Nouns

Question 1

What is a noun?

Answer 1

A noun is a person/place/thing.

Ex: Woman, school, rain, bed. If a word can be preceded by a/an/the chances are its a noun

Question 2

What is a gendered noun?

Answer 2

A gendered noun is a gender-specific and changes depending on the object’s sex.
Ex: Actor - Actress

Question 3

What is a gerund?

Answer 3

A gerund is a verb that acts as a noun. Gerunds always end in -ing.
Ex: Skiing is my favorite form of exercise; eating enough leafy greens is hard to do; sleeping solves most of my problems. (skiing, eating, and sleeping are gerunds).

Question 4

What is an appositive?

Answer 4

An appositive modifies or clarifies the noun or noun phrase that precedes it.
Ex: Ivan the Terrible ruled for a number of years. (The Terrible is an appositive that tells us something about Ivan.)

Question 5

what is an appositive phrase?

Answer 5

An appositive phrase is a phrase set off by commas that tells the reader more about the noun or pronoun it modifies.
Ex: San Francisco, a city often shrouded in fog, is chilly at this time of year. (A city often shrouded in fog is the appositive phrase.)

Question 6

What is a proper noun?

Answer 6

A proper noun is a specifically named person, place, or thing.
EX: President Clinton, Snafu University, England, Boston Red Sox.

Question 7

What is a common noun?

Answer 7

A common noun is a naming noun that is not capitalized.

EX: interstate, college, books, cars

Question 8

T/F: Nouns can appear anywhere in a sentence.

Answer 8

True. There are no rules about where a noun can or cannot appear in a sentence. However, a sentence must have at least one noun acting as the subject in order for the sentence to be complete.

Question 9

What is the difference between a proper noun and a common noun?

Answer 9

A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing, whereas a common noun does not specify by name instead referring to a general person, place, or thing.

Question 10

What type of nouns are -airplane- and -Delta-?

Answer 10

Airplane is a common noun. Delta is a proper noun.

Question 11

Are Skippy and peanut the same type of noun?

Answer 11

No. Skippy is a proper noun, and peanut is a common noun.

Question 12

T/F: Kleenex and Xerox are the same type of noun.

Answer 12

True. Kleenex and Xerox are both proper nouns.

Question 13

T/F: All proper nouns are capitalized.

Answer 13

True

Question 14

T/F: A countable noun names a non-specific noun

Answer 14

False. A common noun names a non-specific noun. A countable noun is any noun that can be numbered.

Question 15

T/F: Air- is a countable noun

Answer 15

False. Air- cannot be counted, so it is not a countable noun

Question 16

T/F: Rims- is a countable noun.

Answer 16

True. We can count rims.

Question 17

Is -rain- a countable noun?

Answer 17

No

Question 18

T/F: -Wine- is a non- countable (mass) noun.

Answer 18

True. Wine- cannot be counted.

Question 19

Do all collective nouns take singular verbs?

Answer 19

No. Most collective nouns take singular verbs (our class is always rowdy). In British English, some collective nouns take plural verbs when members of the group are acting individually (the family bicker during the holidays)

Question 20

T/F : Flock is a collective noun.

Answer 20

True. Flock is a singular word referring to a group of individual beings usually birds.

Question 21

T/F: Freshness is a collective noun.

Answer 21

False. Freshness- is an abstract noun.

Question 22

T/F: Pumpkins-is a countable noun

Answer 22

True. We can count pumpkins, so =pumpkins- is a countable noun

Question 23

What type of noun is -contentment-?

Answer 23

Contentment - is an abstract noun

Question 24

Is -sadness- a concrete noun?

Answer 24

No. Although we feel sadness, we don’t feel it in a literal way-that is, we can’t touch it or taste it. Sadness- is an abstract noun.

Question 25

T/F: Every profession differentiates between gender.

Answer 25

False. Many professions (law, medicine, etc.) do not distinguish between their male and female practitioners (lawyers, doctors, etc.)

