Parts of Speech: Nouns A review, hopefully…

A noun is… A person, place, thing or idea. Nouns can be classified as: common or proper concrete or abstract singular or plural masculine, feminine or neuter Nominative case, Objective Case or Possessive collective (sometimes)

Common or Proper? Common: a general noun that refers to no particular person, place, thing, or idea ship, teacher, store, religion Proper: SPECIFIC people, places, things, or ideas U.S.S. Enterprise, Mr. Hostetler, Wal- Mart, Christianity Proper nouns are always CAPITALIZED!

Concrete or Abstract? Concrete: people, places or things that can be seen, heard, smelled, touched OR tasted. Chair, wind, poop, flatulence Abstract: IDEAS that are in the mind or feelings that may be experienced but cannot be perceived by the senses Love, independence, freedom, democracy, anger We may be able to see signs of “love” or “anger” but we cannot see anger itself.

Singular or Plural? Singular: ONE and ONLY ONE thing Boat, child, turd, booger, cootie, moose Plural: More than one Boats, children, turds, boogers, cooties, moose How do I tell if moose is singular or plural? LOOK AT THE VERB: The moose were grazing next to Mr. Hostetler’s momma. The moose was grazing next to Mr. Hostetler’s momma.

Masculine, feminine, or neuter? The vast majority of nouns in English are neuter—they have no specific gender to which they are associated. Tree, chair, door, pencil, etc. Masculine: Associated to males Boy, uncle, man, grandfather, rooster, bull Feminine: Associated to females Aunt, girl, sister, wife, hen, cow

Collective Nouns Refer to a group of people Team, choir, Veterans of Foreign Wars Collective Nouns should be treated as SINGULAR in agreement unless they are PLURAL (Referring to more than one GROUP) The team was happy with its performance. The teams were happy with their performances.

The CASE of a noun Case refers to understanding HOW a noun is used in a sentence. It may not seem THAT important now, but is ESSENTIAL with pronouns. Nominative case: Noun is used as the SUBJECT of a sentence or clause: Mr. Hostetler cleared the classroom with his foul gas. Mr. Hostetler is in the NOMINATIVE case because he is the SUBJECT of the sentence.

The Objective Case When a noun is used as a direct object, indirect object or object of a preposition it is in the OBJECTIVE case. Mr. Hostetler cleared the classroom with his foul gas. In the same sentence CLASSROOM and GAS are OBJECTS. They answer the questions WHO or WHAT: What was cleared? Classroom With what was the classroom cleared? gas

Nouns that show ownership Usually have an ‘s on them Possessives Nouns that show ownership Usually have an ‘s on them Mr. Hostetler’s momma Mrs. Regan’s restraining order The child’s temper tantrum