A Noun Is a Word That Names a Person, a Place, a Thing, Or an Idea

Nouns

Name______

Teacher______

Date______

What Are Nouns?

A noun is a word that names a person, a place, a thing, or an idea.

Persons Places Things Ideas

Peter Atlantic Ocean sneaker courage

teacher home map fear

Dr. King Egypt folder excitement

accountant school car kindness

In your writing, use specific nouns that make your ideas and descriptions easy to follow.

Identifying Nouns: Underline all the nouns in the following sentences.

1. The usher in the theater shined his flashlight on the empty seats.

2. T.S. Elliot wrote a poem about a cat named Macavity.

3. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. fought for equality and freedom.

4. Chinese workers helped to build the railroads during the 1800’s.

5. In the Greek myth Arachne, the goddess Athena turns Arachne into a spider.

6. In the Native American culture, the buffalo is a symbol of good fortune.

7. Insects get caught in spiders’ webs.

8. The pioneers who traveled in covered wagons faced many danger and hardships.

9. Ben spent his early days in Boston Massachusetts.

10. The sticky substances in a spider’s web catches flies and other insects.

Common and Proper Nouns

A common noun is a general name for a person, a place, a thing, or an idea. Common nouns are not capitalized.

A proper noun is the name of a particular person, place, thing, or idea. Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.

Common Nouns Proper Nouns

team Dallas Cowboys

school Jonas Salk Middle School

building John Hancock Center

Finding Proper Nouns: In the following sentences, draw one line under each common noun and two lines under each proper noun. Capitalize the proper nouns.

1. Hurricanes hit the coast of florida during july and august.

2. A French explorer named cadillac founded detroit.

3. During world war II, many American women worked in factories while the men

fought in Europe.

4. Zora nealehurston wrote novels and collected folk tales about africanamericans.

5. Batman lives in gotham city.

6. During his vacation in california, jayden visited the san diego zoo.

7. Alex has an excellent costume planned for halloween.

8. In new zealand, july is the coldest month of the year.

9. Venus is the brightest planet in the sky and can be seen during the day.

10. Different types of wildlife make their homes in or around the mississipi river.

Singular and Plural Nouns

A singular noun names one person, place, thing, or idea. A plural noun names more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

Rules for forming plural nouns:

1. To form the plural of most nouns, just add–s.

cups desks hands fossils pens

2. When a singular noun ends in s, sh, ch, x, or z, add –es.

addresses dishes churches foxes buzzes

3. When a singular noun ends in o, add –s.

stereos radios solos pianos banjos

Exceptions: for the following nouns ending in o, add –es

echoes heroes potatoes tomatoes

4. When a singular noun ends in y, with a consonant before it, change the y to i and

add–es.

butterfly– butterflies army – armies diary – diaries

5. For most nouns ending in f or fe, add –s. For some nouns ending in f or fe,

however, change the f to v and add –es.

Chief – chiefs safe – safes calf – calves shelf – shelves

6. Some nouns are the same for both singular and plural.

deer sheep trout moose bass

7. Some nouns form their plural in special ways.

child – children man – men mouse – mice

tooth – teeth goose – geese foot – feet

Singular and Plural Nouns

Forming Plural Nouns: Write the plural for each of the following singular nouns.

1. book ______7. tooth ______

2. box ______8. party ______

3. volcano ______9. leaf ______

4. thief ______10. monkey ______

5. match ______11. trout ______

6. truth ______12. video ______

Correcting Plural Nouns: Rewrite each sentence correcting all the errors in the spelling of plural nouns. (7 errors)

1. The toy submarine was armed with miniature torpedos.

______

2. Mother kangaroos carry their young in pouchs.

______

3. Crocodiles have powerful jaws and sharp tooths.

______

4. During the 1800s, Native Americans chieves signed treatys with the U.S.

______

5. The disc jockies hosted a benefit for homeless childs.

______

Nouns That Show Possession

A possessive noun shows ownership. It tells what or to whom another noun belongs. Here are rules for writing possessive nouns.

1. To form the possessive of a singular noun, add an apostrophe and an s.

teacher’s ideas Charles’s bike dog’s bone

2. To form the possessive of a plural nounthat ends in s, just add an apostrophe

after the s.

jockeys’ team families’ homes farmers’ crops

3. To form the possessive of a plural noun that does not end in s, add an

apostropheand add an s.

children’s museum women’s basketball deer’s enemies

Using Possessives: Write the possessive form of each noun in parentheses.

