English Language Terminology
Nouns
A noun is (to put it simply) a 'thing'.
Proper noun = Names of people, places, days, companies, months, holidays and media such
as films and books. E.g. Jess went to Italy last Wednesday to celebrate Christmas
If a noun is not a proper noun, it is a common noun. Common nouns are split into three
categories; concrete, collective and abstract.
Concrete noun = Something we can see or touch. E.g. a cat jumped up onto a table to steal
the pancakes.
Collective noun = Something that is used to name a group of something, but can only mean a
group. E.g. The choir sang as the murder of crows watched over them.
Abstract noun = Something that is non-physical, we cannot see or touch it. After all hope was
lost, she was left with sadness and despair.
Pronouns
Pronouns take the place of a noun
Personal pronouns = Replaces the subject or object in a sentence. E.g. I, we, me, him
Reflexive pronouns = Indicate object of a verb is the same as the subject of the sentence. E.g.
self/selves in themselves and herself' "they were going to do if themselves" "she was going to
do it herself"
Indefinite pronouns = Do not refer to any specific person or thing e.g. someone, anything,
everything
Demonstrative pronouns = Tend to point to something e.g. that, this. "What's that?"
Possessive pronouns = Show possession e.g. hers, ours, mine "That is hers"
Interrogative pronouns = Used when asking a question e.g. who, whose, which, what
Relative pronouns = Act as linking words in a sentence always placed immediately after the
noun they refer to e.g. home, who, whose. "The man, who had decided to go home, was
walking very quickly".
Determiners
Determiners are used before a noun to introduce it or to provide more information on the noun,
such as how many there are.
Nouns
A noun is (to put it simply) a 'thing'.
Proper noun = Names of people, places, days, companies, months, holidays and media such
as films and books. E.g. Jess went to Italy last Wednesday to celebrate Christmas
If a noun is not a proper noun, it is a common noun. Common nouns are split into three
categories; concrete, collective and abstract.
Concrete noun = Something we can see or touch. E.g. a cat jumped up onto a table to steal
the pancakes.
Collective noun = Something that is used to name a group of something, but can only mean a
group. E.g. The choir sang as the murder of crows watched over them.
Abstract noun = Something that is non-physical, we cannot see or touch it. After all hope was
lost, she was left with sadness and despair.
Pronouns
Pronouns take the place of a noun
Personal pronouns = Replaces the subject or object in a sentence. E.g. I, we, me, him
Reflexive pronouns = Indicate object of a verb is the same as the subject of the sentence. E.g.
self/selves in themselves and herself' "they were going to do if themselves" "she was going to
do it herself"
Indefinite pronouns = Do not refer to any specific person or thing e.g. someone, anything,
everything
Demonstrative pronouns = Tend to point to something e.g. that, this. "What's that?"
Possessive pronouns = Show possession e.g. hers, ours, mine "That is hers"
Interrogative pronouns = Used when asking a question e.g. who, whose, which, what
Relative pronouns = Act as linking words in a sentence always placed immediately after the
noun they refer to e.g. home, who, whose. "The man, who had decided to go home, was
walking very quickly".
Determiners
Determiners are used before a noun to introduce it or to provide more information on the noun,
such as how many there are.
