Pronouns

Pronouns

A pronoun is a word that takes the place of one or more nouns and the words that describe those nouns.  The noun that is replaces is called an antecedent.  In order to use a pronoun, the antecedent must be named.

A personal pronoun is used to refer to people of things.

 A subject pronoun, or nominative case, is used as the subject of a sentence.

• After she rested for a few hours, Ginger went in search of a quaint bistro.

She is the subject pronoun and the antecedent is Ginger.

An object pronoun, or objective case is used as the object of a verb or preposition.

• The waiter seated her near the jazz band.

The object pronoun is her and the antecedent is Ginger.

A possessive pronoun that shows who or what has something.  It takes the place of a possessive noun.

• Ginger quickly ate her croissant before meeting her sister.

The croissant is Ginger's.  It belongs to her.  It would sound strange to say that Ginger ate Ginger's croissant before meeting Ginger's sister.

Nouns: The Basics

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea.

A proper noun names a specific person, place, thing, or idea.

• Paris, France 

A common noun names a general person, place, thing, or idea.

• vacation 

A concrete noun names something that you can see or touch.

• luggage 

An abstract noun names ideas, feelings, qualities, and actions that can not be seen or touched.

• love

I would love to pack my luggage and take a summer long vacation to Paris, France.

 A possessive noun names who or what owns something.  Possessive nouns are formed by adding an -'s to the end of the word.  This rule applies to all singular nouns (this includes singular nouns that end in an -s.) and plural nouns that do not end in an -s.  To form the possessive of a plural that already ends in an -s, you simply add the appostrophe ('). 

A plural noun is formed by adding an -s, or an -es to the singular noun or by following the pattern of changed spelling of the singular noun.

Below are some more examples of nouns.

Person

• (common) woman, man, baker
• (proper) Marseille, Jean-Luc, Mr. Beau
• (plural) women, men, bakers
• (possessive singular) woman's, man's, baker's
• (possessive plural) women's, men's, bakers'

Place

• (common) street, city, business
• (proper) Champs-Elysées, Paris, Le Relais du Parc
• (plural) streets, cities, businesses
• (possessive singular) street's, city's, business's
• (possessive plural) streets' cities' businesses'

Thing

• (common) plane, newspaper, song
• (proper)  Air France Jet, Le Monde, Sur le pont d'Avignon
• (plural) planes, newspapers, songs
• (possessive singular) plane's, newpaper's, song's
• (possessive plural) planes', newspapers', songs'

Idea (can also be a quality or an action)

• (idea/concept) friendship, dream
• (quality) softness, beauty, freshness
• (action) eating, running, dreaming
• (plural) friendships, dreams
• (possessive singular) friendship's, dream's
• (possessive plural) friendships', dreams'