Name: Ibale, Lester

YR./Course: 1st BEEd

English for Teachers
(A01)
What are the uses of nouns in sentences?
When we talk about noun functions, we simply mean the many roles that nouns
can play when they occur in sentences.
1. Subject of the Sentence
Sentences are constructed using the subject as the primary component.
Nouns in a sentence can function as subjects by answering the question of who
or what is doing the action and the state of being.
Examples:
a. Lester takes out the trash.
b. The sky seemed hazy.
 The verb is takes out. Lester specifies who or what will take out the
garbage. As a result, Lester, who does the activity, is the sentence's
subject.
2. Direct Object of the Verb
In a statement, a noun can act as a direct object by answering the question:
"Who or what is receiving the verb's action?". And if a direct object exists in a
sentence, it should generally come after the verb and it must be an action verb.
Example:
a. Lester takes out the trash.
In sentence above, “Lester takes out the trash,” the noun, Lester is the do-er
of the action. The verb takes out is the action that Lester performed.
3. Indirect Object
An indirect object is a person or thing to whom or for which something is done. A
noun can function as an indirect object, which, like a direct object, requires a verb
of action. As with the receiver of the direct object, which is directly the receiver of
the action, an indirect object receives the action of the verb indirectly.
Examples:
a. Kim supplied him some goods.
b. Kim lent Manus the phone.
4. Subject Complement
Nouns can also be used as subject complements, usually when they follow a
verb of being and answer the question “Who?”, or the question “What?”.
Example:
a. The lady is an engineer.
b. Mazekeen is my aunt.
5. Object of Preposition
Prepositional phrases are groups of words beginning with a preposition and
generally ending with a noun. The noun that follows a preposition is the object of
the preposition.
Examples:
a. From the beginning of the term, Gretchen was certain she would make good
grades.
b. For many in the squad, morning-drilling proved to be the most challenging
task.
6. Predicate Nominatives
A predicate nominative also known as predicate noun, is a noun or pronoun that
completes or complement a linking verb and renames the subject of the verb. It
can usually come after linking verbs.
Examples:
a. The house feels like home.
b. The book is a best seller.
7. Object Complement
objective complement is usually a noun, pronoun or an adjective which comes
after a direct object to rename or modify the direct object.
Examples:
a. We met the boy eating.
b. I found his room very messy.
8. Appositive
An appositive noun must come after another noun and rename it. A comma
separates an appositive noun and its modifiers from the remainder of the phrase.
Examples:
a. Meet my new classmate, James.
b. My dog, Nala, like to sleep on the sofa.
9. Direct Address
Nouns of direct address are typically used to name the listener when you are
addressing, or speaking, directly to him/her in conversation. A noun of direct
address is separated by commas; it does not have any grammatical relationship
to any part of the sentence.
Examples:
a. Sanders, I received your proposal mail yesterday.
b. Mr. Sloan, the conference room is now ready for the meeting.
10. Nominative Absolute
The nominative absolute is a sort of phrase that is made up of a noun followed
and modified by a participle or a participial phrase.
Examples:
a. The book being short, I read it in two hours.
b. Our fingers scraping the leftover frosting of the plates.
Cases of noun
Subjective
Nouns and pronouns appear in the subjective (also known as the nominative) case
when they take the form of the sentence's subject or when they are used as predicate
nouns. Predicate nouns are preceded by forms of the verb "be" re-identifying the
subject in a new way.
For example "The woman is a waitress."
Here, the word "is" -- a "be" verb -- precedes the word "waitress," which renames "the
woman." That means the noun case is subjective.
"The man wants to buy a car."
Here, "the man is the subject of the sentence, and so the case is subjective as well.
Pronouns often used in the subjective case include: “I,” "he," "she," "we," and “they.”
Objective
The objective case is used when a noun or pronoun appears as a direct or indirect
object. Direct objects are seen more often in sentences. They follow transitive or action
verbs while indirect objects identify the object of the verb's action and also who is the
recipient of the direct object. It may also be used when the noun appears as an object of
a preposition. For example:
"The girl jumped over the couch."
Here, the couch is the object of the preposition, making the noun case objective.
"The teacher gave us our homework."
Here, the homework is the indirect object.
"The cat ate the cupcakes."
Here, the cupcakes are direct objects.
"Me,” “her," "him," "us," and "them" are pronouns often used in the objective case.
Possessive
Nouns and pronouns in the possessive case show ownership. The placement of the
possessive apostrophe matches with the ownership reflected in the possessive noun
case. While there are exceptions for spelling, if it is a singular possessive, the
apostrophe comes before the "s" while multiple possessives have the apostrophe after
the "s". For example:
"Carrie ate Tommy's pancakes."
Tommy is the owner of the pancakes, and so the case is possessive.
"I have lost his favorite shirt."
The pronoun "his" indicates ownership. Other pronouns often used in the possessive
case include: "her," "my," "mine," "our," and "their."

