ACTIVITIES - PARTS OF SPEECH - NOUNS

1. UNDERLINE the NOUNS in the following passage:

The new student approached the compulsory subject with caution. The outline stated that she would have to study grammar and punctuation. She vaguely recalled lessons in primary school on naming and doing words. Now she wished she had concentrated more in class and prayed there would not be an exam.

      2. UNDERLINE the words in bold that are nouns.

• Her face showed anger as she turned towards her husband. 'I can't face my mother after I lied to her.'
• There's no need to hurry.
• I need to know the facts.
• Did you notice anything different about me?
• The tenant was given notice to leave the premises.
• She looks like her sister.
• If looks could kill!
• Magic tricks baffle me.
• She tried to rekindle the magic of their courtship.

      3. UNDERLINE the correct type for each NOUN in bold.

I hate eggs (concrete/abstract). My mum (concrete/proper) made me eat them when I was little. She'd tell me an exciting story (common/proper) about the Germans (common/proper) dropping bombs on London (common/proper). I'd open my mouth (common/proper) in amazement (concrete/abstract) and she'd shove in a spoonful of runny egg. Omelettes (common/proper) were worse. Mum (common/proper) would try to trick me by hiding the egg inside, but I soon learned to pull the omelette apart and pick out the egg. I would still rather eat a bunch (collective/abstract) of spinach (collective/concrete) than an egg.

      4.WRITE sentences containing the following types of nouns and UNDERLINE each one.

• One common and one proper noun.

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• One abstract noun and one concrete noun.

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• Two abstract nouns.

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• One collective noun and one common noun.

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GRAMMAR - PARTS OF SPEECH - NOUNS

Questions answered in this post...

What is a NOUN?
How many types of NOUNS are there?
How can I recognise NOUNS and their type in a sentence?
How can I understand the ways in which NOUNS express gender, number and possession?

WHAT IS A NOUN - A DEFINITION

The word NOUN derives from the Latin word 'nomen' meaning 'name', so basically -- A NOUN IS A NAMING WORD.. NOUNS name:
- people
- places
- things
- qualities or conditions
- activities
- concepts

Category	Examples
Person	Writer/Shakespeare/nurse
Place	Mountain/town/Brisbane
Thing	Pencil/bottle/apple/Granny Smith
Quality/condition	Courage/happiness/depression
Activity	Drinking/praying/tennis
Concept	Fairness/justice/infinity

TYPES OF NOUNS

COMMON AND PROPER NOUNS

COMMON NOUNS name general places, things, people. PROPER NOUNS name specific places, things or people and begin with a capital letter.

EXAMPLES:

• I think that Earth (PROPER NOUN) is a fascinating planet (COMMON NOUN).
• My favourite author (COMMON NOUN) is Pat Conroy (PROPER).
• The hottest month (COMMON NOUN) in Brisbane (PROPER NOUN) is December (PROPER).
• Monopoly (PROPER) is a great game (COMMON).
• 
  

CONCRETE AND ABSTRACT NOUNS

CONCRETE NOUNS name something that we can understand with our senses--sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell. ABSTRACT NOUNS name something intangible such as a concept or emotion.

• Greece (CONCRETE) was the birthplace of democracy (ABSTRACT).
• I have a phobia (ABSTRACT) of snakes (CONCRETE).
• I yelled and screamed with happiness (ABSTRACT) when I got an A+++ for my essay (CONCRETE).
• My mother (CONCRETE) gives me unconditional love (ABSTRACT).
• 
  

COLLECTIVE NOUNS 

COLLECTIVE NOUNS name groups of people or animals or collections of things regarded as a whole. They usually take a singular verb.

• Each year the herd travels the same route over the mountains.
• The crew was about to mutiny.
• From a distance, the crowd looked dangerous.
• The library is my sanctuary.
• A murder of crows was sitting on a fence.

If a collective noun is being used to represent a number of individual people or things, it takes a plural verb.

• The audience were slow to sit down.
• The crew are undecided about whether to mutiny or not.
• 
  

FEATURES OF NOUNS

NUMBER

A noun is either singular or plural in number, according to whether it names one or more than one person, place, thing. The plural is usually formed by additn 's' or 'es' to the singular form: boy/boys, lunch/lunches. However, there are exceptions: man/men, sheep/sheep. Number is important in subject-verb agreement and pronoun-antecedent agreement.

GENDER

A noun can have a feminine, masculine, common or neuter gender, but this feature of nouns has no grammatical significance in English: Mother/Father (Feminine/Masculine), parent (Common), paddock (Neuter).

POSSESSION

Nouns indicate by their form whether they show possession or now.

• Jilly's mother came to visit her.
• His father's expectations of him were too high.
• America's fiscal debt is unbelievable; it is in the trillions of dollars.
• The old lady gambled away her week's pension in two hours.

Go here for activities to practise what you have learnt.

With reference to: Australian Handbook for Writers and Editors by Margaret McKenzie. Available here.