Nine Noun Functions

A NOUN is a part of speech. It can FUNCTION in 9 different ways A NOUN is a part of speech. It can FUNCTION in 9 different ways. (PRONOUNS stand in the place of nouns & can function any way a noun can.)

Subject The subject USUALLY does the action: John ran away from the monster. Five days a week my mother dusts. Nearing the yellow light, the driver sped up. “It’s not fair!” shouted John. Note that occasionally, as in d, the subject can follow the verb. Very frequently we start sentences with “There is/are.” It’s important to note that what FOLLOWS the verb is the subject: There are five principal characters in this novel. There is no way you can pass this test without studying. Sometimes the subject receives the action. That’s what’s called a passive voice sentence. There will always be a form of “to be” (is,are,was,were,be) & a past participle (jumped, laughed, eaten, spoken, sung, frozen, etc.) The song was sung a capella. The book was written in 1988. John was hit in the head.

2. Direct Object A direct object follows the verb & receives its action. It answers the question “what” or “whom”: John threw the ball. (Threw what?) Tomorrow morning Elisa will meet your sister. (Meet whom?) We helped him with his homework. (Helped whom?) He doesn’t understand anything about what he just read. (Understand what? “Anything” is a pronoun.) While hiking, Alicia found a silver bracelet.

3. Predicate Nominative (Predicate Noun) A predicate nominative follows the verb & renames the subject. John is a student. A Christmas Carol is a good book. Elisa became a lawyer. Addison will be an excellent surgeon. Emory is a private university.

It’s important to note the difference between a direct object & a predicate nominative. Something happens to the direct object; nothing happens to the predicate nominative, & that person/thing is the same person/thing as the subject: John is the president. – “President” is a predicate nominative. John hit the president. – “President” is a direct object. On the next slide is a practice for finding subjects & direct objects. It may help you to ask yourself “Subject verb WHAT?” or “Subject verb WHOM?” to find the direct object. Getting into the habit of looking for the subject-verb-complement (direct object or predicate nominative) will help you as you progress into the deep, sometimes murky waters of phrases & clauses.

Identify all SUBJECTS, DIRECT OBJECTS, & PREDICATE NOMINATIVES in this excerpt from Twilight. My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka. In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town…that my mother escaped with me when I was only a baby. It was in this town that I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead…. I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the…heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city. “Bella,” my mom said to me…before I got on the plane. “You don’t have to do this.” My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still… “I want to go,” I lied. I’d always been a bad liar.

SUBJECTS are in red; DIRECT OBJECTS are in yellow; PREDICATE NOMINATIVES ARE IN GREEN. (So that you have help putting the pieces together, verbs are in purple.) My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka. In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town…that my mother escaped with me when I was only a baby. It was in this town that I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead…. I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the…heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city. “Bella,” my mom said to me…before I got on the plane. “You don’t have to do this.” My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still… “I want to go,” I lied. I’d always been a bad liar.

After having corrected the exercise, you probably have quite a few questions. (By the way, if you don’t have noun usage nailed down & just looked at the exercise & then the answers without having done the exercise, you’re doing yourself a huge disservice. You really can’t master grammar without practice, & you’re really very strong in grammar, doing the practice will raise questions for you & have you searching for the answers in subsequent slide shows.) First, consider how you were instructed to look for subject-verb-complement. If you stick to that pattern, you won’t get confused by verbs that don’t really work like verbs (i.e., they don’t have a subject): It was in this town that I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer… You may have marked “month” as a direct object. But consider: subject – verb – direct object = I + had been compelled + month? Now, you are going to learn that “month” is indeed a direct object, because infinitives (to + verb, as in “to spend”) can have direct objects, just like whole sentences can have direct objects. But before we open that can of worms, you need to concentrate on learning to identify the direct objects that follow subject + verb; then you can work on those that follow just a verb.

