the Philippines but not *Philippine. Proper nouns also differ from common nouns in that they typically lack either a determinative or determinative contrast. For instance, we typically expect Michigan but not *a Michigan, and though the Bahamas includes the determinative the, the determinative cannot normally be varied (compare *a Bahama and *some Bahamas). Finally, proper nouns differ from common nouns in that they typically cannot be modified by restrictive modifiers. In English, the features that distinguish proper nouns from common nouns do not necessarily apply in the rare situations in which proper nouns lack unique denotation. For example, London typically refers to a unique place, but someone trying to disambiguate between two places named London might pluralize it (Which of the Londons are you referring to?), add a determinative (Do you mean the London in Ontario?), or add a restrictive modifier (Do you mean the London in Ontario?). Pronouns English pronouns are a closed category of words that have a variety of features distinguishing them from common and proper nouns. Unlike common nouns, pronouns are mostly deictic and anaphoric pro-forms. In the clause I like you, for instance, I and you are deictic in that their meanings can only be understood in relation to the context of the utterance. In the clause Tell Anne I want to talk to her, on the other hand, her is anaphoric in that the pronoun derives its meaning from its antecedent (Anne, in this case). Also unlike common nouns, English pronouns show distinctions in case (e.g., I, me, mine), person (e.g., I, you) and gender (e.g., he, she). Though both common nouns and pronouns show number distinction in English, they do so differently: common nouns tend to take an inflectional ending (–s) to mark plurals, but pronouns typically do not. (The pronoun one is an exception, as in I like those ones.) English pronouns are also more limited than common nouns in their ability to take dependents. For instance, while common nouns can often be preceded by a determinative (e.g., the car), pronouns cannot. In English conversation, pronouns are roughly as frequent as other nouns. In fiction, pronouns are about one third of all nouns, and in news and academic English, pronouns are a small minority of nouns (<10%). Common nouns Common nouns are defined as those that are neither proper nouns nor pronouns. They are the most numerous and the most frequently used