“They” has been traditionally used as a plural pronoun, but it can be either singular or plural depending on the context.
The singular they can be used when referring to someone whose gender is unknown or irrelevant, as well as someone who identifies as nonbinary, gender-nonconforming, or otherwise uses “they/them” personal pronouns.
For example, “If a customer has any questions, they can ask the staff.”
Nouns can be categorized in a wide variety of ways, including the following:
Because “are” is a verb and not a noun, it’s not plural or singular. However, the verb “are” agrees with the plural subject pronoun “we” and plural nouns, such as “cats” (e.g., “My cats are watching the birds out the window”).
The verb “are” also agrees with the subject pronouns “you” and “they,” which can be singular or plural (e.g., “You are such a good friend” or “Babies cry when they are hungry”).
If you’re unsure about when to use are in your writing, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you choose the correct verb.
The subject pronoun “you” can be singular or plural.
If you’re talking to one person, “you” is singular (e.g., “You are a motivated student”).
If you’re talking to two or more people, “you” is plural (e.g., “You are all great students”).
If you’re unsure about when to use you in your writing, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you choose the correct pronoun.
Who can be a singular or plural subject pronoun.
Sometimes “who” represents one person (e.g., “The person who shares my office has a terrific sense of humor”).
“Who” can also represent two or more people (e.g., “The people who live across the street have a new puppy”).
If you’re unsure about when to use who in your writing, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you choose the correct pronoun.
The plural subject pronouns are “we,” “you,” “they,” and “who.”
“We” is always plural and means “one or more other people and I” (e.g., “We all love working here because our jobs are so fun”).
“You,” “they,” and “who” can be singular or plural (e.g., “I know all of the people who live in this building” and “The person who lives next door is my best friend”).
If you’re unsure about when to use singular or plural pronouns, QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid mistakes.
Subject pronouns (“I,” “we,” “she,” “he,” “they,” “you,” “who,” and “it”) perform the action in a sentence or clause (e.g., “We watched a documentary about pyramids yesterday”).
Object pronouns (“me,” “us,” “him,” “her,” “them,” “whom”) receive the action (e.g., “The instructor gave us a new assignment today”).
QuillBot’s free Grammar Checker can help you avoid mistakes with subject and object pronouns.
Both “themselves” and “themself” can be used with the singular they. “Themselves” tends to be more widely accepted, especially for style guides, but “themself” has become more common in the English language.
For example, “Justin helped themself/themselves to another serving of dinner.”
“Them” can be either singular or plural and, like the singular they, it is used to refer to someone when gender is unknown or irrelevant or to refer to a nonbinary person who uses “they/them” personal pronouns.
For example, “If a student misses a class, let them know they can come to office hours.”
Nominative case (also known as subjective case) is used for personal pronouns when they are the subject of a sentence (e.g., I, he, she, we) and objective case is used for pronouns when they are the object (e.g., me, him, her, us).
A pronoun in the nominative or subjective case is known as a subject pronoun or nominative pronoun (e.g., “she emailed my teacher”).
A pronoun in the objective case is known as an object pronoun (e.g., “my teacher emailed her”).
A predicate noun is another term for a predicate nominative. It’s a noun or pronoun that follows a linking verb and identifies, describes, or redefines the subject.
For example, in the sentence “you are my best friend,” “you” is the subject and “my best friend” is the predicate nominative describing the subject.
Noun clauses often (but not always) begin with relative pronouns (e.g., “which,” “that,” “who”) or subordinating conjunctions (e.g., “if,” “whether”).
A noun clause functions as a noun in a sentence (unlike a relative clause, which functions as an adjective), and it is the only type of noun that contains a verb.
Noun clauses essentially function as nouns, but they can serve various grammatical functions. Their roles include the following: subject, object, appositive, and subject complement (e.g., predicate nominative).
A QuillBot grammar check can help ensure you’re using noun clauses correctly.
In general, academic concepts are not capitalized; most are common nouns. This includes disciplines, models, theories, and frameworks (e.g., “string theory,” “existentialism”).
Common nouns are not capitalized even when they are used alongside proper nouns (which are always capitalized) in the name of an academic concept (e.g., “Newton’s laws,” “the Black–Scholes model”).
Both gerund phrases and participial phrases begin with the “-ing” form of a verb (e.g., “running,” “eating”).
However, gerund phrases act as nouns in a sentence (e.g., “Running long distances is a great stress reliever), while participial phrases act as adjectives to describe a noun or pronoun (e.g., “Running quickly, Matt tried to catch the bus”).
