(TUL) Lesson Topic 2: Noun Nuances

Lesson Topic 2: Noun Nuances

The Noun

Nouns encompass people, places and things. In this photograph, "people" is represented by a woman with medium skin and dark hair holding a camera; "places" is represented by a nighttime view of an old, ornate building lit up; and "things" is represented by a laptop computer with a web camera. It's a bird...It's a plane...it's SUPERMAN! What do birds, planes, and Superman all have in common? They are all nouns (and they all fly). But we are going to focus on the noun aspect of the situation. Nouns are the parts of speech that name people, places, and things. In order to locate a noun within a sentence, ask yourself if the word is a person, place, or thing.

Example: The dog ran to the street.

Dog (thing)
Street (place)

Therefore, dog and street are both nouns in the example sentence. Let us look at another example.

Example: James gives Maria a present.

James (person)
Maria (person)
Present (thing)

As you can see in the example, the two names of the people are considered nouns. Names of people are a special type of noun called Proper Nouns.

Pronoun Prototypes

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun such as: he, she, it, they, someone, who, etc. There are many different categories of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns	Personal Pronouns refer to a particular person, group, or thing. The following pronouns are considered personal pronouns: I, me, my, mine We, us, our, ours You, your, yours He, she, it, him, her, his, hers, its They, them, their, theirs
Relative Pronouns	Relative pronouns relate to another noun that comes before it in the sentence. The following pronouns are relative pronouns: Which, that, who, whom, and whose Example: The woman who won the lottery gave the money to charity. The relative pronoun "who" relates to the woman. Example: The bike that was blue cost more than the bike that was red. The relative pronoun "that" refers to the specific bike it follows. Try to remember that "who" and "whom" refer only to people, and "which" refers to things or ideas—never people. "That" and "whose" can refer to either.
Demonstrative Pronouns	Demonstrative pronouns demonstrate, or identify, and point to a thing or things and occasionally persons. The following are demonstrative pronouns: This, these, that, those Example: Will you hand me those shoes? "Those" refer to a specific pair of shoes that are not near the speaker. Example: I want to use this pen. "This" refers to a pen that is close in proximity. "This" and "these" refer to things or people that are close in proximity. "That" and "those" refer to people or objects that are further away.
Indefinite Pronouns	Indefinite pronouns are not definite in meaning. In other words, they are not specific in which noun they replace. The following pronouns are indefinite pronouns: Anybody, anyone, anything, everybody, everyone, everything, nobody, none, no one, nothing, somebody, someone, something Example: Can anyone help me tie my shoe? "Anyone" does not provide a definite person to help tie the shoe. Example: Everything seems to be going so well today! "Everything" does not refer to a specific thing happening during the day.
Reflexive Pronouns	Reflexive pronouns refer back to the subject of the sentence or clause. They either end in -self, as in the singular form, or -selves, as in the plural form. The following are reflexive pronouns: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, and itself Ourselves, yourselves, themselves Example: She sent herself a copy of the letter. "Herself" refers back to "she." Example: Let us get ourselves a gift for Christmas. "Ourselves" refers back to "us."
Interrogative Pronouns	Interrogative pronouns are pronouns used in order to ask a question. The following are interrogative pronouns: What, which, who, whom, and whose Example: What is going on today? "What" is the pronoun that helps ask this question. Example: Who is going to the store to buy the groceries? "Who" is the pronoun that helps ask this question.
Possessive Pronouns	Possessive pronouns are pronouns that show ownership. My, your, his, her, its, our, their, whose Mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs, whose Example: Will you hand me my purse? "My" reveals the ownership of the purse. Example: Those shoes are his. "His" reveals the ownership of the shoes.

Don't be overwhelmed! There are many types of pronouns, but the names of the pronouns already tell you their purpose. All you need to do is practice understanding the purpose of each individual pronoun.

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