Use the Random.nextInt(int) method:

final String[] proper_noun = {"Fred", "Jane", "Richard Nixon", "Miss America"};
Random random = new Random();
int index = random.nextInt(proper_noun.length);
System.out.println(proper_noun[index]);

This code is not completely safe: one time out of four it'll choose Richard Nixon.

To quote a documentation Random.nextInt(int):

Returns a pseudorandom, uniformly distributed int value between 0 (inclusive) and the specified value (exclusive)

In your case passing an array length to the nextInt will do the trick - you'll get the random array index in the range [0; your_array.length)

First you'll have to move the S array to be an instance variable or a static variable, because currently it's local to your main method, and can't be accessed from your get method.

Then you can get a random String this way :

private Random rnd = new Random();
public String get ()
{
   return S[rnd.nextInt(S.length)];
}

Try:

list[r.nextInt(list.length)];

Just store the index generated in a variable, and then access the array using this varaible:

int idx = new Random().nextInt(fruits.length);
String random = (fruits[idx]);

P.S. I usually don't like generating new Random object per randoization - I prefer using a single Random in the program - and re-use it. It allows me to easily reproduce a problematic sequence if I later find any bug in the program.

According to this approach, I will have some variable Random r somewhere, and I will just use:

int idx = r.nextInt(fruits.length)

However, your approach is OK as well, but you might have hard time reproducing a specific sequence if you need to later on.

The problem is that you get the value for rndAnimal and randomAdj outside the for loop. So it gets the value randomly ONLY ONCE and displays it four times. To solve the problem, assign the value to the two Strings inside the loop.

for(int i=0; i<things; i++){

    //gets random animal 
    String animal = read.nextLine();
    String[]anm1 = animal.split(":"); 
    int rnd_Animal =r.nextInt(anm1.length); 
    String rndAnimal =(anm1[rnd_Animal]); 

    //gets random adjective 
    String adj = read.next(); 
    String []adj1 = adj.split(":"); 
    int rndAdj = r.nextInt(adj1.length);
    String randomAdj = (adj1[rndAdj]);

    System.out.println(randomAdj + " " + rndAnimal);
}

The simplest code IMHO would be:

String word = wordlist[new Random().nextInt(wordlist.length)];

You can use

Collections.shuffle(Arrays.asList(cards));