Nouns and Pronouns Review

HOWARD & HOLLERS

Common Nouns

Common Nouns are any person, place, or thing. Common nouns are not capitalized.the citya policemanthat newspaper

Proper Nouns

Common Nouns are the name of a special person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are capitalized.DallasOfficer WalkerNew York Times

Possessive nouns are used to show possession (owning, or having).

The sky's color is changing.

sky + 'sAdd 's to the end of a plural

noun that does not end with an s.

My sisters' names are Kate and Nikki.

sisters + 'Optional: If the noun is singular and ends with an s, add 's or add only the apostrophe (').

The bus's engine stopped. The bus' engine stopped.

Note: Most sources recommend the shorter version if the ending "iz" sound is not wanted.

Plural Nouns

A plural form of a noun names more than one. It usually ends with s or es.

Add es to make nouns plural that end with:s

busesx

taxesch

benchessh

dishes

Add ies to make nouns plural that end with a consonant and a y:

ladyladies

fryfries

Some nouns that end in f or fe change to ves when made plural:calf

calves

knifeknives

Some nouns that end in o change to es when made plural. Some change to s:

kangarookangaroos

potatopotatoes

Some nouns become a new word when made plural:

manmen

goosegeese

What are pronouns?

Pronouns take the place of nouns. The word or phrase replaced by a pronoun is called an antecedent.

Personal Pronouns

Refer to people or things

ME!

Include: I, me, my, mine, you, your, yours, he, him, his, she, her, hers, it, its, they, them, their, theirs, we, us, our, ours.

Singular Possessive Pronouns

A possessive pronoun takes the place of a possessive noun.

A possessive pronoun shows who or what owns something.

My, your, his, and her are singular possessive nouns.

Plural Possessive Pronouns

A plural possessive pronoun shows who or what owns something.

Its, our, your, and their are plural possessive pronouns.

© R

afa

el M

ore

no E

steban

Relative pronoun Use Example

Who subject or object pronoun for people

I told you about the woman who lives next door.

Which subject or object pronoun for animals and things

Do you see the cat which is lying on the roof?

Which referring to a whole sentence

He couldn’t read which surprised me.

Whose possession for people animals and things

Do you know the boy whose mother is a nurse?

Whom object pronoun for people, especially in non-defining relative clauses (in defining relative clauses we colloquially prefer who)

I was invited by the professor whom I met at the conference.

That subject or object pronoun for people, animals and things in defining relative clauses (who or which are also possible)

I don’t like the table that stands in the kitchen.