Using Nouns in Sentences

Chapter 2

Using Nouns in Sentences

Nouns are words that name people, places, things, events, and ideas. It is hard to write or talk about anything without using a noun. Look around and you will see thousands of nouns.

In Chapter 2, you will learn about nouns. Each lesson tells about different kinds of nouns. You will learn how they are used in everyday speech and writing.

Goals for Learning

To recognize nouns in sentences, and to identify and use compound and collective nouns

To identify and use common and proper nouns, and to capitalize proper nouns

To identify and use abstract and concrete nouns To identify nouns as singular or plural, and to

spell plural nouns To spell plural nouns that have irregular forms,

and to spell the plural form of proper nouns, numbers, dates, and letters

To tell the difference between plural nouns and possessive nouns

Key Vocabulary Words

Noun A word that names a person, place, thing, event, or idea

Collective noun The name of a group of people, places, or things

Compound noun Two or more words that work together to name one thing

Common noun The name of any person, place, thing, event, or idea

Key Vocabulary Words

Proper noun The name of one particular person, place, thing, event, or idea

Abbreviation A short form of a word Concrete noun A word that names

something you can see or touch Abstract noun A word that names

something you cannot see or touch Singular noun The name of one

person, place, thing, event, or idea

Key Vocabulary Words

Plural noun The name of more than one person, place, thing, event, or idea

Irregular plural noun A plural that does not follow the normal rules

Possessive noun A word that shows ownership or a relationship between the two things

Apostrophe (‘) A punctuation mark that you use to show that a noun is possessive

What Is a Noun?Lesson 2-1

Objectives

To identify nouns To identify collective nouns To identify compound nouns

What Is a Noun?

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, event, or idea. EXAMPLE 1▪ Persons teacher, agent, aunt, worker,

Carmela▪ Places state, theater, town, Washington▪ Things book, dish, apple, PlayStation▪ Ideas choice, thought, belief,

happiness

What Is a Noun?

A noun can be the name of a part of something. EXAMPLE 2▪ A hand is a part of a clock.▪ A mane is a part of a horse.

Collective Nouns

A collective noun is the name of a group of people, places, or things. EXAMPLE 3▪ Groups of People group, audience,

crowd, team▪ Groups of Places nation, United States,

country▪ Groups of Animals herd, flock, swarm,

pack▪ Group of Things collection, set, series

Compound Nouns

A compound noun is two or more words that work together to name one thing. Some compound nouns are written as one word. EXAMPLE 4▪ fire + fighter = firefighter▪ back + yard = backyard

Compound Nouns

Some compound nouns use a hyphen between the words. A hyphen is a short dash between parts of a word. EXAMPLE 5▪ mid-July▪ mother-in-law

Compound Nouns

Some compound nouns look like two words. In these compound nouns, the words work together to name on person, place, thing, event, or idea. EXAMPLE 6▪ White House▪ ice cream▪ Thomas Jefferson▪ swim team

Common and Proper Nouns

Lesson 2-2

Objectives

To identify and use common nouns and proper nouns

To capitalize proper nouns To capitalize abbreviations of proper

nouns To capitalize and punctuate titles

Common and Proper Nouns A common noun is the name of a general type

of person, place, thing, event or idea. Most of the nouns you use are common nouns. Common nouns begin with lower case letters. A proper noun is the name of one particular person, place, thing, event, or idea. When you write, always begin proper nouns with capital letters.

EXAMPLE 1▪ Common Noun Proper Noun▪ mountain Mount Everest▪ holiday Thanksgiving▪ magazine Garden Design

Parts of the Country or World

The names of parts of the country or world are proper nouns. When compass directions are used as nouns they are common nouns. EXAMPLE 2▪ Part of the Country Darnell visited the

East with his family.▪ Direction The plane flew toward the

east.

Languages, Courses, and Subjects

The name of a language is a proper noun. The name of a certain course in school is a proper noun. The name of a subject is a common noun. EXAMPLE 3▪ Proper Noun Common Noun▪ Spanish language▪ Algebra II math

Abbreviations of Proper Nouns An abbreviation is a short form of a word. If

the word is a proper noun, capitalize its abbreviation. Titles like Doctor and Mister are proper nouns. They are usually abbreviated.

EXAMPLE 4▪ Proper Noun Abbreviation▪ Maryland MD▪ Doctor Turner Dr. Turner▪ Franklin Street Franklin St.

Most of the words in an address are proper nouns.

Titles

Capitalize the first word of a title. Also capitalize each important word. Underline the title of a movie, book, magazine, opera, or play. If you are using a computer to write, use italics instead of underlining. Put quotation marks around the title of a song, poem, or short story. EXAMPLE 5▪ Song “America, the Beautiful”▪ Book The Red Pony or The Red Pony▪ Short Story “To Build a Fire”

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Lesson 2-3

Objectives

To identify and use concrete nouns To identify and use abstract nouns

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

Nouns can be abstract or concrete. A concrete noun is a word that names something you can see or touch. An abstract noun is a word that names something you cannot see or touch. You can think about it or talk about it.

