Person is that property of a noun or a pronoun which shows the relation of the speaker to the object spoken of. The object spoken of may be:

• the speaker
• the person spoken to
• a party neither speaking nor spoken to, but merely spoken of

Hence, there are three persons, the first person the second person, and the third person.
The first person denotes the speaker.

For example

In the sentence:
I, John, saw these things.
John is a noun in the first person.
In the sentence:
We, friends, will always work together.
friends is a noun in the first person.

Note

Observe, here, that the noun John means the same entity denoted by the pronoun. Both denote the speaker/writer. In the second sentence, the noun friends means the same set of entities as the pronoun we. Both denote here the speakers/writers.

The second person denotes the person spoken to.

For example

In the sentence:
Children, obey your parents.
children is a noun in the second person.
In the sentence:
Mary, trust your heart.
Mary is a noun in the second person.

The understood pronoun your, meaning children in the first sentence, and Mary in the second, are the nouns that denote the party or parties spoken to.

The third person denotes the person or thing spoken of.

For example

In the sentence:
Thomas did not come.
Thomas is a noun in the third person.
In the sentence:
The harvest is abundant.
harvest is a noun in the third person.
In these sentences, Thomas and harvest represent the party or entity spoken of.

Nouns in the first or the second person are never used as the subject or the object of a verb. They are used along with a pronoun for the purpose of explanation. First and second person nouns as such, alone, never appear alone in any sentence. First and second person nouns only appear in sentences with either stated or implied pronouns in the first or second person.

For example

In the sentence:
I, Paul, beseech you.
the noun Paul repeats and explains the first person pronoun I.  The pronoun I is the subject of the verb.
In the sentence:
The salutation of us, the living, will be known.
the noun phrase the living repeats and explains the first person pronoun us. The pronoun us is the object of the preposition of.

When the objects to which they apply are spoken to, the names of inanimate objects are in the second person. Objects thus addressed are personified, and are treated as though they were actual hearers.

For example

In the sentence:
And I have loved thee, Ocean.
the noun Ocean repeats and explains the second person pronoun thee. The pronoun thee is the object of the verb.

Note

The pronoun thee is an old form of the current usage second person pronoun you.

At this point proceed to Exercise 2.