JMJ Marist Brothers

Notre Dame of Marbel University

COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

COURSEPACK
in:
ENGL 103
INTENSIVE GRAMMAR AND
COMMUNICATION SKILLS

Jireh Clarisse T. Salomsom

JMJ Marists Brothers

Notre Dame of Marbel University 1|Engl 103
College of Arts and Sciences
LANGUAGE DEPARTMENT
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

Lesson 3: Parts of Speech: Nouns and Pronouns

Presenting the Matter

"Often when I write I am trying to make words do the

work of line and color. I have the painter's sensitivity to light.
Much ... of my writing is verbal painting."

—Elizabeth Bowen

"But words are things, and a small drop of ink,

Falling like dew, upon a thought, produces
That which makes thousands, perhaps millions, think."

—George Gordon, Lord Byron

“Words can inspire. Words can destroy. Choose yours well.”—Peter Economy

The quotations cited above imply that the words you write or speak to others
can leave a huge impact and create a lasting impression--either good or bad--so it
is very important to choose them wisely. There are many thousands of different
words in the English language, but there are only eight different kinds of words.
These eight kinds, which are called “parts of speech,” are the noun, the pronoun,
the adjective, the verb, the adverb, the preposition and the conjunction. Based on
their use and function, words are categorized into several types or parts of speech.

This portion of the module focuses on the two of the eight parts of speech,
the noun and the pronoun.

Jotting Down Targets:

After working on this module, you should be able to:

1. define and enumerate the different kinds of nouns and pronouns;

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

2. identify nouns and pronouns, their kinds and cases in sentences; and
3. use correctly nouns and pronouns in various communicative situations.

Kicking it Off

Activity I. In the given list of sentences, identify

in which sentence the word “outside,” is used as a noun:

1. The children played outside.

2. The outside of the house needs repair.

3. It was an outside chance, but I took it anyway.

Activity II. How do this paragraph sound?

Rey watched the football game last night. Rey enjoyed it more than they did.
Rey was not able to sleep that night because of excitement in watching the very
exciting game between two famous teams.

Now let's examine the sentences from Activities I and II.

The correct answer is sentence number 2, since the word outside is the
subject of the sentence, which is one of the functions of a noun. Outside in
sentence number 1 functions as an adverb modifying the verb played and in
sentence number 3 as an adjective modifying the noun chance.

Meanwhile sentences in the paragraph shown in Activity II look and sound

awkward and choppy. This is because of the repetitive use of the noun Rey.

3|Engl 103
 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

Processing the Matter

NOUN

This part of a speech refers to words that are used to name persons,
things, animals, places, ideas, or events.

Examples:

▪ Eddie Garcia was a very versatile actor.

▪ The italicized noun refers to a name of a person.
▪ Dogs can be extremely cute.
▪ In this example, the italicized word is considered a noun because it names an
animal.
▪ It is his birthday.
▪ The word “birthday” is a noun which refers to an event.
▪ Kindness is expected from everyone.
▪ The word “kindness” is an example of an idea.

There are different types or kinds of nouns namely:

▪ Proper. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter and refers to specific
names of persons, places, or things.
▪ Examples: Dingdong Dantes, Strada, Shakey’s Pizza, On the Wings of Love

▪ Common. Common nouns are the opposite of proper nouns. These are just
generic names of persons, things, or places.
▪ Examples: actor, car, pizza parlor, TV series

▪ Concrete. This kind refers to nouns which you can perceive through your five
senses.
▪ Examples: folder, sand, board, book

▪ Abstract. Unlike concrete nouns, abstract nouns are those which you can’t
perceive through your five senses.
▪ Examples: happiness, grudge, bravery, envy

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

▪ Count. It refers to anything that is countable, and has a singular and plural
form.
▪ Examples: kitten, video, ball, toy

▪ Mass. This is the opposite of count nouns. Mass nouns are also called non-
countable nouns, and they need to have “counters” to quantify them.
▪ Examples of Counters: kilo, cup, meter, pinch
▪ Examples of Mass Nouns: rice, flour, garter, salt

▪ Collective. It refers to a group of persons, animals, or things.

▪ Examples: faculty (group of teachers), class (group of students), pride (group
of lions), swarm (group of bees)

▪ Compound. This kind refers to nouns made up of more than one word.
▪ Examples: breakfast, maid-of- honor, lampshade

Noun Cases

• Nouns are in the NOMINATIVE CASE when they are used as:

1. Subject: Her hips began to move at the sound of the drum.

2. Predicate Noun/Predicate Nominative: Gerry is a friend.

• Nouns are in the OBJECTIVE CASE when they are used as:

1. Direct Object: The investors expressed their enthusiasm.

2. Indirect Object: The officers promised the new employees reforms.
3. Object of Preposition: The gift is sent for Aida.

• Nouns are in the POSSESSIVE CASE when they show possession or

ownership.

1. I borrowed Ben’s pen.

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

PRONOUNS

Repeating the same noun over and over in writing or speaking would
result in awkward choppy sentences. Instead of repeating the same noun many
times, speakers and writers use substitutes called pronouns. Pronouns allow you
to refer to the same person or thing more than once without having to repeat the
same nouns again and again.
Pronouns are words that stand for nouns, noun word groups (words that
take the place of nouns), or other pronouns. Some examples of pronouns
are: I, it, he, she, you, mine, his, hers, we, they, theirs, and ours.

