P E O P L E , P L A C E S , T H I N G S , I D E A S ,

A N D T H E I R M O D I F I E R S

Nouns and Noun Phrases

Terminology

noun

concrete noun

abstract noun

collective noun

compound noun

common noun

proper noun

phrase noun phrase headword determiner

modifier article

subject

direct object

Copy these terms’ definitions into your notes and

make sure you understand these concepts after going

through the notes.

Definitions of Noun

Based on meaning:

person, place, thing,

animal, idea

Based on form: word that

can be made plural

and/or possessive

Types of Nouns

Concrete or Abstract

Collective

Compound

Common or Proper

Concrete or Abstract

A concrete noun names something discernible by the five senses.

An abstract noun names something you cannot perceive through any of your five senses.

Concrete examples

person, cannon, road, city, music

Abstract examples

hope, improvement, independence, desperation, cooperation

Collective Nouns

A collective noun names a group or

collection of people or things. A

collective noun looks singular, but its

meaning may be singular or plural

depending on how it is used in a

sentence.

Examples:

army

choir

troop

faculty

cast

class

crew

legislature

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is a noun made up of two or more words

acting as a single unit. Compound nouns may be written as

separate words, hyphenated words, or combined words.

Compound Nouns

separate

life preserver ice cream bird dog

hyphenated

sergeant-at-arms self-rule daughter-in-law

combined

battlefield dreamland porthole

Common & Proper

A common noun names any

one of a class of people,

places, or things. Because they

are general, they are not

capitalized.

building, writer, nation, month

place, book, war

A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing. As such,

proper nouns are capitalized.

LASA, Mark Twain, France, July

Tai Pei, Leaves of Grass, World War I

Plurals and Possessives

singular plural singular possessive

plural possessive

cat cats cat’s cats’

opinion opinions N/A N/A

Jane Janes Jane’s Janes’

America Americas America’s Americas’

Phrases

One of the keys to our understanding of grammar this

year will be your ability to identify different kinds of

phrases (noun, verb, prepositional).

A phrase is any word or group of words that function

as a unit within a sentence

A phrase will always have a headword and sometimes have

modifiers of the headword.

In a noun phrase, the headword is the noun. In a verb phrase

the headword is a verb. In a prepositional phrase the headword is a preposition.

Noun Phrases

Noun phrases include at least a single noun, which is the

headword.

cat

In addition, they also include modifiers (adjectives)…

pretty cat

and OFTEN a determiner.

the pretty cat

Determiners

Determiners are words that can signal that a

noun is soon to follow. They can be:

articles

possessive nouns

possessive pronouns

demonstrative pronouns

indefinite pronouns

numbers

Examples of Determiners: Articles

The bolded words are examples of articles:

the ballet shoes

a hippopotamus

an opera

Examples of Determiners:

Possessive Nouns/Pronouns

The bolded words are

examples of possessive

nouns and possessive

pronouns: the teenager’s first kiss

the eager boy’s ACL ticket

the tourist’s festival map

the musician’s guitar

her flower-crown

their favorite song

our concert experience

Examples of Determiners:

Demonstrative Pronouns

The bolded words are examples of

demonstrative pronouns:

this Candy Mountain

that Liopleurodon

these adventures

those silly unicorns

Examples of Determiners:

Indefinite Pronouns

An indefinite pronoun does not refer to any specific

person, thing or amount. It is vague and "not definite".

The bolded words are examples of indefinite

pronouns:

all comic convention attendees

another artist

any LARPer

many fans

Examples of Determiners:

Numbers

The bolded words are examples of numbers:

four little monkeys

three little monkeys

two little monkeys

one little monkey

Noun (one more time)

A noun is a word

that can be made

plural and/or

possessive; it

occupies the

headword position

in the noun phrase;

it is usually signaled

by a determiner.

How the Noun Phrase Functions

In a sentence the noun

phrase can function in

a number of ways.

Right now we’re going

to focus on its function

as the subject of the

sentence AND as the

direct object of the

sentence.

What is the subject?

The subject of the sentence is always a noun or pronoun. It can be defined as the doer of the action or more informally as “who or what” the sentence is about.

EXAMPLE: Bob Loblaw’s cousin has a labradoodle from France.

Who or what is this sentence about?

Bob Loblaw?

Cousin?

France?

What is the subject?

The bolded noun serves as the subject.

EXAMPLE: Bob Loblaw’s cousin has a

labradoodle from France.

Who or what is this sentence about?

Bob Loblaw?

Cousin?

France?

Noun Phrases as Subjects

The red velvet cheesecake

is melt-in-your-mouth

delicious!

The red velvet cheesecake

despises people who will

not try it’s gooey

goodness.

The red velvet cheesecake

baked in the oven.

The red velvet cheesecake

fell on the floor.

What’s the direct object?

The direct object is the receiver of the verb’s

action. You can find it by asking “Who or what

was __________?” (insert the verb of the sentence)

Stephanie repainted her Vespa.

Who or what was repainted?

Stephanie?

Vespa?

What’s the direct object?

The direct object is bolded below:

Stephanie repainted her Vespa.

Noun Phrase as Direct Objects

Miley Cyrus rode the wrecking ball.

Miley Cyrus loved the wrecking ball.

Miley Cyrus purchased the wrecking ball.

The audience loathes the wrecking ball.

Diagramming

Simple Sentences

Find the subject of the sentence.

Find the verb.

Draw a vertical line between them.

Underline the entire noun phrase that makes up the subject.

Underline the entire verb phrase that functions as the predicate.

subject predicate

NP VP

Next Class

Bring your completed guided notes AND

grammar practice worksheets to our next class.