“Talent” is an abstract noun, signifying a conceptual quality, not a physical object. It encompasses innate abilities or skills individuals possess, making it impossible to touch or perceive directly.
“Freedom” is an abstract noun. It denotes a conceptual state beyond the reach of the five senses. Although we can observe tangible expressions of freedom, such as unrestricted movement, the concept exists in the mind and not in the physical realm.
Concrete nouns refer to people, places, or things that are physically observable to the senses. Examples include “Mrs. Robins,” “snowstorm,” “San Juan,” “moonlight,” and “book.”
Abstract nouns, in contrast, name constructs that can’t be observed with the senses, such as ideas, moods, and values. Examples include “nostalgia,” “weekday,” “peace,” “era,” and “academia.”
An antecedent is a word or phrase that another word or phrase refers back to. It’s most commonly seen with pronouns. For example, in the sentence “The artist is here, and he wants to talk to you,” “he” refers back to the antecedent “artist,” and they agree in person, number, and gender.
Antecedents aren’t limited to pronouns, however. They are also relevant to appositives and possessive adjectives.
“Appositive” describes a noun or noun phrase that follows another noun phrase (its antecedent) to provide additional information about it (e.g., “Our new student, Rita, loves reading”).
The relationship between the appositive and its antecedent is called apposition.
The QuillBot Grammar Checker can help you punctuate appositive phrases correctly.
The word “summer” is a common noun. Like the other seasons (e.g., “fall”), it doesn’t require capitalization unless it is part of a proper noun (e.g., “the 1984 Summer Olympics”).
In contrast, the names of specific months (e.g., “December”) and days of the week (e.g., “Friday”) are proper nouns and require capitalization.
The word “earth” is treated as a proper noun only when it refers to the celestial body (e.g., “The Earth is the third planet from the sun”).
“Earth” is typically treated as a common noun (i.e., lowercase) when it denotes the surface of the planet, the sum of its inhabitants, the realm of the living, or the dry land as opposed to water or sky.
People’s names are proper nouns. This includes first names (e.g., “Kyle,” “Sarai”), family names (e.g., “Klein,” “the Ruperts”), and titles that are part of an individual’s name (e.g., “Pope Francis,” “Professor Martinez”).
The names of many non-human entities are also proper nouns. This includes brands (e.g., “Coca-Cola,” “Microsoft”), organizations (e.g., “New York University,” “the World Health Organization”), religions (e.g., “Eastern Orthodoxy,” “Buddhism”), and holidays (e.g., “New Year’s Day,” “Mid-Autumn Festival”), among other things.
A common noun is not capitalized, as it names a category of person, place, thing, or concept. Common nouns often require articles (e.g., “a”) or determiners (e.g., “many,” “his”).
In contrast, a proper noun is capitalized and names a specific person, place, thing, or concept. Most common nouns don’t require an article, but some require “the” (e.g., “the Great Lakes”).
A relative adverb is a type of adverb that introduces a dependent clause (i.e., a group of words with a subject and a verb that cannot stand on its own as a sentence).
There are three relative adverbs in English:
“That” and “which” are two of the four most common relative pronouns in English (along with “who” and “whom”).
That is used to introduce restrictive relative clauses—those that give essential information about the noun or noun phrase they modify (e.g., “Book the flight that leaves at 7 a.m.”). Restrictive clauses are not set off by commas.
Which is used to introduce nonrestrictive relative clauses—those that give nonessential details about the noun or noun phrase they modify (e.g., “My assistant booked the earliest flight, which leaves at 7 a.m.”). Nonrestrictive clauses are set off by commas.
In British English, “which” can also be used (without commas) in restrictive clauses. However, in American English, “which” is only used in nonrestrictive clauses.
Yes, “that” is one of the four most common relative pronouns in English (“that,” “which,” “who,” and “whom”).
Relative pronouns are used to introduce relative clauses, which give more information about a noun or noun phrase (e.g., “the shirt that Dylan is wearing” or “the book that is on the table”).
In other contexts, “that” is also used as an adverb, conjunction, or determiner.
A gerund is a noun that is derived from a verb, using the “-ing” ending (e.g., “swimming,” cooking”).
A gerund phrase is a group of words that begins with a gerund and includes any of its modifiers or objects (e.g., “swimming in the ocean,” “cooking dinner every night for my friends”).
Both gerunds and gerund phrases act as nouns in sentences and can be subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and subject complements.