grammatical categories

1.1. the noun

The Noun

OBJECTIVES

■ To identify nouns in sentences                ■ To identify compound nouns in sentences

■ To identify common, proper, concrete, abstract, and collective nouns in sentences

 

a-      A noun is a word or word group that is used to name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

 

NOUNS

In elementary school you probably learned that a noun refers to a person, place, or thing. In addition, nouns name qualities, feelings, concepts, activities, and measures.

Persons:     Stephanie, Dr. Edelstein, teacher, accountant

Places:        Chicago, island, Italy, college

Things:      novel, surfboard, bicycle, horse

Qualities:   patience, honesty, initiative, enthusiasm

Feelings:     happiness, anger, confusion, sadness

Concepts:   knowledge, freedom, friendship, travel

Activities:   snowboarding, dancing, management, eating

Measures: day, week, inch, kilometer, million

 

Nouns are important words in our language. Sentences revolve around nouns because these words function both as subjects, and as objects of verbs. To determine whether a word is really a noun, try using it with the verb is or are. Notice that all the nouns listed here would make sense if used in this way: Stephanie is young, Chicago is in Illinois, horses are beautiful, dancing is fun, and so on.

 

Nouns can be common or proper; proper nouns require a capital letter.

—  Common: book, apple, crayon

—  Proper: Houston, Mr. Brown, the Bible

Nouns can be singular or plural.

—  Singular: bird, road, wish, army, crisis, Mrs. Brown

Making a noun plural usually involves adding an “s” or “es” to the singular noun, but there are many exceptions. 

—  Plural: birds, roads, wishes, armies, crises, the Browns. 

Add -s to the end of most nouns. For example: cat/cats, umbrella/umbrellas.

1-      Add -es to the end of a noun ending in ch, s, sh, x, or z. For example: church/churches, loss/losses.

2-      Drop the -y and add -ies to to a noun ending in a consonant followed by -y. For example: penny/pennies, candy/candies.

3-      Change f to v and add -es to many nouns ending in f or fe. For example: knife/knives, thief/thieves.

4-      Some nouns change in unpredictable ways when they become plural. For example, child/children, foot/feet.

5-      Some nouns do not change when they become plural. For example, deer/deer, sheep/sheep.

 

Some nouns are made up of two or more words put together. These are called compound nouns or compound words. Examples include:

thunderstorm            teardrop                    bumblebee

sunshine                     dishwasher                daydream

firefighter                  baseball                      sunset

b-     Compound Nouns

A compound noun is made up of two or more words sed together as a single noun.

—  The parts of a compound noun may be written as one word,as separate words,o r as a hyphenated word :

 

One Word	basketball, filmmaker, drugstore, doghouse, grasshopper, grandson, Passover, Greenland, Iceland
Separate Words	fire drill, chain reaction, The Call of the Wild, Thomas A. Edison, House of Representatives, North Americans
Hyphenated Word	self-control, cross-references, fun-draiser, mother-inlaw, out-of-doors, president-elect

c-      Common Nouns and Proper Nouns

A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas.

A common noun generally does not begin with a capital letter.

A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or idea.

A proper noun begins with a capital letter.

 

A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or idea and begins with a capital letter. A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas. It is usually not capitalized.

 

Common Nouns         Proper Nouns

poem                           “The Raven,” I Am Joaquín

country                       Spain, Ivory Coast

athlete                                     Lance Armstrong, Venus Williams

ship                             Mayflower, U.S.S. Constitution

newspaper                  The New York Times, USA Today

river                            Rio de la Plata, Ohio River

street                           Market Street, University Avenue

day                              Friday, Independence Day

city                              Los Angeles, New Delhi, Houston

organization                National Forensic League, Girl Scouts of America

 

d-     Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns

A concrete noun names a person, place, or thing that can be perceived by one or more of the senses (sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell).

An abstract noun names an idea, a feeling, a quality, or a characteristic.

 

Concrete  Nouns       hummingbird, telephone, teacher, popcorn, ocean, Golden Gate Bridge, Jesse Jackson

Abstract Nouns                    knowledge, patriotism, love, humor, self-confidence, beauty, competition, Zen Buddhism

 

e-      Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a word that names a group.

 

People                        Animals                      Things

audience                     brood                          batch

chorus                                     flock                           bundle

committee                   herd                            cluster

crew                            litter                            collection

faculty                        pack                            fleet

family                         pride                           set