1) Nouns

Question 1

What is a noun?

Answer 1

a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea

Question 2

What are concrete nouns and abstract nouns?

Answer 2

Concrete nouns name people, place, or things that you can touch, see, hear, smell, or taste.

Abstract nouns name ideas, concepts, or emotions. These nouns are intangible (cannot see, hear, smell, or taste using your five senses).

Note: pronouns are not nouns

Ex (concrete):
- man, Mrs. Jones, doctor
- river, Paris, mountains, home
- dog, book, sports car, Ferrari

Ex (abstract):
- love, intelligence, justice, religion, time
- happiness, anger, excitement, fear, suprise

Question 3

What are common nouns and proper nouns?

Answer 3

Common nouns name any person, place, thing, or idea. They are not capitalized unless at beginning of sentence.

Proper nouns are names of specific people, places, things, or ideas. They should always be capitalized.

Ex (common -> proper):
- boy -> James
- river -> Mississippi River
- car -> Ford
- doctor -> Doctor Kim
- town -> San Ramon

Question 4

Singular and Plural noun rules? (1)

Answer 4

In order to make a noun plural, you usually add ‘s’ at the end.
However, there are many irregular nouns that add ‘es’.

Question 5

Singular and Plural noun rules? (2)

Answer 5

Question 6

Singular and Plural noun rules exceptions? (3)

Answer 6

Hint: easiest way to handle plural nouns is to remember a few shortcuts.
- Memorize the short list of words that must end in ‘es’
- Add ‘es’ to words that end in consonant + o
- For words that end in consonant + y, change ‘y’ to ‘i’ and add ‘es’
- Remember that foreign words usually end in ‘s’, not ‘es’

Question 7

Irregular plural nouns? (1)

Answer 7

Irregular nouns form plurals in unusual ways (dictionaries give you the plural spelling if its irregular).
- one child -> two children
- one foot -> two feet

Some nouns are spelled the same way whether singular / plural
- one fish -> two fish
- one sheep -> two sheep
- one deer -> two deer

Question 8

Irregular plural nouns? (2)

Answer 8

Nouns w/ Lating and Greek origins form plurals in strange ways. Notice in chart below that nouns with same endings form plurals in the same way every time.

Question 9

Irregular plural nouns? (3)

Answer 9

Some nouns exist only in plural form
- binoculars
- clothes
- pants
- pajamas
- glasses
- scissors
- goggles
- shorts
- tweezers

Question 10

Irregular plural nouns? (4)

Answer 10

Shortcuts to help remember the rules:

1) In order to make capital letters plural, add lowercase ‘s’. An apostrophe is necessary if the letter is at beginning of the sentence
- A’s are a good grade, but I received all Bs

2) To make lowercase letters plural, italicize the letter, add an apostrophe + s (only italicize the letter, not the ‘s’)
- Equation has a lot of x’s

3) To make an abbreviation plural, simply add a lowercase ‘s’; not necessary to add an apostrophe
- Used to have a lot of CDs

4) To make numbers plurals, add lowercase ‘s’ without an apostrophe
- 2s, 3s, 4s
- late 1700s and early 1800s
- I was born in the ’90s

Question 11

What are compound nouns? (1)

Answer 11

A noun made up of 2 or more words. Each word makes up part of the meaning of the noun

Compound nouns can be written in 3 ways:
1) a single word
- haircut, toothpaste

2) two words
- rain forest, ice cream

3) hyphenated
- self-esteem, brother-in-law

Note: there are some words that aren’t compound nouns though they can be broken up into 2 words; one example is a compound adjective
- A half-eaten pie

Question 12

What are compound nouns? (2)

Answer 12

Two-word proper nouns can also be classified as compound nouns (remember that proper nouns name specific people, places, things).
- Atlantic Ocean, Eiffel Tower, Nelson Mandela

Hint: single-word compounds & hyphenated compounds are easy to spot, but two-word compounds are tricky. Ask yourself, “Would I find both words together as single entry in the dictionary?”
- Cold water
- Ice cream

Question 13

What are compound nouns? (3)

Answer 13

When a compound noun is a single word, make it plural by adding ‘s’ to the end.

• one mother-in-law -> two mothers-in-law
• one director general => two directors general

Question 14

What are collective nouns?

Answer 14

A collective noun names a group, which is a collection of people or things (important to identify them b/c of the way they agree w/ verbs).
- family, team, choir, jury, committee, herd, pod

Hint: put the word in the test sentence to see if it works:
- One ___ is a group
- One team is a group

Note: beware of plurals! ‘Students’ can be a group, but that doesn’t make the word collective; it is a plural. Try it on the test sentence.
- One student is NOT a group

Question 15

What are possessive nouns?

Answer 15

Possessive nouns show ownership.

Note: Possessive nouns act as adjectives in sentences. These nouns modify the nouns that follow them. Look into chapters “Pronouns - cases of personal pronouns” and “Modifiers: adjectives & adverbs - different types of adjectives”

Question 16

Singular possessive nouns?

Answer 16

Add (‘s) to singular words to show possession
- Dog’s collar (dog + ‘s)
- Car’s engine (car + ‘s)

If a singular word ends in ‘s’, it is still necessary to add (‘s)
- Charles’s sneakers
- Bess’s dresses
- Bus’s tires

Question 17

Plural possessive nouns?

Answer 17

Just like singular possessives, plural possessives that don’t end in ‘s’, add (‘s)
- Children’s homework (children + ‘s)
- Fish’s bowls (fish + ‘s)
- Octopi’s tentacles

If you have added an ‘s’ to make a word plural (ex: cat => cats), add only apostrophe to the end of the word.
- Dogs’ collars (dogs + ‘)
- Cars’ engines (cars + ‘)

Hint: look at ending in front of apostrophe to see if word is singular / plural:
- One dog|’s tail (one dog has one tail)
- Two dogs|’ tail (two dogs have two tails)

If two people own something together, use an (‘s) after second person only
- Joe and Mary’s car is new

If two people own two separate things, add (‘s) to each name
- Laurie’s and Megan’s nails are the same color