Nouns, Pronouns, Antecedents, and Agreement

1. Nouns, Pronouns, Antecedents, and Agreement

2. Noun Review • Noun-person, place, thing, or idea • Nouns that are ideas are not physically concrete • Examples: happiness, bravery, love, fun, freedom, etc. • Types of nouns: • Common • Proper • Abstract • Concrete • Collective

3. Noun Review: Common and Proper • Common nouns: a person, place, thing, or idea that is not specific or is named generally • Proper nouns: a specifically named person, place, thing, or idea • Proper nouns are capitalized • That painting is in a famous museum. • The Mona Lisa, a famous painting, hangs in the Louvre Museum.

4. Noun Review: Concrete and Abstract • Concrete nouns refer to nouns that can be seen, touched, tasted, smelled, or heard. These nouns are tangible. • Movie, dog, pizza, rose, trumpet, etc. • Abstract nouns refer to nouns that are ideas, qualities, or characteristics. These nouns are not tangible. • Honor, wisdom, self-esteem, beauty, etc.

5. Noun Review: Collective Nouns • A collective noun names a group: • Audience, batch, committee, team, family, etc. *Remember, some collective nouns are singular and some are plural depending on what is happening in the sentence!

6. Pronouns • Pronouns are words that are used in place of nouns or other pronouns. • The word that the pronoun replaces is called the antecedent. Example: Jessie turned in her report on time. • There are seven kinds of pronouns: • Personal • Reflexive • Intensive • Demonstrative • Interrogative • Indefinite • Relative

7. Pronouns: Find the Pronoun and Its Antecedent • Jack and Jill ate pizza for their dinner. • Josie, have you turned in your homework? • The cop car went flying around the corner as it rocketed toward the suspect. • We should throw Stuart a birthday party!

8. Personal Pronouns • Personal pronouns are probably the ones you know best: • I, me, we, us, you, yours, he, she, they, them, their, it, its, etc. • Personal pronouns refer to the person speaking (I), being spoken to (you), or being spoken about (him/her).

9. Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns • A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject and is necessary to the meaning of the sentence. • Tara enjoyed herself at the party. • The team prided themselves on their victory. • An intensive pronoun emphasizes a noun or another pronoun in the sentence and is not necessary to the sentence. The intensive pronoun can come out. • I myself cooked that delicious dinner. • Did you redecorate the room yourself?

10. Demonstrative Pronouns • Demonstrative pronouns point out a specific person, place, thing or idea. • This, that, these, those • This is the book that I bought for my sister. • These words can also be used as adjectives, so you must be careful! • I bought this book for my sister. • Did you order these sneakers?

11. Pronoun or Adjective? • Is this yours? • Do you want those old magazines? • Please hand me that spatula. • This is the car that I want to buy soon. • A question like that is not silly. • These students worked really hard all year.

12. Pronouns: Interrogative and Indefinite • An interrogative pronoun asks a question. • What, which, who, whom, whose • Who wrote that book? • What is the best play to see this weekend? • An indefinite pronoun refers to a person, place, thing, or idea that is not specifically named. • All, any, both, each, either, neither, many, nobody, anybody, someone, something, etc. • Both of the girls were cast in the play. • I would like some of that Chinese food.

13. Relative Pronouns • A relative pronoun introduces a subordinate clause. • Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence, was our country’s third president. • Exercise is something that many people enjoy. • These pronouns are similar to interrogative pronouns, so you have to be careful. Look at how the word is being used in the sentence.

14. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • Remember subject-verb agreement? • Singular subjects take singular verbs, plural subjects take plural verbs • Pronoun-antecedent agreement follows the same rule. • Singular antecedents require singular pronouns • Mary had a test in math, so she had to study. • Plural antecedents require plural pronouns • The Williams family is excited for their summer vacation.

15. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • Pronouns must also agree in gender • Female antecedents take female pronouns • Carla left her notebook in her mother’s car. • Male antecedents take male pronouns • My brother ate his dinner too quickly, resulting in a stomach ache. • Sometimes it is unclear if your antecedent is male or female. In that case, you must include a pronoun of both genders. • Someone left his or her notebook in the desk.

16. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • Find the pronoun and its antecedent. Then, decide if the sentence is correct or not. • Each of the girls has offered their ideas about the project. • One of the men lost his key. • No one in the school play forgot their lines. • Many of the animals in the zoo refused to eat its dinner. • Either Jessica or Jacob will give their speech today. • Sally and Steven donated their time to the weekend fundraiser.

17. Pronoun-Antecedent Agreement • For collective nouns, the pronoun should match the number (singular or plural) of the collective noun (antecedent). • The cast is giving its final performance tonight. • The cast are trying on their costumes. • Books, songs, movies, art, organizations, countries, and cities take singular pronouns. • The United Nations, which has its headquarters in New York, also has offices in Geneva and Vienna.