Unit 9 Overview
Lesson 9.1: Common and Proper Nouns
Lesson 9.2: Singular and Plural Nouns
Lesson 9.3: Possessive Nouns
Grammar Review
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Unit Objectives
• To recognize and apply the rules of
capitalization for common and proper
nouns 
• To demonstrate control over the spelling of
singular and plural nouns 
• To use verbs that agree in number with
singular and plural collective nouns 
• To punctuate and spell correctly various
possessive nouns
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2
Objectives
• To identify common and proper nouns 
• To demonstrate control over the rules of
capitalization for proper nouns
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3
Common and Proper Nouns
• A noun is a word that names a person,
place, thing, or idea. 
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4
Common and Proper Nouns (cont.)
• There are two basic kinds of nouns:
common nouns and proper nouns. 
• A common noun names any person,
place, thing, or idea. 
• A proper noun names a specific person,
place, thing, or idea.
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5
Common and Proper Nouns (cont.)
• A proper noun may consist of one or more
words. 
• You should always begin a proper noun
with a capital letter. 
• For proper nouns of more than one word,
capitalize the first word and all other
important words. 
• Some examples of proper nouns are listed
on the following slide.
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6
Common and Proper Nouns (cont.)
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Exercise 1 Identifying Nouns
Underline every noun that each sentence contains.
1. Historians trace the origin of the game of tennis
to France.
2. The modern outdoor game of tennis probably
evolved from an indoor game.
3. In the past, people hit the ball with their hands
instead of rackets.
4. Walter Wingfield improved the game.
5. Mr. Wingfield patented his form of tennis more
than a century ago.
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Exercise 2 Identifying Common and Proper
Nouns
Underline each common noun and circle each proper noun in
the following sentences.
1. Both youngsters and older people play in
tournaments.
2. The United States Tennis Association sponsors
contests for amateurs.
3. Matches for players also take place in Great
Britain, France, and Australia.
4. The games at Wimbledon in England are very
popular.
5. International teams compete for a special trophy,
the Davis Cup.
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Exercise 3 Using Proper Nouns
Write the proper nouns in each sentence. Use capital letters.
1. Many thousands of people attend the u.s. open
tournament in flushing meadows, new york, each
year.
U.S. Open; Flushing Meadows, New York
2. The U.s. open is one of four tournaments that are
called the grand slam.
U.S. Open; Grand Slam
3. Players from all over the world also compete in
the french open, the british open, and the
australian open.
French Open; British Open; Australian Open
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Exercise 3 Using Proper Nouns (cont.)
Write the proper nouns in each sentence. Use capital letters.
4. Martina navratilova was a top player for twenty
years.
Navratilova
5. Before martina retired in 1994, she won many
tournaments, in singles and doubles, but winning
at wimbledon was the most special.
Martina; Wimbledon
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Objectives
• To recognize and spell correctly various
singular and plural nouns 
• To identify collective nouns as singular or
plural
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Singular and Plural Nouns
• A singular noun names one person,
place, thing, or idea. 
• A plural noun names more than one. 
• To form the plural of most nouns, you
simply add s. 
• Other plural nouns are formed in different
ways.
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Singular and Plural Nouns (cont.)
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Singular and Plural Nouns (cont.)
• Words such as family and team are called
collective nouns. 
• A collective noun names a group of
people or things. 
• A collective noun can take either a singular
or a plural verb, depending on how it is
used. 
• The noun is singular when all the members
of the group act as a single unit. 
• It is plural when each member of the group
acts separately.
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Singular and Plural Nouns (cont.)
– The team shares the field with its opponent.
[singular] 
– The team share their jokes with one another.
[plural]
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Exercise 4 Identifying Plural Noun Forms
Underline the correct form of the noun in parentheses.
1. My father loves to tell funny baseball (stories,
storys).
2. He said that at one game the first four (benchs,
benches) in the stadium collapsed.
3. The (spectatores, spectators) crashed to the
ground and were covered with mud, but no one
was hurt!
4. The umpires were the (heros, heroes) at that
game.
5. They interrupted the game so that the fans could
clean (themselves, themselfs) off.
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Exercise 5 Forming Plural Nouns
Write the plural form of each singular noun.
