Articles, Nouns and Pronouns Overview

Articles
Articles are used to identify whether the noun being used is a general or a specific
reference. The use of the article is to link ideas and make the text cohesive.
If the reference is general then the article a or an is used.
For example: I saw a dog today.
The article an is used if the following general noun begins with a vowel.
I ate an egg today.
If the reference is specific and the writer is referring to a specific noun, then the
article the is used. For example: I saw the dog today.
Nouns
Nouns are words that name people, places, things, ideas and states of being.
There are different types of nouns:
Common nouns (the vast majority) are the names of classes of things and
begin with a lower-case letter e.g. boy, girl, name, verb, biography, computer.
Proper nouns name specific people, places, things and acronyms and
begin with a capital letter e.g. Cathy Freeman, Sydney Harbour, State
Government, Dalmatian.
Abstract nouns name concepts or things that cannot be seen e.g.
democracy, hate, joy, honesty, hypothesis.
Collective nouns name groups of things e.g. team, family, committee, flock,
bunch.
Mass nouns name things that you cannot count e.g. gold, milk, sunshine,
furniture, traffic, information.
Noun Groups
A noun group is a group of words relating to, or building on, a noun. Noun groups
usually consist of an article (the, a, an) plus one or more adjectives or adverbs
and are an important language resource for building up descriptions.
The dry, windswept, desert region has an extremely low level of rainfall.
Noun groups can also have adjectival phrases or adjectival clauses embedded in
them:
The regions with low rainfalls are uninhabited. (with low rainfalls is an adjectival
phrase)
The regions which have higher rainfalls are inhabited. (which have higher rainfalls is
an adjectival clause)
Pronouns
A pronoun stands in place of a noun, noun group or name. Pronouns generally
need to have clear reference, referring to something that has been identified or
named elsewhere in the text. Pronouns generally refer back to words mentioned
earlier in the text; however sometimes a pronoun can be used and referenced to
a word that is forward in the text. For example:
Lucy may seem shy but she loves making friends. (refers back)
Although it was late, the train finally arrived. (refers forwards)
1

Pronouns help to give cohesion to a text and prevent it from becoming repetitious.
Pronouns are only effective if they are not ambiguous (that is, there is a clear line
of reference) and if they are not used repetitively.
Different types of pronouns include:
personal I, we, he, she, you, it, they, me, us, her, him, them
possessive mine, ours, yours, hers, his, its, theirs
reflexive myself, ourselves, yourself, yourselves, herself, himself,
themselves
demonstrative this, that, these, those
indefinite each, any, some, all, one, none, anybody, anything, nobody,
nothing, somebody, something, everybody
relative who, whom, whose, which, that
interrogative who, which, what, whose, whom
Relative Pronouns
Examples of the most common relative pronouns are whom, who, whose, that
and which.

Who and whom refer to people

Which is only used with things
That can be used with either people or things.
Whose is the possessive form that can be used with either people or things

This list of pronouns could be displayed on a poster (without using the technical
names of the different pronoun types if you think these will confuse students).
For students with visual impairment, poster text should be bold, black on white
and an appropriate font size. Students using Braille should make their own Braille
copy of the poster or alternatively paste a Braille copy of the words on the
poster using Braille label (see Learning Difficulties Overview).
Pronoun Reference
Reference includes the way in which information is introduced, maintained and
expanded in a text.The use of pronouns is the most common way of maintaining
reference without the clumsiness of continual naming. Pronouns are not generally
used continually, even if there is a clear line of reference to the noun or name, as
strings of pronouns can make a text flat and uninteresting. Instead, good writers
use different ways of identifying nouns in a text to maintain a clear chain of
reference while still keeping a text interesting.
For example:
I love reading The Wind in the Willows ...This wonderful story has ... Kenneth Grahames
tale will ...
This childrens classic tells ... It is all about ... I recommend this book to ...
These pronouns become interrogative when they are used to start a question.

Skill Focus: Identifying and using correct articles

for specific and non-specific nouns
STAGES 12

K6 Outcomes
RS2.8: Identifies the article an
precedes a noun beginning with
a vowel

Strategy
Identifying articles that link with nouns when deconstructing written texts as
cloze passages
Use the Think Aloud strategy to assist students develop identification strategies.
The Think Aloud strategy is available from Writing and Spelling Strategies, page 33.
Download a printable version of the Think Aloud strategy.
view and print

Activities to support the strategy

Shared book experience for example The Bears Lunch by Pamela Allen
Enlarge the text from a picture book (or use a big book).
Cover over the nouns and pronouns with post-it notes.

