last week, as i was watching "are you smarter than a fifth grader?", they put a sentence up on the board and asked how many proper nouns were in the sentence. sheeeeesh! i had no idea. i kept wondering what is the difference between a pronoun and a proper noun...
pronoun
any of a small set of words in a language that are used as substitutes for nouns or noun phrases and whose referents are named or understood in the context
proper noun
a noun that designates a particular being or thing, does not take a limiting modifier, and is usually capitalized in English —called also proper name
well, now i know. and now you know, right? and that makes us smarter that those pesky little fifth graders.
ps. i hate that show.
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8 comments:
why can i not grasp the difference? i feel like i might be stupid cause i don't get the difference.
the biggest difference is that proper nouns are like people's names. a pronoun is more like calling your mother "Mom". i think. uh oh...now i'm beginning to doubt my own understanding of it...
c'mon guys you know this stuff, it's just your definitions are way too constipated. Here, pronouns, nice and simple
A pronoun is used in place of a noun or nouns. Common pronouns include he, her, him, I, it, me, she, them, they, us, and we.
INSTEAD OF: Luma is a good athlete.
She is a good athlete. (The pronoun she replaces Luma.)
duh. we are constipated, indeed.
oh my heck.
i am laughing so hard.
constipated...
so funny.
It may be a bit late, but I've just needed to clarify this myself... A "noun" is what we call something so we know what it is (eg: city, girl, month). A "proper noun" is the name by which something or someone is known (eg: London, Rachelle, August). A pronoun is used in place of either to avoid repeating the same word and becoming boring. A "proper pronoun" would be the pronoun for a "proper noun". It depends a bit on context = "dad" as a description (eg: dad and his friends went fishing) = pronoun; "Dad" (eg: "Dad, can I have some more pocket money?") is a proper pronoun (in place of his real name or title as My Father). I think (and I am a qualified English teacher in England !)
By the way that last one ("dad" & "Dad", etc.) was me - I couldn't find my Google account details !
- thornuk
But can't all nouns be classified as wither proper or common?
So would a pronoun also be a proper noun or a common noun?
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