1. Nouns and Their Jobs Lesson 2.4

2. Here’s the Idea You use nouns every time you talk or write. Nouns name the people you meet, the places you visit, the sights and sounds you experience, and the ideas you have. Nouns are found in different locations in sentences because of the many jobs they have.

3. Nouns as Subjects A subject tells whom or what the sentence is about. Notice the following sentences in which nouns act as subjects. The Aztec Empire was located in the area now known as Mexico. Spanish soldiers destroyed Tenochtitlan during their conquest of Mexico.

4. Nouns as Complements A complement is a word the completes the meaning of a verb. When a noun is a complement, it may be a predicate noun, a direct object, or an indirect object.

5. Nouns as Complements A predicate noun renames or defines the subject after a linking verb. Example: The Aztecs were fierce warriors.

6. A direct object names the receiver of the action of the verb. Example: Spanish soldiers defeated the Aztec Empire in 1521.

7. An indirect object tells to whom or what or for whom or what and action is done. Example: The Aztecs gave the Spanish gold and other precious goods.

8. Nouns as Objects of Prepositions An object of a preposition is the noun or pronoun that follows the preposition. Nouns often appear in sentences as objects of prepositions.

9. Examples: The Aztec people settled in central Mexico. Aztec merchants traded with distance lands. Among their valuable goods were gold and silver. preposition object of preposition preposition object of preposition preposition object of preposition

10. Practice Time! The Inca lived in the Andes Mountains in South America. Cuzco was their capital. The Inca were excellent record keepers. They invented the quipu to keep track of their goods. The quipu was a long cord with many strings. Directions: Identify each underlined noun as a subject, a complement, or an object of preposition. subject complement object of preposition subject complement object of preposition

11. Hey, there’s more! Clerks tied knots in the strings in different patterns. The Inca also built excellent roads. Their system of roads carried runners across deep gorges. Officials gave runners messages to carry hundreds of miles. Some roads are still used today by Andean people. complement subject complement object of preposition subject complementsubject