Abstract and Concrete Nouns

EXAMPLE 1▪ Concrete Noun Abstract Noun

money priceclock minutecollege educationsports car typepaper assignment

Abstract nouns can be difficult to identify. If a noun names something you cannot see or touch, it is an abstract noun.

Singular and Plural Nouns

Lesson 2-4

Objectives

To identify and use singular and plural nouns

To spell the plural form of nouns ending in s, z, x, ch, sh, y, o, f, and fe

Singular and Plural Nouns

A singular noun is the name of one person, place , thing, event, or idea. A plural noun is the name of more than one person, place, thing, event, or idea. Most plural nouns end in –s. EXAMPLE 1▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

flower flowerstree treesmouth mouths

Nouns That End with s, z, x, ch, or sh

Add –es to nouns that end in s, z, x, ch, or sh to form the plural. EXAMPLE 2▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

pass passesquiz quizzeswish wishes

Nouns That End with y

Some nouns that end with y become plural by changing the y to –ies.

Some nouns that end with y become plural by adding –s. Study the two examples. What is the difference between the two groups of words? Say the plural forms in both groups our loud. EXAMPLE 3

▪ Change y to –ies Add –scity cities key keyslady ladies alley alleysspy spies boy boys

Nouns That End with y

Here are the rules for making the plural forms of nouns that end with y.

Rule 1 The letter before the y in key, alley, and boy is a vowel. You make these nouns plural by adding –s.

Rule 2 The letter before y in city, lady, and spy is a consonant. You make these nouns plural by changing the y to –ies.

Nouns That End with o

Some nouns end with a vowel and an o. Make the plural form of these nouns by adding –s. EXAMPLE 4▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

radio radiosstudio studiostrio trios

Nouns That End with o

Some nouns end with a consonant and an o. Make the plurals of these nouns by adding –es. EXAMPLE 5▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

potato potatoesecho echoes

Nouns That End with f, ff, or fe

Some nouns that end with f, ff, or fe sound different in their plural forms. Say these words out loud. Listen to how they sound.

cliff cliffsroof roofs

Nouns That End with f, ff, or fe

You form the plural of some nouns that end with f, ff, or fe by adding –s. Form the plural of others by changing the f to v and adding –es. EXAMPLE 7▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

safe safeslife livesbelief beliefsleaf leaves

More About Plural Nouns

Lesson 2-5

Objectives

To spell irregular plural nouns To form plural proper nouns To form plural numbers, dates, and

letters

Irregular Plural Nouns

Some plural nouns do not follow the regular rules. They are called irregular plural nouns. For example, in very few cases the singular and plural forms of a noun are the same. EXAMPLE 1▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

one deer a herd of deerone sheep many sheepa trout a school of trout

Irregular Plural Nouns

To make some nouns plural, you change or add letters. EXAMPLE 2▪ Singular Noun Plural Noun

child childrenfoot feetox oxenmouse miceman men

Plural Proper Nouns

You form the plurals of most proper nouns by adding –s. If a proper noun end in s or z, add –es to make it plural. EXAMPLE 3▪ Singular Proper Noun Plural Proper

Nounthe Jones family the Jonesesthe Hernandez family the Hernandezes

Plural Forms of Numbers, Dates, and Letters

Make a number, date, or letter plural by adding –s. No apostrophe is needed. EXAMPLE 4▪ The 1990s were years of great changes in

technology.▪ Inez got two As on her report card.▪ Several papers got scores in the 90s.

Possessive NounsLesson 2-6

Objectives

To make possessive nouns using apostrophes

To tell the difference between plural nouns and possessive nouns

Possessive Nouns

A possessive noun is a noun that shows ownership or a relationship between two things. A possessive noun uses an apostrophe (‘). An apostrophe is a punctuation mark. EXAMPLE 1▪ Where are Dante’s shoes? (The shoes belong

to Dante.)▪ Dante’s swim team won. (Dante is part of

the team.)▪ The team’s score is 2. (The team has a score

of 2.)

Possessive Nouns

To make a noun possessive, follow these rules:

Rule 1 Make a singular noun possessive by adding an apostrophe and –s (‘s). EXAMPLE 2▪ Dante’s team the computer’s keyboard

Rule 2 When a singular noun ends in s, add an apostrophe and –s (‘s). EXAMPLE 3▪ the boss’s day offGail Russ’s book

Possessive Nouns

Rule 3 Make a plural noun possessive by adding only an apostrophe (‘). EXAMPLE 4▪ the trains’ routes the trumpets’ sounds

Rule 4 If a plural noun does not end in s, add an apostrophe and –s (‘s). EXAMPLE 5▪ the children’s toys the men’s locker

room

Possessive Nouns

Use an apostrophe in phrases such as one dollar’s worth or a week’s vacation. If the word is plural and ends in s, add only an apostrophe. EXAMPLE 6▪ Singular Plural

one cent’s worth ten cents’ wortha month’s vacation two months’ vacation

Possessive Nouns

To decide whether to use a plural or possessive noun, think about what each one means. Look at the blue words in Example 7. How are they different? What does each word mean? EXAMPLE 7▪ Plural There were six teams at

the meet.▪ Possessive The team’s prize was a

trophy.