The word “rolled” in the first sentence might also have bewildered you: My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. “Rolled” is not functioning as a verb because it doesn’t have a subject. “Windows” is not it’s subject, because the windows didn’t do anything; they didn’t roll down. “Rolled down” describes the windows. You’ll learn later that “rolled down” is a participial phrase, meaning that it’s a verb that acts like an adjective & describes a noun. But let’s get the basics down first. Hopefully, you’re beginning to see why that’s necessary. You have to have a thorough understanding of subject-verb-complement before you can start getting fancy with participial phrases or adverbial clauses. Did you think “fourteen” was a predicate nominative? I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. The problem here is that “fourteen” is an adjective, not a noun. It is, in fact, called a predicate adjective, & as predicate nouns follow the verb & rename the subject, predicate adjectives follow the verb & DESCRIBE the subject. There may be some nouns you called direct objects that are actually objects of prepositions, so it would be a good idea to look back at your answers after the section on prepositions.

4. Indirect Object The indirect object follows the verb & answers to/for whom. (It can also be to/for what, but it’s usually to/for whom.) The indirect object is frequently a pronoun. John gave me the money. (to whom?) Elisa sent John a letter. (to whom?) Addison bought Alex a car. (for whom?)

Yesterday morning John’s children served him breakfast in bed. Click on the indirect objects (or choose “no direct object”) in the following sentences: Yesterday morning John’s children served him breakfast in bed. No indirect object

Wrong. Remember, the indirect object answers the question “TO whom/what” or “FOR whom/what.”

Correct. Children served WHAT Correct! Children served WHAT? Breakfast, so breakfast is the direct object. They didn’t carve John up & serve him, so “him” certainly isn’t the direct object! The served breakfast TO him.

It is absolutely true that Tom bought Kristen a car at the sale last week. No indirect object

Wrong. Remember, the indirect object answers the question “TO whom/what” or “FOR whom/what.”

Correct. Tom bought what. – Bought a car. He didn’t buy Kristen Correct! Tom bought what? – Bought a car. He didn’t buy Kristen! He bought a car FOR Kristen.

Alex rarely shows his new watch to anyone at work. No indirect object

Wrong. Remember, the indirect object answers the question “TO whom/what” or “FOR whom/what.”

Wrong. When the actual word “to” or “for” is in front of the word, it is not considered an indirect object. Instead, it’s the object of a preposition (“to” & “for” are prepositions). That’s the next usage we’ll be studying—object of a preposition. However, if you reword the sentence & say, Alex rarely shows anyone at work his watch. “anyone” is now an indirect object.

Correct! Hopefully, you figured out that when the actual word “to” or “for” is in front of the word, it is not considered an indirect object. Instead, it’s the object of a preposition (“to” & “for” are prepositions). That’s the next usage we’ll be studying—object of a preposition. However, if you reword the sentence & say, Alex rarely shows anyone at work his watch. “anyone” is now an indirect object.

I was tired but read my little girl a story before bedtime anyway I was tired but read my little girl a story before bedtime anyway. No indirect object

Wrong. Remember, the indirect object answers the question “TO whom/what” or “FOR whom/what.”

Correct!

I can’t believe that you all told the truth after everything that happened. No indirect object.

Wrong. Remember, the indirect object answers the question “TO whom/what” or “FOR whom/what.”

Correct!

I know the girl in the red dress. Object of a Preposition Prepositions are words that link the rest of the sentence to their object (which is always a noun or pronoun & is referred to as “object of the preposition”). Granted, that’s not a necessarily a helpful definition, since it’s not always immediately obvious what is being linked: He left after class. (Objects of prepositions here are in pink; prepositions are in yellow.) “After” links “class” with the action of leaving. I know the girl in the red dress. “In” links “dress” with “girl.” English is full of prepositions: of, near, after, before, from, to, through, under, over, across, with…to name a few. There was a long list of prepositions in the lesson on prepositions, & while it doesn’t hurt to be familiar with that, to find an object of a preposition, it’s a good idea to see if the noun/pronoun is preceded by a word that somehow links it in meaning to the rest of the sentence. I work with your friend. My best friend lives across the street. Over the river & through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go.

Identify all OBJECTS OF PREPOSITION in this excerpt from Twilight Identify all OBJECTS OF PREPOSITION in this excerpt from Twilight. Also identify all prepositions. (That will keep you from doing insane things like calling something an object of preposition when there’s not even a preposition.) My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka. In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town…that my mother escaped with me when I was only a baby. It was in this town that I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead…. I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the…heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city. “Bella,” my mom said to me…before I got on the plane. “You don’t have to do this.” My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still… “I want to go,” I lied. I’d always been a bad liar.

