Mrs. Meo’s Advanced English I Classes Functions of Nouns in Sentences

Subject Object of Preposition Direct Object Appositive Direct Address Review: A noun is the name of a person, place or thing. New concept: Each noun in a sentence has a function. By function, we mean the purpose of the noun. Examples of noun functions are:

Subjec t The ball bounced. “Ball” is the subject of this sentence. The subject is the do-er in the sentence. Click to see a subject do something. My phone is not working. Fortunately, Pokemon characters do not invade our classroom. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation. For an authority figure, integrity is essential. Find the subjects in the following sentences. Sometimes it is easy to find the subject. Other times, we need to remind ourselves: The subject is doing something, or is being something. Check your answers on the next slide. (Click for the sentences to appear.)

Answers: The subjects are highlighted: My phone is not working. Fortunately, Pokemon characters do not invade our classroom. Four score and seven years ago, our fathers brought forth on this continent a new nation. For an authority figure, integrity is essential. The phone is the thing which is not working. The characters are the things which are not invading us. The years are not doing anything; the fathers are. The authority figure is not doing anything here. Integrity is being essential.

Appositive The appositive restates the noun before it. Appositives are often, but not always, set off by commas. The Red Mill, a historical landmark, was built in 1809 and renovated in In the sentence above, the phrase “a historical landmark” restates “Red Mill”, and is therefore an appositive phrase. The appositive is “landmark”. The Red Mill Five, a group of local citizens, sponsored the renovation for historical preservation. In the sentence above, the appositive is “group”. The full appositive phrase is “a group of local citizens”. You may notice that this also includes a prepositional phrase, which helps to describe the group.

Direct Address In direct address, a word names the person who is being spoken to in the sentence. Pikachu, where are you? In the above sentence, “Pikachu” is an example of direct address. The speaker is calling Pikachu. Words in direct address can occur at any point in the sentence. Here are some examples. The underlined words are in direct address. Mrs. Stocker, I do not know where to leave your order. There is no need to worry, sir; we will call you as soon as your table is ready. Feed the birds with this bag of food that I just bought, Jaime. Friends, Romans, countrymen, lend me your ears.

Object of Preposition The object of a preposition is the noun in a prepositional phrase which answers the question, “What?” after the preposition. Click to see some examples. The baseball player swirled in a circle. “Circle” is the object of the preposition, “in”. The cat is sleeping in a house, on a computer, next to a couch. The underlined words above are objects of prepositions.

Direct Object The direct object is the noun which follows an action verb, and which receives the action of that verb. My very talented mother painted these flowers. I attended my elementary school for 8 years. My team won the pennant! The underlined words are direct objects. Notice that each receives the action of the verb. The direct object answers the question, “What?” after the verb.

Can you identify the functions of each noun in this sentence? The nouns are in purple. In the last moments of the game, the team mascot, Reggie, caught the ball and ran to the end zone. HINT: Find the prepositional phrases first. If you can’t find them, use the prepositions list that is in the Grammar section of your English binder. Remember, the subject and verb will not be in the prepositional phrases. This sentence contains 3 prepositional phrases, a subject, an appositive, and a direct object.

Answers: moments = object of preposition game = object of preposition mascot = subject Reggie = appositive ball = direct object end zone = object of preposition Congratulations! You have completed the Nouns 1 Power Point. Please ask questions in class if you need further explanation.