Friday, August 31, 2007

pronoun or proper noun?

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.

8 comments:

chelle. said...

why can i not grasp the difference? i feel like i might be stupid cause i don't get the difference.

Anonymous said...

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...

Anonymous said...

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.)

Anonymous said...

duh. we are constipated, indeed.

chelle. said...

oh my heck.
i am laughing so hard.
constipated...
so funny.

Anonymous said...

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 !)

Unknown said...

By the way that last one ("dad" & "Dad", etc.) was me - I couldn't find my Google account details !
- thornuk

Anonymous said...

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?