Nouns, Verbs, and Adjectives

Nouns: Common, Proper, and Plural#

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are one of the most important parts of speech in English. Without nouns, we could not name anything!

Common Nouns#

A common noun is a general name for a person, place, thing, or idea. Common nouns are NOT capitalized unless they start a sentence.

Examples:

• Person: teacher, doctor, child, friend
• Place: school, city, park, ocean
• Thing: book, dog, bicycle, sandwich
• Idea: happiness, freedom, courage, love

Proper Nouns#

A proper noun is the specific, official name of a person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized.

Examples:

• Person: Emma, Mr. Johnson, President Lincoln
• Place: New York City, the Pacific Ocean, Elm Street School
• Thing: the Eiffel Tower, Monday, July

Common vs. Proper:

• Common: city → Proper: Paris
• Common: dog → Proper: Buddy (a dog's name)
• Common: month → Proper: September

Plural Nouns#

A plural noun names more than one person, place, or thing. Most plural nouns are formed by adding -s or -es.

Regular plurals:

• cat → cats
• box → boxes (add -es after x, ch, sh, ss)
• bush → bushes

Irregular plurals (do not follow the regular pattern):

• child → children
• mouse → mice
• tooth → teeth
• foot → feet
• man → men
• person → people

Nouns ending in -y: Change y to i and add -es:

• butterfly → butterflies
• city → cities

Knowing your plural rules will help you write correctly and avoid common mistakes!

Collective Nouns#

Some nouns name groups of things. These are called collective nouns:

• a flock of birds, a pack of wolves, a team of players, a bunch of grapes

Collective nouns are singular in form (they look like one noun) but describe a group. In American English, they usually take singular verbs: The team is playing well.