CHAPTER 1 What Are Nouns?

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 can function as subjects, direct objects, indirect objects, objects of prepositions, and subject complements. Examples: 1) Godzilla ordered a large pepperoni pizza and ate the pie in a single bite. Godzilla = the subject for the verbs ordered and ate. 2) George offered Godzilla a ten-dollar loan to buy a second pizza. Godzilla = the indirect object of offered; loan = the direct object of offered. 3) While eating a piece of pizza, George dripped tomato sauce onto his shirt. Shirt = the object of the preposition onto. 4) In Godzilla's opinion, George is a slob. Slob = subject complement of the linking verb is.

 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 THINGS

PLACES

doctor Kimberly Michelle

Spain home Tampa

book building 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 of Things Names of Places Names

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?

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.

3. A proper noun always begins with a capital letter

Example: 1) George and Godzilla dined at Antonio's. George, Godzilla, Antonio's = proper nouns. 2) A boy and his monster dined at a pizza restaurant. Boy, monster, restaurant = common nouns. 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, readers digest, magazine, sports illustrated, seventeen 4. montana, kansas, state, indiana, region 5. crater lake, lagoon, gulf of mexico, whites 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 okeeffe, sculptor, alexander calder, louise nevelson 10. monument, mount rushmore, statue of liberty, building, empire state building

Common Nouns

Proper Nouns

- Many nouns can be singular or plural; these are count nouns. No count nouns, on the other hand, have only a singular form; to make them plural is illogical. Read the sentences that follow: Godzilla ate three pizzas , two delivery boys , and six parked cars .

Pizzas, boys, and cars = count nouns. Godzilla didn't have to be such a pig; he could
have eaten only one pizza, one delivery boy, and one car. After overindulging at Antonio's, Godzilla got severe indigestion.

Indigestion = noncount. You cannot write, "Godzilla got eleven indigestions."

Forming

Singular

and

Plural

Nouns

Exercise A : Write the plural of each of these nouns. Then use your dictionary to see if you are right 1.church 10.tooth Exercise B: All but one of the following sentences has at least one error in the spelling of the plural. Write the sentences correctly. 2.brush 3.elf 4.wish 5.potato 6.dish 7.elk 8.sheep 9.fox

1. We places all of the dishs on the benches in the hallway. 2. Several different companys make CB radioes. 3. The thieves took several loaves of bread. 4. The babys were getting new tooths. 5. Several companys sell frozen mashed potatos. 6. First, cut the loafs in halves. 7. The deers were eating the green shoots on the bushs. 8. Use these brushs to pain the bookshelfs. 9. The larger boxes had scratchs on them. 10. My blue jeans are covered with patchs.