What Are Nouns?

Notes, Examples, and Exercises

• One important use of language is to name the people, places, and

things around us. Words used to name are called nouns.

• A noun is a word used to name a person, place, or thing.

• The classes into which words are grouped are called parts of
speech.

• Nouns are one of the most important parts of speech. Nouns name
all sorts of things. They name things you can see, such as horses,
boats, and footballs. They also name things you cannot see, such
as feelings, beliefs, and ideas.

PERSONS PLACES THINGS

doctor Spain book
Kimberly home building
Michelle Tampa loyalty

Exercise A: Find the nouns.

Using the chart below, place each noun in the appropriate category.

An unusually strong earthquake occurred in China in 1976. Tremors

from the quake were felt hundreds of miles away. In the severely
damaged city of Tientsin, thousands of Chinese evacuated collapsing
buildings. The industrial city of Tangshan was devastated, and its nearby
mines were also damaged. An estimated 655,000 people lost their lives.

Names of Persons Names of Places Names of Things

COMMON AND PROPER NOUNS
Look at the drawings of dogs below. How do the nouns differ from each
other? How does dog differ from Lucky?
dog

state

There are two kinds of nouns. A common noun is a name common to a

whole group of things. Dog is a common noun. But the names Laddy,
Nipper, and Ginger are names of individual dogs. They are proper nouns.

1. A common noun is the name of a whole group of persons, places,

or things. It is a name that is common to the whole group.

2. A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, or thing.

Look at the drawings of states on the previous page. Which nouns are
proper nouns? Why do you think so? Are there any common nouns in the
picture?

Look at the drawings again. Read the nouns that are capitalized. Notice
that the common nouns dog and state are not capitalized. Remember
this rule:

A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.

Exercise B: Find common and proper nouns.

Using the chart below, place each noun in the correct category.
Capitalize all Proper Nouns

1. salt lake city, las vegas, town, atlanta, city

2. dancer, maria tallchief, Martha graham, opera, Beverly sills, luciano pavarotti
3. pamphlet, reader’s digest, magazine, sports illustrated, seventeen
4. montana, kansas, state, indiana, region
5. crater lake, lagoon, gulf of mexico, white’s pond, lake champlain
6. continent, africa, europe, peninsula, korea, italy,
7. track meet, XXII olympic games, cincinatti reds, hockey, world series
8. mountain, andes, old smokey, mount popocatepetl, hills
9. artist, georgia o’keeffe, sculptor, alexander calder, louise nevelson
10. monument, mount rushmore, statue of liberty, building, empire state building

Common Nouns Proper Nouns