Nouns & Pronouns Worksheet

NOUNS

Definition:  A noun is a word (or phrase or clause) that names a person, place, think, idea, or quality. 

There are several categories of nouns:

Common – every day words, not capitalized (ex:  dog, cat, building, town, man, woman)

Proper – specific names, capitalized (ex:  Spot, Fluffy, Empire State Building, Northfield, Mr. Jones, Sally Forth)

Compound – nouns made up of two or more words (ex:  ice cream, playground, mainstream, brother-in-law)

Collective – nouns that in its singular form denotes many within (ex:  army, company, herd)

Concrete – tangible, touchable things (ex:  rock, ball, bird, house)

Abstract – a quality or idea; something that cannot be touched (ex:  liberty, hope, honesty, love)

Countable – nouns that form their plural with an s or es, that can be counted and numbered (ex:  bugs, projects, boys, girls)

Non-countable – nouns that have no plural and cannot be counted (ex:  poverty, peace, ideas, principles)

Nouns can be used as subjects of a sentence, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of a preposition, and predicate nouns.

In the following sentences, the nouns are underlined and in bold:

·         The dog under the tree had a leash around his neck.

·         My dog, Scooby, wanted freedom from his collar.

·         The playground in Northfield had a statue of General Washington who fought for liberty.

·         Sarge’s Parlour, a small business, sold ice cream in Storm Lake, Iowa to many generations of residents.

·         My brother bought a snowmobile because he wanted to have fun during the winter.

Some words can be both a noun and a verb.

Examples:

I had a swim in the lake.

I swim in the lake.

I will drive to school.

We had a nice drive.

I watched the third act of the play.

This man can really act.

I wrote a check at the diner.

Will you check to see if it is right.

I have a new dress from Target.

The doctor will dress my wound.

She has a delightful laugh.

I laugh all the time.

PRONOUNS

Definition:  A Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a nouns.  We can substitute a pronoun for a noun in a sentence.  Pronouns are classified in five (5) different categories. They are personal pronouns, relative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns, indefinite pronouns, and interrogative pronouns. 

Antecedent:  The antecedent is the word or words that the pronoun is substituting. 

Examples:

The lady drank her coffee. She said it was hot.  (lady is the antecedent for her & she; coffee is the antecedent for it)

Roger sat on the chair, but it broke when he sat down. (Roger is the antecedent for he; chair is the antecedent for it)

Below is a chart showing the forms of personal pronouns

Personal Pronouns
	Singular			Plural
Person	Nominative	Objective	Possessive	Nominative	Objective	Possessive
1st person	I	me	mine	We	us	ours
2nd person	You	you	yours	You	you	yours
3rd person	He, she, it	him, her, it	his, hers, its	They	them	theirs

In the following sentences, the personal pronouns are underlined and in bold.

·         I gave her the bottle that used to belong to you.

·         She knew right away that it was a collector’s piece.

·         It had been used by Queen Elizabeth in her castle.

·         They say it held the perfume that she used every day.

·         My family has had many antiques in their collection and loves to talk about them.

·         Do you think she will get any money for it?

Reflexive pronouns are a compound of personal pronouns with “self” or “selves.”  They are used when you refer back to the subject of a sentence or clause.

Examples:

·         I saw myself in the mirror.

·         She made herself some lunch.

·         The bird hurt itself when it flew into the window.

Relative pronouns introduce relative clauses (dependent clauses that relate the clause to a noun or pronoun in the sentence).  The five relative pronouns are who, whom, whose, which, that.

Examples:

·         The car that hit me was yellow.

·         The student whose phone just rang should answer it.

·         Jane is the girl who won the contest.

·         Mr. Jones is a man on whom I can rely.

Demonstrative pronouns are pronouns that point out.  They are this, that, these, and those.

Examples:

·         This is my hat.

·         I like these, not those.

·         That is a great idea.

·         How much money do you want for this?

Indefinite pronouns are pronouns that do not point out specifically. They point out generally. They include such words as another, any, anybody, anyone, anything, both, each, either, everybody, everyone, everything, many, neither, nobody, none, no one, one, other, others, some, somebody, and someone.

Examples:

·         Does anyone have a pencil?

·         Please stand with the others.

·         No one can solve this equation.

·         Both of you should do the dishes.

Interrogative pronouns ask questions. Who, whom, whose, which, and what are interrogative pronouns.

Examples:

·         Who will give me the money?

·         With whom are you going to movie?

·         Whose books are these?

·         What will you bring to the dinner?

Nouns Practice

Underline the nouns in the following sentences.

1. Our job has become harder this year.
2. Elizabeth looked in her backpack for her homework.
3. This plant looks dead.
4. Mrs. Jones called the doctor from the other clinic.
5. Her son bought a cheeseburger and fries.