Question 26

T/F: A noun can only be one type of noun.

Answer 26

False. Nouns can fall into multiple categories. For EX> Waitress is both a gendered noun and a countable noun.

Question 27

T/F: An infinitive can sometimes act as a noun

Answer 27

True. An infinitive sometimes acts as a noun. For example, in the sentence -To grow is the dream of many pre-teens-, -to grow- is an infinitive acting as the subject of the sentence.

Question 28

Can a gerund be the subject of a sentence?

Answer 28

Yes. A gerund takes on all the traits of a noun, and since nouns can be subjects, so can gerunds.

Question 29

What famous line in -Hamlet- repeats the same infinitive twice?

Answer 29

"to be or not to be, that is the questions"

Question 30

Can an infinitive be the subject of a sentence?

Answer 30

Yes. In the sentence -to err is human, to err - is the subject.

Question 31

Why are appositive phrases set off by commas?

Answer 31

Appositive phrases are treated as asides that are not essential to the meaning of the sentence. The commas act almost like parentheses, indicating the nonessential quality of the information they contain.

Question 32

T/F: No common noun is ever capitalized.

Answer 32

False. If a sentence begins with a common noun, that common noun will be capitalized. EX; Apples are good for you.

Question 33

What is a countable noun?

Answer 33

A countable noun is any noun that can be numbered. EX: Four bowls, Several papers, many bottles. A noun like paint is not countable. We can say -a lot of paint- but we cannot say seven paints.

Question 34

What is a non-countable (or mass) noun?

Answer 34

A non-countable noun is any noun that cannot be numbered. | EX> earth, wind, fire.

Question 35

What is a collective noun?

Answer 35

A collective noun is a noun that takes on a singular form but refers to a group. Ex: team, band, division.

Question 36

Find all the nouns in the following sentence: | Children enjoy cookies, television, books, and soft sheets.

Answer 36

The nouns are children, cookies, television, books and sheets.

Question 37

``` Find all the proper nouns in the following sentence: Mrs. Wallace told her fifth-grade class that Texas, California, and Alaska are the biggest states in America. ```

Answer 37

The proper nouns are Mrs. Wallace, Texas. California, Alaska, and America.

Question 38

Find all the common nouns in the following sentence: | The Robertsons drove for thirty miles on the freeway before they stopped at a restaurant to eat some pie.

Answer 38

The common nouns are miles, freeway, restaurant, and pie

Question 39

What is an abstract noun?

Answer 39

An abstract noun is a noun that refers to something intangible, like an idea or a feeling. EX: peace, irony, kindness.

Question 40

Find all the countable nouns in the following sentence: | Nat had two sandwiches, and Angle had soup and a few marshmallows.

Answer 40

The countable nouns are sandwiches and marshmallows

Question 41

Find all the non-countable (mass) nouns in the following sentence: The rain poured in through the roof, dampening the flames and smoke.

Answer 41

The non-countable nouns are rain, flames, and smoke.

Question 42

Find all the abstract nouns in the following sentence: | Freedom and democracy allow for liberty and happiness.

Answer 42

The abstract nouns are freedom, democracy, liberty, and happiness

Question 43

What part of speech are the infinitives in the following sentence? Tomorrow, Johnny plans to go to the game and then to wash his mascot suit.

Answer 43

To go- and -to wash- are verbs.

Question 44

Final all the appositives in the following sentence: | Lucas the Kind had lunch with Donald the Cheapskate.

Answer 44

The Kind- and -he Cheapskate- are appositives. | They modify the nouns Lucas and Donald.

Question 45

Find the gerunds in the following sentence; | After I went running the other day, I decided that drinking cold water is one of life's most underrated pleasures.

Answer 45

Drinking- is a gerund. Running is not, because in this instance it refers to a specific jog and therefore does not act as a noun.

Question 46

What is a concrete noun?

Answer 46

A concrete noun is any noun that is experiential and thus can be felt or perceived by one of the five senses. EX: Milk, music, orange.