Question

Do pronouns count as nouns? I'm not sure if I should include she, he, etc... as nouns on my worksheet.

Answer 1

Hint: A pronoun is a term that takes the place of a noun (reminder, a noun is defined as a person, place, or thing). Words like she, you, him, them, this, and who, to mention a few, are pronouns. For example, in the line "Susan enjoys oranges," the pronoun she can be used instead of the specific proper noun Susan: "She likes oranges."

Complete answer:
Pronouns aren’t nouns. A noun is a word that describes a person, location, or thing.

A pronoun is a placeholder. It can be used to replace a noun, but it can also be used to substitute other pronouns, as well as some adjectives and adverbs. Pronouns, like nouns, can be used as the subject or object of a sentence; they are what the statement is about. Pronouns contain terms like "he," "she," and "I," as well as "this," "that," "which," "who," "anyone," and "everyone."

Pronoun is used as a stand-in i.e. it takes the place of the noun. Person and number are indicated using personal pronouns. Gender is represented by the words he, she, him, and her. In place of noun phrases, we employ personal pronouns. They're frequently used to refer back to persons and things we've already identified.

Circling back to our question, According to the definition, you can use "she" when the person you're speaking with is aware of the female/woman you're referring to. Since, she is a pronoun it can be used to replace a singular noun in the sentence. Similar is the case with “he”. It is used to refer to a singular male or a man.

Note: Take a note of these while working with pronouns
- Many languages utilise gender-specific pronouns to refer to a variety of non-gender-specific objects.
- If the subject is renamed, subject pronouns are also used. They'll be verbs like is, are, was, were, am, will be, had been, and so on.
- A personal pronoun should not be preceded by an adjective. After the verb, a subject personal pronoun can contain an adjective.