Nouns and Pronouns
Are you having problems with nouns? I can help you with them. Do you know what "them" relates to? Correct. It relates back to "nouns". The word "nouns" is a noun. "Them" is a pronoun.
Does this seem too easy? Well, there is a lot more to nouns and pronouns.
First, as you may know, nouns refer to a person, place or thing. The "thing" can be an object or idea. Pronouns refer to nouns, noun phrases and noun clauses. We will talk more about noun clauses in a different section. Let's look at nouns and noun phrases first.
Look at sentence (1) . It has a noun as the subject and a noun as the object.
1. Tom hit the ball.
"Tom" is called a proper noun because it refers to a specific person. Proper nouns can also refer to specific places, objects or ideas. For instance, Paris is a place; The Mona Lisa is an object, and The Theory of Relativity is an idea.
The second noun is "ball". This is called a common noun because it does not refer to a specific object by itself. That is why we use the article "the". "The" relates to a specific ball. The one that Tom hit. When we combined "the" with "ball", we create a noun phrase. It is a phrase because there is more than one word, and there is no subject and verb. So we have proper nouns and common nouns. What other kinds of nouns are there? There are non-count nouns for instance.
Non-count nouns are items that can not be counted, such as furniture, luggage, money, or love. You might say that you can count money, but really you count cents or dollars. Money is just an idea, like time. You cannot count time. You can only count seconds or minutes, or hours, or days, etc. Non-count nouns take a third person singular verb, such as in sentence (2).
2. The money is in the bank.
Notice the singular verb "is" is used even though there might be a lot of money. Also, notice "The money" and "the bank" are noun phrases.
Does this seem too easy? Well, there is a lot more to nouns and pronouns.
First, as you may know, nouns refer to a person, place or thing. The "thing" can be an object or idea. Pronouns refer to nouns, noun phrases and noun clauses. We will talk more about noun clauses in a different section. Let's look at nouns and noun phrases first.
Look at sentence (1) . It has a noun as the subject and a noun as the object.
1. Tom hit the ball.
"Tom" is called a proper noun because it refers to a specific person. Proper nouns can also refer to specific places, objects or ideas. For instance, Paris is a place; The Mona Lisa is an object, and The Theory of Relativity is an idea.
The second noun is "ball". This is called a common noun because it does not refer to a specific object by itself. That is why we use the article "the". "The" relates to a specific ball. The one that Tom hit. When we combined "the" with "ball", we create a noun phrase. It is a phrase because there is more than one word, and there is no subject and verb. So we have proper nouns and common nouns. What other kinds of nouns are there? There are non-count nouns for instance.
Non-count nouns are items that can not be counted, such as furniture, luggage, money, or love. You might say that you can count money, but really you count cents or dollars. Money is just an idea, like time. You cannot count time. You can only count seconds or minutes, or hours, or days, etc. Non-count nouns take a third person singular verb, such as in sentence (2).
2. The money is in the bank.
Notice the singular verb "is" is used even though there might be a lot of money. Also, notice "The money" and "the bank" are noun phrases.
Collective Nouns
You have probably used a collective noun and didn't know it. Have you ever said or written a sentence like sentence (3)?
3. My family is going to Disneyland this summer.
Notice the noun phrase "my family". A family is a group of related people, so there is always more than one person involved. However, look at the main verb in the sentence. It is "is going". You probably know that this is a present continuous verb. We are using it here with future meaning, but what is important now is that the verb is third person singular, not plural. Why is that? The reason we use a singular verb here is because collective nouns refer to groups of people or things as a singular noun.
Here is another example in sentence (4).
4. The football team is on the bus waiting to go to the next city.
Again, we are referring to a group of people as a single unit; therefore, this noun phrase "the football team" takes a singular verb.
3. My family is going to Disneyland this summer.
Notice the noun phrase "my family". A family is a group of related people, so there is always more than one person involved. However, look at the main verb in the sentence. It is "is going". You probably know that this is a present continuous verb. We are using it here with future meaning, but what is important now is that the verb is third person singular, not plural. Why is that? The reason we use a singular verb here is because collective nouns refer to groups of people or things as a singular noun.
Here is another example in sentence (4).
4. The football team is on the bus waiting to go to the next city.
Again, we are referring to a group of people as a single unit; therefore, this noun phrase "the football team" takes a singular verb.
Possessive Pronouns
It is very easy to misspell and misuse possessive pronouns, so let's look at them. Here is a list of the possessive pronouns in English:
my/mine
your/yours
his/his
her/hers
its/its
their/theirs
our/ours
When you see two pronouns together in this list, the first one is used in an adjective (modifier) position, such as in sentence (5).
5. My parents live in California.
The second pronoun is a predicate possessive pronoun. This means it is part of the main verb phrase, such as in sentence (6).
6. The sports car is hers.
As you can see, two of these pronouns have the same form for both modifier and predicate forms.
You need to remember two important items: 1. Do NOT use [it's] to show possession. It's = It is. Only use [its] for possession. 2. Do NOT use [there] to show possession. There is called diectic pronoun that shows direction or place, such as There is a bird. Or, it is used as an empty subject, such as There are many things to learn.
my/mine
your/yours
his/his
her/hers
its/its
their/theirs
our/ours
When you see two pronouns together in this list, the first one is used in an adjective (modifier) position, such as in sentence (5).
5. My parents live in California.
The second pronoun is a predicate possessive pronoun. This means it is part of the main verb phrase, such as in sentence (6).
6. The sports car is hers.
As you can see, two of these pronouns have the same form for both modifier and predicate forms.
You need to remember two important items: 1. Do NOT use [it's] to show possession. It's = It is. Only use [its] for possession. 2. Do NOT use [there] to show possession. There is called diectic pronoun that shows direction or place, such as There is a bird. Or, it is used as an empty subject, such as There are many things to learn.
Reflexive Pronouns
Sometimes you need an action to refer back to a person or place that is the subject. When this situation occurs, the use of reflexive pronouns is most common. Look at sentence (7).
7. Yesterday, I cut myself shaving.
Or, sentence (8)
8. Tom injured himself while playing football.
Myself and himself are two examples of reflexive pronouns. Here are others:
herself
itself
yourself
yourselves
ourselves
themselves
One bit of advice is to remember to spell the reflexive pronouns as one word not two. For instance, her self is wrong.
7. Yesterday, I cut myself shaving.
Or, sentence (8)
8. Tom injured himself while playing football.
Myself and himself are two examples of reflexive pronouns. Here are others:
herself
itself
yourself
yourselves
ourselves
themselves
One bit of advice is to remember to spell the reflexive pronouns as one word not two. For instance, her self is wrong.