Guided
Exploring deep knowledge (QTF)

Item & Stimulus

Language Conventions
Year 3 Q: 26, 36 and 47,
Year 5 Q: 41
Year 7 Q: 38 ,Year 9Q: 34
Reading
Year 3 Q: 34

Item Descriptor
Recognition of grammatically
correct, structurally sound and
meaningful sentences

Statement of
Learning for English
Students have the opportunity
to draw on their knowledge of
texts and language to use correct
prepositional phrases

Use an excerpt from The Bears Lunch by Pamela Allen.

Links
Think Aloud strategy

view and print

Cover the nouns and pronouns with post-it notes (see above). Discuss the event
that is happening in the picture.
Discuss the names of the people and animals (the characters) in the scene.
List the nouns and pronouns on the board that could match each character.
Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Students cooperatively identify the missing words from the cloze and classify
them as nouns, pronouns, personal and possessive pronouns a matrix.
When identifying the nouns, tell the students that articles precede the nouns.
Bring the students attention to the articles such as: a picnic, a log, a frightened
mouse, the frightened fish, the bear, and the frightened children.
3

Discuss the different uses of the articles a, an, and the.

Discuss and show examples of the use of the article an before nouns that begin
with a vowel.
Articles are used to connect ideas in texts and are a cohesive device. The
difference for students to understand is that the indefinite article a changes to
an before a vowel or before a silent h because we hear the vowel as the first
sound in the word as in an hour.
For example: Oliver let out an enormous scream.
Discuss the introduction of the noun before using a pronoun to introduce
characters. (e.g. The bear before it)
Ask questions about who owns items in the pictures to develop students
understanding of personal pronouns.
The teacher lists the noun/pronoun/personal pronouns in a line in reference to
the noun as the students respond.
These can be laminated and used as a stimulus.
For example:

The bear
it/its

Oliver
he/him/his

Wendy
she/her/hers

view and print

Modelled
Highlight the masculine, feminine and neuter pronouns from the list using the
Think Aloud strategy.
Then model sentences that use the pronouns as subjects and then as objects
that are contextual to the students such as:
I was given a book.The book belongs to me.
I was given a pencil case.The pencil case belongs to me.
Model sentences that use personal pronouns using the same subject such as:
This is Caras book. It belongs to her. It is hers.
Assist students to identify the objective form. Explain that the words my, your,
his, her, its, our, your and their are possessive adjectives when used with a noun,
because they are describing who owns or possesses the noun.
I was given a pencil case.The pencil case belongs to me.The pencil case is mine.

Guided
Write various pronouns on flashcards.
4

Create a matrix on the whiteboard with masculine, feminine and object

headings.
Ask students to choose one card at a time and places it under the correct
heading.

Modelled
Model how to write a sentence using a reflexive pronoun. For example: He
washed himself.
Use arrows and explain that a reflexive pronoun is used when:
a pronoun refers back to the subject of the verb
when the action of the verb is performed on the subject
Then add two singular and two plural reflexive pronouns to the table and guide
students to complete.
Pronoun as
subject
I
you
he
she
it
we
you
they

Pronoun as
object
me
you
him
her
it
us
you
them

Possessive
pronoun
mine
yours
his
hers
its
ours
yours
theirs

Reflexive
pronoun
myself
yourself
himself
herself
itself
ourselves
yourselves
themselves

Developing pronoun reference chain understanding

Modelled
Use an excerpt (or similar) on an OHT (as shown below). Show how the text is
tied together cohesively using pronoun references.
Explain and show with arrows the personal pronouns reference using the example
below.
Lulu likes drawing. She attends drawing
classes once a week with her brother. Her
pictures are colourful and creative.

Pronoun reference chain:

LuluSheherHer

Discuss how to identify a noun or noun group. Use the personal pronoun chart
to discuss pronoun/noun links e.g. usually she refers to females; its refers to
objects.

Guided
Exploring the metalanguage (QTF)
Enlarge student writing samples to A3.
In cooperative groups, students identify, highlight and then track the nouns and
pronoun referencing. Ask students probing questions as they complete the
activity to encourage them to verbalise the concepts using the metalanguage.
5

Skill Focus: Identifying and using specific and

non-specific articles as part of a lesson on
nouns
STAGES 23
Strategy

Identifying a noun in context.

