Download Nouns – people, places, things, and ideas

Nouns – people, places, things (objects), and ideas.
Types of Nouns
Common Nouns – people, places, things (objects), and ideas that are not capitalized
Examples: girl, boy, school, lake, monument, city, loyalty, friendship
Proper Nouns – specific, capitalized nouns (names)
Examples: Sarah, Jake, Shaker Junior High, Lake George, Washington Monument, Statue of Liberty
Singular Noun – only one person, place, thing, or idea (single)
Examples: girl, boy, Hudson River, Statue of Liberty, friendship
Plural Noun – more than one person, place, thing, or idea
Examples: girls, boys, rivers, statues, friendships, mice, geese
Abstract Noun – a noun that does not have physical form or substance; often an idea or emotion
Examples: friendship, loyalty, love, anger
Concrete Noun – a noun that has physical form or substance
Examples: tables, girl, Lake George
*Remember, the same noun can be categorized in more than one way. For example, boy is a singular, common noun, as
well as a concrete noun.
Nouns have many roles in a sentence. Sometimes they can act as adverbs and adjectives, but their main jobs in a
sentence are to be the subject, direct object, indirect object, or object of a preposition.
Subjects – Every sentence must have at least one subject. The subject is who or what the sentence is about. Usually
the subject is “doing” the action, and usually the subject is at the beginning of the sentence.
Direct Objects must follow an action verb. They answer the questions who or what.
Indirect Objects must be in between an action verb and a direct object. They tell the reader: to whom, for whom, to
what, for what.
Objects of the Preposition are found at the end of a prepositional phrase.
Alec gave Keenan advice. Alec - subject gave – action verb advice – direct object Keenan – indirect object
Katie popped Bella’s bubble. Katie – subject popped – action verb bubble – direct object….Bella’s is showing
ownership, so it modifies bubble instead of acting as an indirect object.
Capitalization rules for proper nouns
Capitalize proper nouns: specific people, places, things, and organizations.
 Abraham Lincoln was born in Hardin County, Kentucky in 1809.
 Women for Women International is an organization supporting women all over the world.
Capitalize religious figures, holy books, and God.
Capitalize days of the week, holidays, and months of the year but not seasons. Seasons are only capitalized
when used in a title.
 I love the fall because of Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I love summer more.
 My favorite month of the year is July.
Capitalize countries, languages, and nationalities.
 We went to France to learn French.
Family relationships only when used instead of proper names.
 I love to go fishing with Father. (Father could be replaced with my father's name.)
 Your father is a very nice man.
 When we go camping with my aunts, Aunt Trisha always brings great food.
 If you ask him for help, my uncle Bill will be glad to lend you a hand.
Capitalize titles that precede names, but not titles that follow names.
 Senator Diane Feinstein was the first woman mayor of San Francisco.
Capitalize North, South, East, and West when used as sections of the country, but not as compass directions.
 The North fought the South during the Civil War.
 Our house is west of the Hudson River.
Capitalize major words in titles of books, written works, or songs.
 The Sea of Monsters is a great book.
 Short prepositions ("the," "a," or "an") are not capitalized if they aren't the first word.
Capitalize members of a group.
 Many California Democrats attended the convention.
 The New York Giants crushed the opposition.
Capitalize events and periods of time.
 The Roaring Twenties was a time of affluence.
 The Democratic Convention and the Republican Convention are nationally televised events.
Capitalize company trademarks
 I would rather have Pepsi than Coke.
Capitalize abbreviations of specific names
 Katie Couric switched from NBC to CBS.
Capitalize the names of planets
 The fourth planet from the sun is Mars.
We usually don't capitalize sun, earth and moon.
 The moon revolves around the earth.
Also capitalize:
The beginning of a sentence.
 This presentation is about when to use capitalization.
The pronoun "I" is always capitalized.
 My friend and I are going to a musical.
Pronouns – take the place of nouns and other pronouns. The word or words the pronoun takes the place of is called the
antecedent.
John went to the park. He met some friends there. John – antecedent he – pronoun
There are many kinds of pronouns:
Personal pronouns – subject (nominative), object (objective), and possessive
Subject pronouns replace nouns acting as the subject of a sentence. I, you, he, she, it, we, you, they, who
Object pronouns replace nouns acting as a direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition. me, you, him, her,
it, us, you, them, whom
Possessive pronouns show ownership and replace nouns using an apostrophe. Possessive pronouns do not need
the apostrophe. my, mine, your, yours, his, her, hers, its, our, ours, your, yours, their, theirs, whose
Demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those
Interrogative pronouns – who, whom, whose, which, what
Indefinite pronouns – can be used as both subjects and objects
Adjectives – describe, or modify, nouns and pronouns. Adjectives tell the reader what kind, which one, or how
many.
a, an, the – articles; types of adjectives that explain which one.
A man walked down the quiet street.
this, that, these, those – demonstrative pronouns which can be used as adjectives
This book belongs to me.
Remember, sometimes nouns can be used as adjectives.
The French class will meet on Wednesday.