Back To Basics: Understanding The Difference Between Nouns And Pronouns

Use this simplified explanation and never make an error when using nouns and pronouns for all your sentences

Last week, we had spoken about how to add spaces after using punctation, like commas and periods. This week, we talk about the importance and difference between nouns and pronouns and how to use them in sentences.

First off, let’s discuss general nouns. They point out to everyday inanimate objects and give them names that can be used in general among a group of the same or similar objects. For example, a university or many universities will be written with no specific name attached to them.

On the other hand, we have proper nouns. These are for naming a particular object. It also implies giving a certain level of respect to an animated object or institution. Taking on the previous example, we look at the word “university” in general, but when you talk about a specific one, you use Harvard University.

General nouns are used in every sphere of life. Let’s take another example – say we are addressing the environment – trees, the birds, flowers, etc. But if you become more specific, you would then begin to use proper nouns that mention a specific, say tree, or bird, or flower.

A big grammar crime committed by a number of people is unnecessarily using capital letters in the middle of sentences for absolutely no objective reason. It isn’t wise to assume that an everyday subject can be converted into  a proper noun. This ends up looking unprofessional, especially for someone who has chosen content writing as a career.

To make it simpler, use only titles (Doctor, Reverend, etc.) with capital letters, along with names of individuals, people, places and institutions. The rest you can keep using with small letters. And yes, do make sure that you always begin each and every sentence with a capital letter, no exceptions!