1. radish
radishes
2. box
boxes
3. cherry
cherries
4. watch
watches
5. country
countries
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Exercise 6 Identifying Collective Nouns
Underline each singular collective noun. Circle each plural
collective noun. Pay close attention to the verb.
1. The volleyball club meets after school.
2. Each volleyball team has six players.
3. The group take their individual positions.
4. The committee discuss their reactions.
5. Our class watches the volleyball match.
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Objectives
• To identify possessive nouns 
• To punctuate and correctly spell
possessive nouns
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Possessive Nouns
• A noun that shows ownership or possession
is called a possessive noun. 
• Possessive nouns, like all nouns, can be
singular or plural. 
• A possessive noun names who or what has
something.
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Possessive Nouns (cont.)
• Notice the possessive nouns in the
following sentences. 
– The World Cup is the amateur skiers’
competition. 
– A prize is awarded for the outstanding man’s
achievement. 
– The women’s division also awards a prize. 
• The chart on the following slide shows how
to form possessives from singular and
plural nouns.
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Possessive Nouns (cont.)
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Possessive Nouns (cont.)
• When you are writing, remember that
possessive nouns always contain
apostrophes. 
• Plural nouns that are not possessive
do not. 
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Exercise 7 Identifying Possessive Nouns
Underline each singular possessive noun. Circle each plural
possessive noun.
1. The Fédération Internationale du Ski is an
amateurs’ organization.
2. The World Ski Championships are a skier’s goal.
3. A committee reviews all entrants’ applications.
4. It considers skiers’ qualifications for the races.
5. The committee’s guidelines for amateur status
are very strict.
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Exercise 8 Using Singular and Plural
Possessives
Write the possessive form of the noun in parentheses.
1. The (sport) history began thousands of years ago.
sport’s
2. Each (person) skis were made of animal bone.
person’s
3. Leather straps held the (skier) boots to the skis.
skier’s
4. Many (skiers) toe straps came loose.
skiers’
5. One (historian) discoveries include skis from
Sweden.
historian’s
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Exercise 9 Forming Possessive Nouns
Complete the chart, adding the possessive forms.
SINGULAR
NOUN
SINGULAR
POSSESSIVE
PLURAL
NOUN
PLURAL
POSSESSIVE
1. woman
woman’s
women
women’s
2. Ms. Smith
Ms. Smith’s
the Smiths
the Smiths’
3. child
child’s
children
children’s
4. senior
senior’s
seniors
seniors’
5. family
family’s
families
families’
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Nouns
• Black Star, Bright Dawn by Scott O’Dell is
about a young Inuit woman named Bright
Dawn who enters the Iditarod, a sled dog
race. 
• The race covers more than a thousand
snow-covered miles between Anchorage
and Nome, Alaska. 
• The passage on page 325 of your textbook
shows some of the kinds of nouns covered
in this unit.
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Review: Exercise 1
Using Common Nouns
Rewrite each sentence, correcting the capitalization of common
and proper nouns.
1. The team raced from anchorage on the gulf of
alaska to nome on the bering sea.
The team raced from Anchorage on the Gulf of
Alaska to Nome on the Bering Sea.
2. The temperature rose as the inuit woman
mushed across alaska’s lonely, open Wilderness.
The temperature rose as the Inuit woman
mushed across Alaska’s lonely, open wilderness.
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Review: Exercise 1
Using Common Nouns (cont.)
Rewrite each sentence, correcting the capitalization of common
and proper nouns.
3. As bright dawn raced over the moonlit
Landscape, she became sleepy.
As Bright Dawn raced over the moonlit
landscape, she became sleepy.
4. Bright Dawn dreamed of golden Salmon leaping
from a broad River.
Bright Dawn dreamed of golden salmon leaping
from a broad river.
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Review: Exercise 1
Using Common Nouns (cont.)
Rewrite each sentence, correcting the capitalization of common
and proper nouns.
5. A Racer named oteg, who had befriended the
young woman, woke her.
A racer named Oteg, who had befriended the
young woman, woke her.
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Review: Exercise 2
Using Proper Nouns
Rewrite the following sentences, replacing the underlined
words with proper nouns. Use the information and the literature
model on page 325 of your textbook to help you.
1. The state is cold for much of the year.
Alaska is cold for much of the year.
2. The race was between Anchorage and another
city.
The race was between Anchorage and Nome.
