a linguistic form that refers to an individual directly – that is, it names an individual rather than a category. The term 'proper name' is also used; we will consider these two terms to be synonymous. Example: Bill Croft refers to a particular individual. Note that being a proper noun is a function of a form; one can use the form Bill Croft as a common noun – for example, to refer to a category of all persons named 'Bill Croft'. (Section 3.1.1)