Types of pronouns
Possessive pronouns
A possessive pronoun is a pronoun that expresses possession, ownership, origin,
relationship, of something or someone. (mine, yours, his, hers, ours, theirs)
Examples:
 That toy on the shelf is mine.
 All the houses in our neighborhood look the same, but ours is the only one with a
satellite dish.
Personal pronouns
Personal pronouns are pronouns that we use to refer to people and, sometimes,
animals. The pronouns it, they, and them can also apply to objects. (I, you, she, he, it,
we, they, me, us, them)
Examples:
 The toaster gets really hot when it heats bread.
 My cats are friendly, so you can safely pet them.
Relative pronouns
These pronouns connect dependent clauses to independent clauses. (who, whom,
which, what, that)
Examples:
 She doesn’t want to eat a meal that is too spicy.
 This book, which ends on a cliffhanger, is really exciting.
Reflexive pronouns
It is a pronoun used as an object of a verb that refers to the same person or thing as the
subject of the verb. (myself, yourself, itself, herself, himself, ourselves, themselves)
Examples:
 I like to cheer myself up with desserts.
 The silly clowns made fools of themselves.
 Intensive pronouns
Intensive pronouns refer back to the subject in order to add emphasis. Intensive
pronouns are identical in appearance to reflexive pronouns. (myself, yourself,
herself, himself, itself, ourselves, themselves)
Examples:
 The children made the cookies themselves.
 Often, the stress of giving a speech is worse than the speech itself.
Indefinite pronouns
An indefinite pronoun is a pronoun that doesn’t specifically identify who or what it is
referring to. (some, somebody, anyone, anywhere, nothing, everybody)
Examples:
 This note could have been written by anybody.
 Someone ate my lunch.
Demonstrative pronouns
Demonstrative pronouns are used to point to specific things. (this, that, these, those)
Example:
 I don’t know what that is, but it definitely isn’t friendly.
 I need you to fix these.
Interrogative pronouns
Interrogative pronouns are pronouns used to ask questions about unknown people or
things. (who, whom, what, which, whose)
Examples:
 Who wrote this article?
 Which is the correct answer?
Reciprocal pronouns
Reciprocal pronouns express mutual relationships or actions. (each other, one another)
Examples:
 The members of the team support one another.
 The two fishermen love to compete with each other.

Cases of pronouns
Subjective Pronouns
The subjective (or nominative) pronouns are I, you , he/she/it, we, you , they and who. A
subjective pronoun acts as a subject in a sentence.
Examples:
 Please share it with all of us.
 Do we have to share it with them?
Possessive Pronouns
There are two types of possessive pronouns. The first type is used with nouns my, your
(singular), his, her, your (plural), its, their, our. The other type of pronouns are
sometimes called independent possessive pronouns, because they can stand alone.
They are mine, yours (singular), his, hers, ours, yours (plural) and theirs. The
possessive pronouns show that something (or someone) belongs to someone (or
something).
Objective Pronouns
The objective (or accusative) case pronouns are me, you (singular), him/her/it, us, you
(plural), them and whom. (Notice that form of you and it does not change.) The objective
case is used when something is being done to (or given to, etc.) someone