Islamic Online University

Bachelor of Arts in Islamic Studies

English 101 Assignment

Question:

5. Describe Nouns, and Pronouns, giving at least 2 examples for each

of their types, from THE SEALED NECTAR.

Answer:
A noun is a part of speech that describes a person, place or thing. There are different types of
nouns as we will see with examples from the book The Sealed Nectar.
1. Common nouns name any one of a class of person, place, or thing.
An example of this is the word city as used in this sentence, You belong to the city of the
righteous Jonah, son of Matta.
Another example is man in this sentence, The man who laid the stones was a Roman
mason called Baqum.
2. Proper nouns name a specific person, place or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalised.
An example of this is the word Abraham in this sentence, Abraham returned to Palestine
where Hagar gave birth to Ishmael.
Another example of this is the word Makkah in this sentence, Abraham used to go to
Makkah every now and then to see his wife and son.
3. Compound nouns are made up of two or more nouns that act as a single unit. A compound
noun can be two individual words, words joined by a hyphen, or two words combined.

An example of this is the word brother-in-law in the sentence, He plunged forward towards
his brother-in-law and beat him severely, but Fatimah rushed to the rescue of her
husband.
Another example is headache which can be found in the following sentence, On the way
back he had a headache, his temperature rose so high that the heat effect could be felt over
his headband.
4. Collective nouns name groups of people or things.
An example of this is family in the following sentence, The family of Dhu Yazin was thus
deprived of royalty forever.
Another example is audience in this sentence, The Night Journey raised a good deal of stir
among the people and the sceptical audience plied Muhammad with all sorts of questions.
There are also possessive nouns which show ownership.
An example of this is the word Muslims Similarly he managed to change the Muslims defeat in
Hunain into a victory.
Another example is the word mens in this sentence, The teachings of those religions had
grown weak and lost all influence on mens souls and spirits and became mere lifeless ritual
traditions.
Another type of noun is the plural noun which indicates more than one person, place or thing.
Here is an example with the word parties Consequently, the parties to the aforesaid
confederacy convened their meeting and managed to force Az-Zubaidys money out of Al-As bin
Wail.
Another example can be found in idols in the sentence Casting the lots for the idols was
allocated to Bani Jumah.
Pronouns
A pronoun is a word used instead of a noun or another pronoun. Pronouns aid in avoiding
repetition in writing and speech. There are different kinds of pronouns and we will look at
examples for each.
1. Personal pronouns refer to a specific person, place or thing.
An example of this is my in this sentence O Prophet of Allh! that boy is my son.
Another example is they in this sentence Later, they conquered the Haram, and settled in
Makkah after having driven away its people, the tribe of Jurhum.
2. Possessive pronouns show ownership and they are: your, yours, his, hers, its, ours, their,
theirs, whose.
An example of this is the word ours in the sentence, Al-Uzza (i.e. an idol) is ours but you
have no Uzza.
Another example is whose in this sentence, The child is to be attributed to the one on
whose bed it was born, and stoning is the lot of a fornicator.
3. Reflexive pronouns point back to a noun or pronoun thus adding information to a sentence.
Reflexive pronouns end in self or selves.

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An example of this is himself in this sentence, He would never hesitate to sacrifice himself
to maintain his ever alert sense of self-respect.
Another example is themselves in the following sentence, The idolaters, unconsciously and
with full compliance, prostrated themselves in absolute god-fearing and stainless devotion
Intensive pronouns add emphasis to the noun or pronoun, and they also end in self or
-selves.
An example can be seen in the word myself in this sentence, I myself had adopted the
same attitude until Allh guided me towards Islam.
Also in the following example the word himself, He added asking them to tell their new
monarch that Islam would prevail everywhere and outstrip the sovereignty of Chosroes
himself.
Demonstrative pronouns draw attention to a specific person, place, or thing. There are four
demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
An example can be seen using this in the following sentence, Thanks to this strategic
position the Arabian Peninsula had become the centre for trade, culture, religion and art.
Another example using those is seen in this sentence Those tribes dwelling near Heerah
were subordinate to the Arabian king of Heerah
Relative pronouns begin a subordinate clause. The five relative pronouns are: that, which,
who, whom, those.
An example of this can be seen here using who, It is a Divine injunction that alms tax be
taken from the well-to-do people who have surplus wealth and be distributed to the poor.
Another example is the word that in this sentence, Some soothsayers claimed that they
could uncover the unknown by means of a granted power
Interrogative pronouns ask a question using these words: what, which, who, whom, whose.
An example can be seen using what, What are his grandfather and mother likely to do?
An example using which can be seen in this sentence, "Which of the folk of my house?"
asked 'Umar angrily.
Indefinite pronouns refer to people, places, objects, or things without specifying a certain
one.
An example of this is the word anyone in this sentence, Such women used to put a certain
flag at their gates to invite in anyone who liked.
Another example is the word most in this sentence, Most of the tribe of Taghlib lived in the
Euphrates area while some of them lived with Bakr.

Resources
The Sealed Nectar, Saifur Rahman al-Mubarakpuri
English Grammar for the Utterly Confused, Laurie Rozakis, Ph.D.