Unit 9 Nouns Study Guide

9.1: Kinds of Nouns

 Noun: names a person, place, thing, or idea.

 Proper Noun: Names a specific person, place, thing, or idea. o Example: Lassie, Golden Gate Bridge

 Common Noun: Names any person, place, thing, or idea. o Example: dog, bridge

 Concrete Noun: Names things you can see, touch, smell, taste, or hear. (5 senses) o Example: cloud, book, cookie, food, music

 Abstract Noun: Names qualities, ideas, or feelings that cannot be seen , touched, smelled, tasted, or heard. o Example: idea, joy, anger, progress, time

9.2: Compound Nouns

 Can be formed three different ways:

 Two words joined to make one word: homeroom, necklace, football

 Hyphenated words: age-group, runner-up, mother-in-law

More than one word (no hyphen): dining room, maid of honor, motion picture

9.3: Possessive Nouns

 Show ownership  Are formed using the s or ‘s or if plural s’.  (See chart in next section for examples)  9.4: Plurals, Possessives, & Contractions:

A contraction is a word made by combining two words into one and leaving out one or more letters: Example: it’s (it is) Fred’s (Fred is)

Singular Plural Singular Plural Contraction Possessive Possessive dog dogs dog’s dogs’ Dog is= Dog is Mary --- Mary’s Mary is= Mary is child children child’s children’s Child’s= Child is runner-up runners-up runner-up’s runners’-up Runner-up’s=Runner–up is

9.5 Collective Nouns

 Collective Nouns name a group made up of a number of people or things.

 Examples: committee, family, flock, class, team, jury, crowd (page 387 for more)

 Collective Nouns mentioned as a UNIT are singular.

 Collective Nouns mentioned as MEMBERS of a unit are plural.

 Remember: Singular Nouns = Singular Verbs Plural Nouns = Plural Verbs

 Examples: The entire audience applauds the performers. (Singular/UNIT) The audience take their seats. (Plural/MEMBERS)

**TIP: Read your sentence and ask if the collective noun (group) is doing something all together at the same time. If yes, then it is SINGULAR. If the collective noun (group) MEMBERS are doing something as individuals, then PLURAL.

Replace your collective noun with “it”. If this works, then your collective noun is singular.

Replace your collective noun with “they”. If this works, then your collective noun is plural. 9.6 Appositives

An appositive is next to the noun that it refers to. It will be set off by commas at the beginning, in the middle, or at the end of a sentence. Its purpose is to add information or identify a noun.

Examples:

Appositive Phrase / Noun  An expert on food, Appert worried about food spoilage.

Noun / Appositive Phrase  Appert, an expert on food, worried about food spoilage.

Noun / Appositive Phrase  His method included packing food into containers, wide-mouthed glass bottles.