Use the Think Aloud strategy, page 132, to assist students develop identification
strategies. Download a printable version of the Think Aloud strategy.
view and print

Activity to support the strategy

K6 Outcomes
RS3.8: Identifies the correct
pronoun
Identifies the article and
precedes a noun beginning with
a vowel

Item & Stimulus

Language Conventions
Year 3 Q: 48 ,Year 5 Q: 43
Year 7 Q: 32, 34 and 38

Item Descriptor

Modelled
Using the excerpt on OHT, demonstrate how to determine which words are the
nouns in sentences and which are the pronouns that relate to the nouns.

Guided
Exploring deep knowledge and metalanguage (QTF)

Recognition of grammatically
correct, structurally sound and
meaningful sentences

Statement of
Learning for English
Students have the opportunity
to draw on their knowledge of
texts.

Discuss any words and concepts the text contains that could be unfamiliar to
students.
Write the words common and proper on the whiteboard and discuss the difference
between the two meanings.
Explain that a noun is a naming word.
Explain the difference between a common and a proper noun.
In addition to the way we punctuate the nouns, specific proper nouns add to the
detail of the text.
Ask students to:

imagine a picture of a bird

write three words to describe the bird on a piece of paper
search the class to find a student with the same three descriptions
discuss the results

Now show students the photo of the Gang Gang Cockatoo.

view and print

Ask and discuss:

6

Links
Think Aloud strategy

How does naming the type of bird create stronger imagery?

Now show the photo of the Blue Wrens.

view and print

Discuss how the two birds are in the same species but appear different.
Ask and discuss:
What could we add to the proper noun to give stronger imagery?
(Answer: Gender as the male bird has a colourful head whereas the female bird
has a brown head with red markings).
Students brainstorm a number of common nouns and these are listed on the
board to begin a matrix.
Students then change the common nouns to proper nouns.

common nouns

proper nouns

boy

Aden, Danny, Sam

girl

Chloe, Lila, Natalie

dog

Dalmatian, Terrier, Poodle

bird

Rainbow Lorikeet, Magpie, Kookaburra, Blue Wren

When using nouns in writing, articles precede the nouns. Bring the students
attention to the articles a, the and an.
a bird the Gang Gang Cockatoo
a boy the boy
a bird an Albatross
Discuss the different uses of the articles a, the and an.
Discuss and show examples of the use of the article an before nouns that begin
with a vowel.
Exploring higher order thinking (QTF)
Discuss the use of specific nouns in writing and reading which add to the imagery
of the text.
Ask as a shared book is read and proper nouns are identified, questions such as:
How does the use of the words Snowy Mountains add to the imagery rather than
using the word hill?
7

 How does the word Ferrari add to the imagery instead of using the word car?
What if the proper noun was Combi Van or Mactruck?

Independent
Exploring deep understanding (QTF)
Students rewrite the passages using specific nouns.
Students are encouraged to describe the noun using at least one effective
adjective.
Students share their constructions in a writers circle.
Using the students narrative writing, students highlight nouns and the referring
pronouns:
Peter caught a White-Tailed spider. He kept it his bedroom. It bit him on the finger.
Students complete the matrix.

noun

Is it a
proper
noun?

Is it a
common
noun?

What article
should I use
before this
noun?

What
pronouns did
I use to refer
back to this
noun?

Peter

yes

no

none

him, his, he

White-Tailed yes
spider

no

the, or, a

it

view and print

Skill Focus: Identifying and using relative

pronouns
STAGE 3
Strategy
Using poetry to learn specific linguistic structures
Using multimodal texts to develop deeper understanding of concepts
Activity to support the strategy

Guided
Building deep knowledge and using metalanguage of relative pronouns
(QTF)
Ask students:
What types of things can you eat that may make you feel sick?

K6 Outcomes
WS2.6: Recognises cohesive links
in texts
RS3.8: Identifies relative
pronouns

KLA Outcomes
English S4.4.2: Creates and
ensures medium, form and
content through specific language
conventions

Item & Stimulus

Language Conventions
Year 3 Q: 32
Year 5 Q: 27
Year 9 Q: 28

What might happen if you eat something poisonous, or if you eat too much?

Item Descriptor

What is something that you might swallow by accident?

