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A proper noun is a noun that picks out a unique entity. This sets them apart from common nouns, which pick out classes of entities. Examples of proper nouns include:
1. John
2. the United Nations
3. Paris
and examples of common nouns are:
1. man
2. organization
3. country
Proper nouns also differ from common nouns in not being able to co-occur with other expressions that common nouns can co-occur with. For example, in English, proper nouns normally can't be preceded by (in-)definite articles. A `' in front of an example means that this example is unacceptable. This makes it seem that proper nouns behave as though they are full noun phrases. In other languages, like Spanish, proper nouns do, in fact, regularly co-occur with definite articles. Even in English, there are examples of proper nouns preceded by articles, as in the example 2. below. However, one could argue that, in this case, `Paris' is used as a common noun, rather than as a proper noun.
1.
2. This is very much like the Paris of my youth.
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