Main Difference – Noun vs Pronoun
Nouns and pronouns are the words that act as the subjects and objects of sentences. Both nouns and pronouns are important concepts in grammar and are studied under the parts of speech. The main difference between noun and pronoun is that a noun names a person, place or thing whereas a pronoun replaces a noun. However, it is important to notice that although pronouns are generally defined as words that replace nouns, this definition doesn’t refer to all the types of pronouns. These different types of pronouns will be discussed in the latter part of the article.
What are Nouns
Nouns can be simply the names of people, objects, places or ideas. Everything that we see or feel is represented by a name. Noun is such a naming word. Nouns include people (child, mother, doctor), objects (chair, pencil, radio), places (London, hotel, garden), animals (tiger, bee, parrot), materials (glass, diamond, plastic), qualities (bravery, cruelty, intelligence).
Nouns can be classified into different categories. Given below are some of these categories.
Common nouns are nouns that indicate the class of a person, place or thing.
Ex: dog, mother, milk, tree, computer
Proper nouns are nouns that indicate the specific name of a person, place or thing.
Ex: Luxemburg, Charlie Chaplin, Ferrari, Milan, Microsoft
Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns
Concrete nouns refer to things that can be perceived through the five senses.
Ex: baby, lion, Rose, teacher, Madrid, water, ice cream
Abstract nouns refer to things that cannot be perceived by the five senses; they refer to ideas, concepts or state of things.
Ex: childhood, education, freedom, culture, truth, energy, bravery
Collective nouns are words that denote groups.
Ex: team, herd, school, staff, pack
Countable Nouns and Uncountable Nouns
Countable nouns are the nouns that can be counted using numbers.
Ex: children, mice, teeth, teachers, books
Uncountable nouns are the nouns that cannot be counted using numbers.
Ex: water, sugar, music, food, knowledge, research
What are Pronouns
Pronouns are words that can replace nouns. Pronouns can refer to nouns that have already been mentioned or about to be mentioned. For example,
John didn’t want to go to school. So he lied to his mother.
After he had spoken to the teacher, Martin felt relieved.
Personal pronouns are the most common pronouns; they are the words that first come to our mind when we first hear the word pronoun. Personal pronouns can be mainly classified as subject pronouns and object pronouns.
|
Subject Pronouns |
Object Pronouns |
|
you |
you |
|
he/she/it |
him/her/it |
|
we |
us |
|
they |
them |
Apart from personal pronouns discussed above, there are several other types of pronouns. They are,
Demonstrative Pronouns: Pronouns that refer to specific noun antecedents.
Ex: This, These, That, Those
Interrogative Pronouns: Pronouns that are used to ask questions
Ex: What, Which, Who, Whom, Whose
Possessive Pronouns: Pronouns that indicate possession
Ex: my, your, his, her, its, our, their
Relative Pronouns: Pronouns that are used to add more information to a sentence
Ex: which, whom, who, that, whose
Indefinite Pronouns: Pronouns that refer to a non-specific thing or person
Ex: some, any, none, many, several, few
Difference Between Noun and Pronoun
Definition
Noun is a name that denotes a person, object, place, or idea.
Pronoun is a word that takes the place of a noun.
Number
There are many nouns in the language.
There is a limited number of pronouns in the language.
Case
Nouns remain the same in both subjective case and objective case.
Pronouns change according to the subjective case and objective case.