Does anyone know someone who has eaten something that made them sick?
As the students discuss, list the objects and items and the relative pronouns that
the students use in their language as they describe the situations.
Teach the rhyme (which can also be taught as a song): There was an old lady who
swallowed a fly.
Access the following websites for words to the rhyme.

Recognition of grammatically
correct, structurally sound and
meaningful sentences

Statement of
Learning for English
Students have the opportunity
to draw on their knowledge of
texts.

http://www.poppyfields.net/poppy/songs/oldwoman.html
http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/kk1.html (this includes a voice recording of the
poem)
After learning the poem orally, introduce the students to the text as a shared
reading experience.
Exploring metalanguage of relative pronouns (QTF)

Links
http://www.poppyfields.net/
poppy/songs/oldwoman.html
http://www.the-old-sea-dog.net/
kk1.html

view and print

Prepare these stimulus questions as an OHT or on A3 paper.

Model
Using the Think Aloud strategy, model how to identify the correct word for each
deletion.
Point out the relation of the deleted words to the nouns in the sentences.

Guided
Ask the students to verbalise how the teacher identified the correct word,
retelling the strategies.
Ask the students to explain the relationship between the pronoun and the
noun.
Involve students in guiding you how to choose the correct deletion in the last
example.
Provide more examples to suit the needs of the students.
Exploring higher order thinking (QTF)
Re-read the rhyme There was an old lady who swallowed a fly.
After reading, ask students:
Were there any words that were like the deletions from the examples we have just
worked with?
How are the sentence structures similar?
Write a sentence from the rhyme and a sentence from the stimuli set on the
board and deconstruct the sentence structure, drawing arrows to the relating
nouns and pronouns.

Independent
Students complete a cloze of the poem with the relative pronouns deleted.
Exploring deep understanding (QTF)
In pairs, students create new stanzas for the rhyme and create a class publication
of their efforts.
This can be published as a blog site on the school web.

10

Skill Focus: Identifying and using relative

pronouns
STAGE 4
Strategy

K6 Outcomes
WS2.6: Recognises cohesive links
in texts
RS3.8: Identifies relative
pronouns

Deconstructing the specific linguistic structures in poetry

KLA Outcomes

Looking at deconstructing stanzas of poems by:

Discussing the language in terms of todays spoken and written forms
Discussing grammatical features
Tracking the linguistic references

English S4.4.2: Creates and

ensures medium, form and
content through specific language
conventions

Activity to support the strategy

Access http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/Coleridge/poems/Rime_Ancient_Mariner.
html
Select specific stanzas to deconstruct.

Item & Stimulus

Language Conventions
Year 3 Q: 32
Year 9 Q: 28

Guided
Exploring metalanguage (QTF)

Item Descriptor

While some students may be able to deconstruct the formal old English, the form
can be changed to a modern day format or the teacher could carefully choose
the stanzas for deconstruction.
The teacher needs to provide an oral summary of the story to place the stanza
in context with the narrative.
Examples of relative pronouns in the poem for discussion
The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Coleridge
The pang, the curse, with which they died,
Had never passed away:

Recognition of grammatically
correct, structurally sound and
meaningful sentences

Statement of
Learning for English
Students have the opportunity
to draw on their knowledge of
texts.

Links

I could not draw my eyes from theirs,

http://etext.virginia.edu/stc/
Coleridge/poems/Rime_
Ancient_Mariner.html

Nor turn them up to pray.

This Hermit good lives in that wood

http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/
quiz/relativ2.htm

Which slopes down to the sea.

How loudly his sweet voice he rears!
He loves to talk with mariners
That come from a far country.
He prays best, who loves best
All things both great and small;
For the dear God who loves us,
He made and loves all.
11

Exploring higher order thinking (QTF)

Using the selected stanzas from Samuel Coleridges The Rime of the Ancient
Mariner identify similar linguistic stanzas from the text:
The Crime of the Ancient Mariner by Pia Santaklaus www.bitterbeat.com.au
For example:
Her stormy eyes were like the gales
Which blow both hot and cold.
This tale of woe was writ to show
How low the agent man who could profit from such words?

Guided
Exploring metalanguage (QTF)
Provide a matrix on the whiteboard and discuss the metalanguage used in the
charts on the website.
Subject
Relative
Pronouns Human

Nonhuman

Object
Human

Nonhuman

Object of
preposition
Human
Nonhuman

http://www.cityu.edu.hk/elc/quiz/relativ2.htm

Independent
Students complete the online task.

12