Nouns [Butte.edu]

Question 1

Nouns part 1

Answer 1

“NOUNS”

The first real word you ever used probably was a noun-a word likemama,daddy,car, orcookie.

Most children begin building their vocabularies with nouns.

A noun names something: a person, place, or thing.

Most other parts of our language either describe nouns, tell what a noun is doing, or take the place of a noun.

Nouns have these characteristics:

●They are abstract or concrete.

●They are proper or common.

●Most are singular or plural, but…

●Some are collective.

Question 2

Nouns part 2

Answer 2

In English, nouns are often preceded by”noun markers”–the articles/adjectives”a,an,the”, or”some”for example; or possessive words like”my”or”your”.

A noun always follows a noun marker, though adjectives or other words may come between them:

“my”former”roommate”
“asunny June”day”
“an”objective and very thorough”evaluation”
“some”existential”angst”

Because of their noun markers,
you could safely guess that
roommate,day,evaluationand
angstare nouns (even if you didn’t know whatangstwas).

Although not all nouns are preceded by markers, you can use a noun marker test to identify many, including abstract nouns.

Consider this example:

Enthusiasm and willingness to work hard are a remedy for the existential angst of many students.

“Remedy”is marked as a noun by the noun markera.”Angst”is preceded by the noun marker”the”.

“Students”is preceded by the adjective (adjectives modify nouns)”many”.

Test the remaining words: can you havean enthusiasmorsome enthusiasm?

Certainly: “I haveanenthusiasmfor snowboarding” or “Showsome enthusiasm!”

So”enthusiasm”is a noun.

Can you havean andorsome and? Uh, no. Soandis not a noun.

Can you have”a willingness”or”some willingness”?

Sure, you can have “a willingness to learn”;willingnessis also a noun.

Question 3

Nouns part 3

Answer 3

Every noun is either abstract or concrete.

Nouns like:

enthusiasm,
willingness
andangst

are abstract nouns.

Abstract nouns name things we cannot see, touch, or detect readily through our senses.

Abstract nouns name ideas (existentialism,democracy),

measurements (weight,percent),

emotions (love,angst),

or qualities (responsibility).

Concrete nouns, on the other hand, name persons, including animals (cousins,Roger Rabbit),

places (beach,Chico),

or things we can see, touch, or otherwise detect through our senses (smoke,beer).

Question 4

Nouns part 4

Answer 4

Every noun is either proper or common.

A proper noun identifies aparticularperson, animal, place, thing, or idea–Roger Rabbit, for example.

The first letter of each word of a proper noun is capitalized.

A common noun does not name a particular person or thing; rather, it refers to a whole class or type.

Common nouns do not require capitalization.

Proper noun (capitalized)

1. Sierra Nevada Crystal Wheat…
   …is his favorite

Common noun: beer

2. The Rooks and the Rangers…
   …are our local soccer and baseball

Common noun: teams

3. Bidwell Park…
   …is one of the largest municipal

Common noun: park

4. Lundberg Family Farm…
   …is a sustainable, organic

Common noun: farm

Question 5

Nouns part 5

Answer 5

“Most nouns are either singular or plural…”

Most nouns are made plural with the addition of”s”or”es”.

Thus,”instructor”becomes
“instructors”, and”class”becomes”classes”.

Some nouns have irregular plural forms:”man”becomes”men”, and”woman”becomes”women”.

“Child”becomes”children”, and”person”becomes”people”.

-Many “people”, both “men” and
“women”, believe that having “children” will be a remedy for their existential angst.

Some nouns have the same form in both singular and plural: “Amooseis crossing the river. No, wait–threemooseare crossing the river!”

“…but some nouns are collective.”

A”collectivenoun” names a collection or group of things.

Although a collective noun refers to a group of many things, it is usually singular in form.

We think of a collective noun as singular because its members act in one accord:

-The”army”iswithdrawing from those Asian countries that are in negotiations.

Here,”army”is a collective noun referring to a group of many people acting with one will.

We treat it as a singular noun.

“Countries”is a plural noun.

If several countries joined together to form an alliance, we could say this:

-The Asian”alliance”isunited in its determination to repel foreign invaders.

In some instances a collective noun describes a group that is not acting with one will, whose members rather are taking independent, divergent actions.

In this case, the collective noun is treated as a plural to reflect the plurality of the members’ actions:

-The”jury”“were”unable to come to any consensus.

If the jury had reached a unanimous decision, we would have said:

-The”jury”“was”unanimous in its verdict.