Sample Sentences:

▪ Jennie is a very attentive child. She looks and listens to me and when I tell
her something.
▪ The largest slice is hers.
▪ We are number one.
▪ Roaming around the park was enjoyable and I hope we could do it again.
The italicized words in the sentences above are the pronouns.

Meanwhile, the noun that a pronoun stands for is called the antecedent.
This noun is not always stated.
Perla told her father she would be late. (her, she- pronouns; Perla- antecedent)

Juanita, did you study the lesson? (you- pronoun; Juanita- antecedent)
You can’t play now. (you- pronoun; no stated antecedent)

There are several kinds of pronouns. These are the following:

A. Personal Pronouns. They are used to refer to the person speaking, the person
spoken to, or the person, place, or thing spoken about.

Examples: 1. My name is not George.

2. When you left for school, you forgot your lunch.
3. Don’t judge a book by its cover.

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

Following is a list of personal pronouns:

SINGULAR PLURAL
First Person I, me, my, mine we, us, our, ours
Second Person you, your, yours you, your, yours
Third Person he, she, it, him, her, his, they, them, their,
hers, its theirs

Some personal pronouns change form depending upon their use in a

sentence. The form a personal pronoun takes is called its case.

a. Subjective Case. A pronoun is in the subjective case if it names the actor

in a sentence.

Example:
He jogs on Fridays. [He is the actor, or the subject of the sentence.]

b. Objective Case. A pronoun is in the objective case if it receives the

action in a sentence.

Example:
Phillip courted her. [Her is the pronoun that shows who receives the action.
It is the object of the action.

c. Possessive Case. A pronoun is in the possessive case if it shows

possession or ownership.

Example:
She holds her bag tightly. [Her shows whose bag it is.]

Here are the nominative (or subjective), objective, and possessive case forms of
personal pronouns:

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

NOMINATIVE OBJECTIVE POSSESSIVE

CASE CASE CASE

Singular
I me my, mine
you you your, yours
he him his
she her her, hers
it it its

Plural
we us our, ours
you you your, yours
they them their, theirs

B. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns. They have the same forms – both end in
–self or –selves (First person: myself, ourselves; Second: yourself, yourselves;
Third: himself, herself, itself, themselves), but their functions differ.

Reflexive pronouns are used to add information to a sentence by pointing

back to a noun or pronoun near the beginning of the sentence.

Cats clean themselves after each meal.

Intensive pronouns are used simply to add emphasis to a noun or pronoun.

However, they can be removed from the sentence without changing the sentence’s
basic meaning.

You yourself agreed that the house needs painting

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

C. Demonstrative Pronouns. They are used to point out particular or specific

nouns. The most common demonstrative pronouns are this, that, these, and
those. Demonstrative pronouns may be located before or after their
antecedents.

Before an antecedent: That is a fire truck.

After an antecedent: A box of old photographs and clothes--- these were all I had
been able to bring from the burning house.

D. Relative Pronouns. They are pronouns used to begin groups of words

(subordinate clauses) that tell about someone or something mentioned earlier.
Examples of relative pronouns are that, which, who, whom, and
whose.

The truck that delivers sand and gravel belongs to Christian Bautista, who lives
in a nearby town. (note: place an arrow from the pronouns to the nouns they are
referring to)

The show focuses on teens whose singing skills are outstanding.

E. Interrogative Pronouns. They are used to ask questions. The most common
interrogative pronouns are what, which, who, whom, and whose.

Which is the way to San Jose?

What is the best shirt brand?

Whose advice should we follow?

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

F. Indefinite Pronouns. They are the kind of pronouns used to refer to persons,
things, or places, often without specifying which ones. Examples of indefinite
pronouns are listed below.

Singular: another, anybody, anyone, anything, each, either, everybody,

everyone, everything, little, much, neither, nobody, no one, nothing, one,
other, somebody, someone, something

Plural: both, few, many, others, several

Singular or plural: all, any, more, most, none, some, such

Usually, indefinite pronouns do not require specific antecedents;

sometimes, however, may have specific antecedents.

No specific antecedent: Nobody was required to donate, but many offered

to give.

Specific antecedent: I bought new book covers, but none fitted this huge
volume.

G. Expletive Pronouns. They are pronouns, called expletives, which have no

actual meaning. (Note: research and check on this pronoun.) The most
common expletives are it and there.

It is raining.

There is no excitement in the party.

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 JMJ Marist Brothers
Notre Dame of Marbel University
COLLEGE OF ARTS AND SCIENCES
City of Koronadal, South Cotabato

REFERENCES

Forlini, G., Bauer, M.B., Biener, L., Capo, L. Kenyon, K.M., Shaw, D. & Verner, Z.

(2013). Prentice Hall Grammar and composition 2: Jurong, Singapore.

Lobeck, A. & Denham, K. (2014). Navigating English grammar. Malden, USA:

Wiley- Blackwell Publishing.

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