3. The race is one of the most dangerous races in
the world.
The Iditarod is one of the most dangerous races
in the world.
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Review: Exercise 2
Using Proper Nouns (cont.)
Rewrite the following sentences, replacing the underlined
words with proper nouns. Use the information and the literature
model on page 325 of your textbook to help you.
4. The girl was in danger of freezing to death.
Bright Dawn was in danger of freezing to death.
5. Her dog led the team.
Black Star led the team.
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Review: Exercise 3
Forming Plural Nouns
Write the plural form of the noun in parentheses.
1. (Husky) are the dogs most often used to pull
sleds. Huskies
2. The (life) of these animals are devoted to the
sport. lives
3. Their (reflex) are quick, and their strength is
amazing. reflexes
4. They usually race over flat ground rather than
hills or (valley). valleys
5. During the Iditarod, newspapers run many
(photo) of these dogs and the sleds they pull.
photos
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Review: Exercise 4
Using Collective Nouns
Underline the correct form of the verb in parentheses.
1. Her family (perform, performs) their daily
activities.
2. At school Bright Dawn’s class (studies, study) its
English lesson.
3. A team of dogs (helps, help) its owner, Bright
Dawn’s father, hunt for food.
4. The team (scatters, scatter) in different directions
when he drifts toward the sea on an ice floe.
5. A group of men (does, do) its best to save him.
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Review: Exercise 5
Forming Possessive Nouns
Write each possessive noun correctly.
1. The mens faces looked doubtful when the young
woman announced she would compete.
men’s
2. Bright Dawn depended on her lead dogs
guidance.
dog’s
3. Otegs advice also helped her during the race.
Oteg’s
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Review: Exercise 5
Forming Possessive Nouns (cont.)
Write each possessive noun correctly.
4. The young womans lead was erased when she
stopped to help other mushers.
woman’s
5. Her parents eyes teared when Bright Dawn won.
parents’
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Review: Exercise 6
Using Singular and Plural
Possessive Nouns
Write a sentence using each of the following nouns in the
possessive form shown in parentheses.
1. dog (singular possessive)
2. woman (plural possessive)
3. class (singular possessive)
4. group (plural possessive)
5. man (singular possessive)
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Review: Exercise 7
Proofreading
The following passage is about artist Rockwell Kent, whose work
appears on page 329 of your textbook. Rewrite the passage,
correcting the errors in spelling, capitalization, grammar, and
usage. Add any missing punctuation marks. There are ten errors.
1Rockwell
Kent (1882–1971) was an important
american book illustrator and landscape painter. 2Many
of his paintings depicts the open sea rugged mountains,
and coastlines’. 3Kent used these scenes to convey
peoples lonelyness.
4The
artist visited alaska in 1918 and was inspired
by the vast spaces near the Arctic Circle. 5Kents’
experiences resulted in The Expedition. 6The painting,
which depicts figures guiding their dogs’ and sleds,
could be an illustration for Black Star, Bright Dawn. 7It’s
easy to imagine the lifes of these people.
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Review: Exercise 7
Proofreading (cont.)
The following passage is about artist Rockwell Kent, whose work
appears on page 329 of your textbook. Rewrite the passage,
correcting the errors in spelling, capitalization, grammar, and
usage. Add any missing punctuation marks. There are ten errors.
1Rockwell
Kent (1882–1971) was an important
American book illustrator and landscape painter. 2Many
of his paintings depict the open sea, rugged mountains,
and coastlines. 3Kent used these scenes to convey
people’s loneliness.
4The
artist visited Alaska in 1918 and was inspired
by the vast spaces near the Arctic Circle. 5Kent’s
experiences resulted in The Expedition. 6The painting,
which depicts figures guiding their dogs and sleds,
could be an illustration for Black Star, Bright Dawn. 7It’s
easy to imagine the lives of these people.
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Review: Exercise 8
Mixed Review
Label each underlined noun as common or proper, singular or
plural, and possessive if it shows ownership.
1. People hike on paths and trails across America.
common, plural
2. The Appalachian Trail goes through fourteen
states. proper, singular
3. The campers’ gear must be light enough to be
carried on their backs. common, plural,
possessive
4. Storms are the camper’s worst fear.
common, singular, possessive
5. My family hikes in the Berkshire Mountains in
Massachusetts. proper, plural
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