Fill in a noun for each of the following sentences:

1. Jane baked the __________________  yesterday.

2. My __________________  ache after gardening.

3. The __________________  sang a solo at the concert. 

4. The __________________ fell into the river.

5. __________________  is my home.

Pronouns Practice

Underline the pronouns in the following sentences.

1.       Sally, your mother needs you to call her.

2.       Steve brought his own lunch because he is allergic to most foods.

3.       I have strong opinions, but my sister doesn’t agree with them.

4.       The amazing performance brought the crowd to its feet.

5.       You can tell her because she will keep it a secret.

Grammar: Weeks 1 & 2

WEEKS 1 & 2 – Introduction to the Parts of Speech

PARTS OF SPEECH

Parts of speech are the basic types of words that English has. Every word in the English language falls into one of these categories.  Most grammar books say that there are eight parts of speech: nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, pronouns, conjunctions, prepositions and interjections. Some grammar books add another, articles, as a part of speech.  For this class, articles will be included with the adjectives. 

It is important to be able to recognize and identify the different types of words in English so that you can understand grammar explanations and use the right word form in the right place.

A fun and easy way to remember the parts of speech is with the mnemonic, the name “IVAN CAPP.”

I = interjection V = verb A = adjective N = noun C = conjunction A = adverb P = Preposition P = Pronoun

NOUN

Nouns are words, phrases or clauses that name a person, place, thing, idea, or quality.

Categories for nouns: 

– Common

– Proper

– Compound

– Collective

– As adverbs

– Concrete

– Abstract

– Countable

– Non-countable

– Verbal nouns (gerunds)

A noun can be used in a sentence as

– Subject

– Direct object

– Indirect object

– Object of a preposition

– Predicate Noun

PRONOUNS

A pronoun is a word used in place of a noun.  An antecedent is a word or group of words to which a pronoun refers.  If the antecedent is singular, the pronoun must be singular.  If the antecedent is plural, then the pronoun must be plural.

Various types of pronouns

–   Personal

o   Subjective case

o   Objective case

o   Possessive case

–   Reflexive or intensive

–   Demonstrative

–   Relative

–   Interrogative

–   Extended

–   Indefinite

ADJECTIVE

Adjective:  An adjective is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies (changes, limits, describes, transforms, qualifies) a noun or pronoun.

–   Adjectives answer the following questions:  Which one? What kind of? and How many?

–   Adjectives may be placed before the noun, after the noun, or after a state of being or linking verb.

VERB

Verb:  A verb is a word used to describe an action, state, or occurrence, and forming the main part of the predicate of a sentence.

Categories for Verbs:

–   Action

–   State of being

–   Linking

Verbs have voice

–   Active:  the action of the verb is performed by the subject of the sentence.

–   Passive:  the action of the verb is performed upon the subject of the sentence.

Agreement in number

–   Singular subjects and singular verbs; plural subjects and plural verbs

All sentences have verbs

–   Imperative sentences may appear to be missing the subject, but it is an understood “you.”

All verbs have 4 principle parts: 

1) present stem;

2) past tense

3) past participle

4) present participle.  eg.  look, looked, looked. looking.

ADVERB

Adverb:  An adverb is a word, phrase, or clause that modifies (changes, limits, describes, transforms, qualifies) a verb, an adjective, or another adverb.

–   Adverbs answer the following questions:  How? When? Where? To what extent? How much?  How often?

–   Placement:  Adverbs of one word almost always come before the word modified.  Clauses and phrases should be placed as closely as possible to the verb is modifies.

–   Formation:  Adverbs can be formed by adding “-ly” to an adjective.  (e.g.  correctly, happily, sparingly)  Another way to form an adverb is to place an adjective in the following formula:  “in a _________ manner.”

PREPOSITION

Preposition:  A preposition is a word that links a noun or pronoun with some other  word or words (usually nouns or pronouns) in a sentence.

–   A preposition always comes before the noun (object of the preposition)

–   Prepositional phrases can be adjectival or adverbial.

CONJUNCTION

Conjunction:  A conjunction is a word or words used to join other words, phrases, or clauses.

–   Coordinating conjunctions:  for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so (“FANBOYS”)

–   Correlative conjunctions:  either … or; neither … nor; not only … but also; both … and; etc.

–   Adverbial conjunctions:  although, if, because, since (these join subordinate clauses)

–   Generally, conjunctions appear within the sentence.  On rare occasions, a conjunction may begin a sentence or paragraph.

INTERJECTION

Interjection:  An interjection is a word or group of words expressing emotion or feeling, however slight.  Also, this part of speech doesn’t fit into any of the other categories of the parts of speech.

Examples:        Well, I don’t think so.

                        Marvelous! You have done an incredible job.

                        Oh no.  This is terrible.