The Noun

1. The Noun Megan Rittmeyer Kaitlin Bandy

2. What is a noun? • A noun is a word or word group that is used to name a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

3. Common and Proper Nouns • A proper noun names a particular person, place, thing, or idea and is capitalized. • A common noun names any one of a group of persons, places, things, or ideas and is generally not capitalized.

4. Classifying Nouns Read the following nouns aloud, and identify each one as a common noun or a proper noun. If the noun is proper, name a corresponding common name EXAMPLE: 1. Zora Neale Hurston 1. proper noun- writer 1. man 11. Mount Hood 2. month 12. Australia 3. Vietnam 13. Detroit 4. singer 14. street 5. Athena 15. Amelia Earhart 6. city 16. mercy 7. gumbo 17. cousin 8. self-esteem 18. automobile 9. Virginia 19. blues 10. ocean 20. Christopher Columbus

5. Concrete 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, and smell.) • An abstract noun names an idea, a feeling, a quality, or a characteristic.

6. Identifying and Classifying Nouns Write all the nouns that you find in each sentence. Then, circle the proper nouns. • Some words come from other languages, such as Spanish and French. • Books, music, and movies often feature new words that are then added to everyday English. • Many useful and amusing words came into our language during World War II • Now these words are familiar throughout the United States. • One of these words is gremlin. • Fliers were often troubled by mysterious mechanical problems. • Not knowing what caused these problems, they joked that gremlin___small, mischievous, creatures___ were in the aircraft. • According to Grandpa Leroy, these gremlins could be helpful as well as harmful. • Many fliers claimed that they had miraculously escaped danger only because the gremlins had come to their rescue. • Artists drew the imps as little men with beards and funny hats who played all over the planes.

7. Compound Nouns A compound noun consist of 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.

8. Identifying Compound Nouns Each of the sentences below contains at least one compound noun. Write the compound noun(s) in each sentence. EXAMPLE 1. My cousin John is a political scientist. 1. political scientist • I use a word processor or a type writer in class. • We went swimming in the Gulf of Mexico. • My sister and brother-in-law live in Council Bluffs, Iowa. • My Old English sheepdog is still a puppy. • Some almanacs give exact times for sunrise and sunsets. • We used the play hide-and-seek in the old barn. • Sitting Bull was the war chief who masterminded the Sioux victory at the Battle of the Little Bighorn. • Meet me at the bowling alley near the post office. • The fountain pen is not as popular as the ballpoint. • Lui`s Valdez is a playwright, actor, and director.

9. Collective Nouns • A collective noun is a word that names a group.

10. Identifying Nouns Identify that twenty-five nouns in the sentences below. EXAMPLE: 1. To enter the wildlife park, we walked through the mouth of a huge fake alligator. 1. park, mouth, alligator 1. Businesses sometimes use gigantic objects to advertise their products. 2. A stand that sells fruit might look like an enormous orange, complete with doors and windows. 3. A restaurant in Austin Texas, has a delivery can shaped like a dinosaur, 4. Huge dogs, windmills, and figures of Paul Bunyan are formed with cement or fiberglass to help sell chain saws, trucks, and souvenirs. 5. An old hotel in New Jersey was even built to look like an elephant!