine is the pronoun, and John is the antecedent.

Personal pronouns are pretty easy but they also have sub-classes like, first, second and third person.  They can also be singular or plural.

First person pronouns refer to the person who is speaking.

            Singular: I, me, my, mine.
            Plural: We, us, our, ours

Second person pronouns refer to who is being spoken to.

            Singular: You, your, yours.
            Plural: You, your, yours.

Third person pronouns refer to the person or thing being spoken about.

            Singular: He, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its.
            Plural: They, them, their, theirs.

Examples:
First person:  I want to sell my album collection.
Second person: Did you find your wallet?
Third person: She told them to let her know if they needed something.

Reflexive and Intensive pronouns are formed by adding -self or -selves to personal pronouns.  They can be singular or plural.

Singular: Myself, herself, himself.
Plural: Ourselves, yourselves, themselves.

A reflexive pronoun refers to the noun or pronoun that’s the subject of the sentence.

Kevin taught himself to play the guitar.  (In this sentence, himself cannot be removed without changing the sentence.  Reflexive pronouns are essential is a sentence of this form.)

An intensive pronoun adds emphasis to a sentence, but it’s not necessary and can be removed from the sentence without changing the meaning.

Kevin learned his method of playing himself. (In this sentence, himself can be removed and the sentence doesn’t lose meaning; Kevin learned his method of playing.)  While neither are great sentences, hopefully you understand the use of an intensive pronoun.

Indefinite pronouns:  Indefinite pronouns refer to people or things that aren’t named and don’t generally have a specific antecedent.  They can also be singular or plural.

Singular indefinite pronouns: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, no one, nobody, somebody, etc.
Plural indefinite pronouns: few, many, several, others, etc.
Singular or plural indefinite pronouns: all, most, none, some, etc.

Anybody can join the group.
Some of the people did something to help many of the homeless.

Demonstrative pronoun:  A demonstrative pronoun points out a specific person, place or thing.
Demonstrative pronouns include: This, that, these, those.

This is the best peach I’ve eaten.

Interrogative pronouns:  Interrogative pronouns are used to ask a question.
Interrogative pronouns include: who, what, which, whom.

Who is playing at the club tonight?
What are you listening to?

Relative pronouns:  Relative pronouns introduce an adjective clause and relates to its antecedent.
Relative pronouns include: Who, whom, whose, which, that.

The band Stryper, which was popular in the 80’s, has recently regrouped.

Well that’s it for nouns and pronouns, be on the lookout for the next series in the parts of speech where we’ll cover verbs.

Written by Patti Stafford from Patti Stafford
Posted on May 27th, 2009 and filed under Writing
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