Objects of preposition are in pink; prepositions are in yellow. My mother drove me to the airport with the windows rolled down. It was seventy-five degrees in Phoenix, the sky a perfect, cloudless blue. I was wearing my favorite shirt – sleeveless, white eyelet lace; I was wearing it as a farewell gesture. My carry-on item was a parka. In the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington State, a small town named Forks exists under a near-constant cover of clouds. It rains on this inconsequential town more than any other place in the United States of America. It was from this town…that my mother escaped with me when I was only a baby. It was in this town that I’d been compelled to spend a month every summer until I was fourteen. That was the year I finally put my foot down; these past three summers, my dad, Charlie, vacationed with me in California for two weeks instead…. I loved Phoenix. I loved the sun and the…heat. I loved the vigorous, sprawling city. “Bella,” my mom said to me…before I got on the plane. “You don’t have to do this.” My mom looks like me, except with short hair and laugh lines. I felt a spasm of panic as I stared at her wide, childlike eyes. How could I leave my loving, erratic, harebrained mother to fend for herself? Of course she had Phil now, so the bills would probably get paid, there would be food in the refrigerator, gas in her car, and someone to call when she got lost, but still… “I want to go,” I lied. I’d always been a bad liar.

If you incorrectly identified something in the phrases “to spend a month” or “to do this,” you need to remember that an object of a preposition is a NOUN or PRONOUN. “Spend” & “do” are verbs; “to spend” & “to do” are infinitives. So what does that make “month” & “this”? They’re the direct objects of the verbs “spend” & “do,” respectively. As was mentioned before, even when verbs don’t function as verbs, they can still have objects. You’ll learn more about this in the lesson on phrases. Did “than any other place” give you problems? Did you identify “than” as a preposition? It actually isn’t a preposition but rather a subordinating conjunction. Part of the sentence is left out, so to speak: “It rains on this inconsequential town more than [it rains on] any other place.” So “place” is actually the object of the preposition “on.” If you incorrectly identified “I” as an object of preposition, thinking that “before” was a preposition in the CLAUSE “before I got on the plane,” you need to look at EVERYTHING that comes after what you suspect to be a preposition. “Before” isn’t followed by just a pronoun but rather a pronoun + verb: “I got.” When a word that LOOKS like a preposition is actually followed by a subject + verb, what you have is a subordinate clause. Note the difference: We ate before the game. “Game” is the object of the preposition “before.” We ate before he left. “Before” is a subordinating conjunction linking “we ate” with “he left.” Several other words, such as “after” & “until” can also be either a preposition or a subordinating conjunction, depending on what follows. So be careful!

6. Appositive An appositive follows a noun & renames it. My sister Rita lives in Virginia. The book I’m reading, The Scarlet Letter, is set in the U.S. I met my friend Helene last year.

Objective Complement An objective complement renames the direct object. It can be distinguished from an appositive (which can rename ANY noun) by determining if the words “to be” can be inserted before it. We elected Obama (to be) president. I consider him (to be) my brother. *He saw my sister Rita yesterday. “Rita” in the last sentence is an appositive, not an objective complement, because you couldn’t say, “He saw my sister to be Rita yesterday.”

8. Retained Object A retained object follows a passive voice verb (“to be”—is/are/was/were/be-- + past participle) He was fed spinach. (Was fed what?) They were given a new kitten. (Were given what?) He was elected president. (Was elected what?)

9. Noun of direct address You use a noun of direct address when talking to someone: Juan, when are you going to leave? Mr. Smith, I haven’t finished the list. Professor Gellar, I need to turn in my paper late.

Traditionally, the following two usages aren’t considered functions of a noun because they are adjectives. But they are nouns that function as adjectives. If you study a foreign language, it’s helpful to know when it’s a noun we’re using as an adjective in English, because chances are a noun can’t be used as an adjective in the language you’re studying. I need a paint bucket. Give him that water glass. We also make nouns possessive so that they can function as adjectives: I met your mother’s friend. We saw the clown’s face.

Go here for the assignment. Extra practice 1.http://www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/functions_of_nouns/quiz3150.html 2.http://www.grammaruntied.com/nouns/nounquiz1/Iquizn.html 3.http://www.quia.com/quiz/814440.html 4.http://www.towson.edu/ows/exercisenoun_functions2.htm (In this one, “subjective complement” is the term used for a predicate nominative.)