Nouns

Language Arts
Grammar - Nouns

Nouns

A noun is a word used to name a

person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

View the following examples:

PERSONS PLACES THINGS IDEAS
Alice Walker Desert Money Courage

Dr. Lacy neighborhood Wind Love
children freedom
architect outer space animals luck
team equality
Baby sitter New York City Voyager 2 Self-control
gymnast democracy
Grand Canyon Statue of
Nigeria Liberty
Golden Gate Newbery
Medal
orange juice

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is two or more words

used together as a single noun. The parts
of a compound noun may be written as
one word, as separate words, or as a
hyphenated word.
View the following examples:

ONE WORD Seafood, filmmaker,
SEPARATE WORDS videocassette, footsteps,
HYPHENATED WORD grasshopper, Iceland,
daydream, Passover
compact disc, House of
Representatives, police
officer, John F. Kennedy, The
Call of the Wild
Self-esteem, fund-raiser,
sister-in-law, fourteen-year-
old, grand-parents

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is a word that names a

group.
View the following examples:

Collective Nouns

faculty, family, herd, team, congress,
audience, flock, crew, jury, committee

Common Nouns and Proper
Nouns

A common noun is a general name for

a person, place, thing, or idea. A

proper noun names a particular

person, place, thing, or idea.
Note: Proper nouns always begin with a
capital letter. Common nouns begin with
a capital letter only when they come at
the beginning of a sentence.

Common Nouns Proper Nouns

poem “The Raven,” “Casey at Bat”

nation Canada, United States of America

athlete Ken Griffey Jr., Peyton Manning

ship Mayflower, U.S.S. Constitution

newspaper The New York Times, USA Today

river Ohio River, Kentucky River

street Hawkins St., Highland Ave.

day Friday, Independence Day

city Carrollton, Madison

organization American Legion, Boy Scouts

language English, Spanish

holiday Thanksgiving, Labor Day

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, or smell). An abstract noun

names an idea, a feeling, a quality, or a
characteristic.

CONCRETE NOUNS Hummingbird, telephone,
ABSTRACT NOUNS popcorn, ocean, Madison
Milton Bridge, Jesse
Jackson, sneeze, stone,
refrigerator, rain
Knowledge, love, humor,
patriotism, beliefs, honor,
beauty, peace, health,
competition, Buddhism

The Pronoun

A Pronoun is a word used in place of one

noun or more than one noun.
Example: When Kelly saw the signal, Kelly

pointed the signal out to John.
When Kelly saw the signal, she pointed it

out to John.

The Pronoun

Note: The word that a pronoun stands for is

call its antecedent.
Example: Mark read the book and returned it

to the library.

The photographers bought themselves

new lenses.

Personal Pronoun

A personal pronoun refers to the one
speaking (first person), the one spoken to
(second person), or the one spoken about
(third person).

View the following examples:

Personal Pronouns

Singular Plural

First Person I, me, my, mine we, us, our, ours

Second Person you, your, yours you your, yours

Third Person he, him, his, they, them, their,
she, her, hers, it, theirs
its

Bell Ringer - Nouns

• Without using your notes, give an

example for each of the following nouns:

• Noun =
• Compound Noun =
• Collective Noun =
• Proper Noun =
• Concrete Noun =
• Abstract Noun =

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

A reflexive pronoun refers to the subject

and directs the action of the verb back to

the subject. An intensive pronoun

emphasizes a noun or another pronoun.
View the examples:

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

First Person myself, ourselves
Second Person yourself, yourselves

Third Person himself, herself, itself,
themselves

Reflexive and Intensive Pronouns

Juan wrote himself a note as a reminder.
(reflective)

The rescuers did not consider themselves
heroes. (reflective)

Amelia designed the costumes herself.
(intensive)

I myself sold more than fifty tickets.
(intensive)

Demonstrative Pronouns

A demonstrative pronoun points out a

specific person, a place, a thing, or an
idea.
View the examples:

Demonstrative Pronouns

this that these those
This is the most valuable baseball card I

have.
These are the names of those who

volunteered.

Interrogative Pronouns

An interrogative pronoun introduces a

question.
View the following examples:

Interrogative Pronouns

what which who whom whose
What is the largest planet in our solar

system?
Who scored the most points in the game?

Relative Pronouns

A relative pronoun introduces a

subordinate clause.
View the following examples:

Relative Pronouns

that what which who whom whose
The Bactrian camel, which has two humps,

is native to central Asia.
Ray Charles is one of several blind

performers who have had a number of hit
recordings.

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun refers to a person,

a place, or a thing that is not specifically
named.
View the examples:

Indefinite Pronouns

Everyone completed the test before the bell
rang.

Neither of the actors knew what costumes
the other was planning to wear.

Common Indefinite Pronouns

all both few nobody several

another each many none some

any either more no one somebody

anybody everybody most nothing someone

anyone everyone much one something

anything everything neither other such