1. At (day) end, the brothers returned home. ______

2. Ghosts appear in some of (Shakespeare) plays. ______

3. The (children) treehouse was a secret meeting place. ______

4. The monster was created in the (scientist) lab. ______

5. The (elves) magical powers saved the town from disaster. ______

6. Sherlock (Holmes) assistant was Dr. Watson. ______

7. Peter lost a (friend) best umbrella. ______

8. The store had a sale on (girls) hats. ______

9. The (baby) bottle is in the refrigerator. ______

10. The two (geese) food is kept in the bucket. ______

Types of Nouns

Proper nouns are specific names of people, places, things, or ideas. They are always capitalized. All other nouns are called common nouns.

Linda, Ohio, Ford – proper nouns girl, state, car – common nouns

Collective nouns refer to many people or things grouped together and treated as one.

audience, team, herd – collective nouns

Finding Nouns: underline all of the nouns in the following passage.

A collection of facts indicates that the puffin, a bird that lives in the northernmost parts of the Atlantic Ocean, may be facing extinction. Once, millions of puffins lived on the Atlantic coast from the Artic south to Brittany and Maine, where they would nest in large colonies. The tiny island of Dun, near Scotland, was covered with their nests, called burrows. A huge flock of puffins lived there. By 1969, only half of the island was covered. In 1972, officials from Britain conducted a bird census. The puffin population had been reduced from millions to about 250,000 birds.

The reason for this decline is a mystery. Many possible causes have been investigated. When a plant or animal species becomes extinct, it is a disaster. A group of bird watchers has been urging that the effort to investigate the disappearance be continued. They have the hope that puffins do not join the long list of birds that are now extinct.

Proper and Collective Nouns: write the proper and collective nouns you underlined on the correct lines below.

Proper Nouns Collective Nouns

______

Types of Nouns

Identifying Nouns: Read the following excerpt from Wonder by R.J. Palacio. Highlight all the common and proper nouns and then write them in the correct spot on the chart below.

I would have been more nervous about meeting Mr. Tushman if I’d known I was also going to be meeting some kids from the new school. But I didn’t know, so if anything, I was kind of giggly. I couldn’t stop thinking about all the jokes Daddy had made about Mr. Tushman’s name. So when me and Mom arrived at Beecher Prep a few weeks before the start of school, and I saw Mr. Tushman standing there, waiting for us at the entrance, I started giggling right away. He didn’t look at all like what I pictured though. I guess I thought he would have a huge butt, but he didn’t. In fact, he was a pretty normal guy. Tall and thin. Old but not really old. He seemed nice. He shook my mom’s hand first.
“Hi, Mr. Tushman, it’s so nice to see you again,” said Mom. “This is my son, August.”
Mr. Tushman looked right at me and smiled and nodded. He put his hand out for me to shake.
“Hi, August,” he said, totally normally. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“Hi,” I mumbled, dropping my hand into his hand while I looked down at his feet. He was wearing Adidas.
From PagingMr. Tushmanpage 15
Common Nouns / Proper Nouns

Using Nouns in Writing

Journal Writing: In a paragraph or two, respond to the journal prompt below. Be sure to use common and proper nouns in your response. When you have finished writing, go back and highlight the nouns you used in your response.

Explain why August admires Mr. Browne. Then, think about a teacher or coach who has changed your outlook on an upcoming season or school year. Reflect on why this teacher or coach made an impact on your life. Did this person share any of the qualities Auggie sees in Mr. Browne?

______

Review: Understanding Nouns

Finding Common and Proper Nouns: In the following sentences, draw one line under each common noun and two lines under each proper noun. Capitalize the proper nouns.

1. Georgia o’keeffe painted rocks and skulls bleacher by the sun.

2. Amelia earhart was a famous pilot.

3. The gods and goddesses lived on mount olympus in thessaly, greece.

4. People in the philippines used the yo-yo as both a toy and a weapon.

5. Every halloween, the town has an exhibit of unusual scarecrows.

Forming Plural Nouns: Write the plural form for the following nouns.

1. peach ______6. piano ______

2. memory ______7. fox ______

3. saddle ______8. berry ______

4. shelf ______9. volcano ______

5. book ______10. emergency ______

Writing Possessive Forms: Write the correct possessive form of each noun in parentheses.

1. The Confederate (soldiers) ______uniforms were grey.

2. The band (director) ______baton was brand new.

3. The (rollerblades) ______had neon yellow wheels.

4. Susan B. Anthony fought for (women) ______right to vote.

Nouns Extra Practice

Grammar for Writing Level Red

Using Precise Words Page 40
Common and Proper Nouns Page 141 – 142
Forming Possessive Nouns Page 227
Plural Nouns Page 251

Standards

L1.1b. Use common, proper, and possessive nouns.

L1.1c. Use singular and plural nouns with matching verbs in basic sentences

(e.g., He hops; We hop).

L2.1a. Use collective nouns (e.g., group).

L2.1b. Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns. (e.g., feet,

children, teeth, mice, fish).

L2.1d. Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat,

hid, told).

L3.1a. Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in

general and their functions in particular sentences.

L3.1b. Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.