Nouns: Lesson 1: Concrete or Abstract Nouns
Noun: person, place, thing, or idea
Concrete nouns: nouns that can be touched, seen, smelled, or felt.
Examples: book, car, scent, wind, toy
Abstract nouns: nouns that are ideas
Examples: liberty, grace, sadness, justice, anger, bravery
 Abstract nouns are sometimes confused with adjectives and verbs.
Examples: I wrote a love poem. (“love” is an adjective describing the noun “poem”)
I love pizza. (“love” is a verb)
I have love for my friends. (“love” is a noun, a “thing” someone has)
Nouns: Lesson 2: Noun or Adjective?
Noun:
person, place, thing, or idea
Adjective:

a word that describes a noun
Sometimes a word will be a noun in one sentence and then an adjective in another sentence.
Example: The desk was a mess. (“desk” is a noun)
The desk lamp needs repairs. (“desk” is an adjective that describes “lamp”)
Nouns: Lesson 3: Noun or Verb?
Noun:
Verb:

person, place, thing, or idea
a word that shows mental or physical action
Sometimes a word will be a noun in one sentence and then verb in another sentence.
Examples: An old ring was found on the counter. (“ring” is a noun)
The phones ring very often. (“ring” is a verb)
Nouns: Lesson 4: Gerunds
Gerunds:
A verb ending in “ing” that is used like a noun in a sentence.
Example: Skiing is my favorite sport. (“skiing” is a noun; it is a “thing”)
Nouns: Lesson 5: Common or Proper Nouns
Common nouns: Nouns that do not name a specific person, place, or thing. Do NOT capitalize them.
Examples: dog, book, game, bank, shoes, high school
Proper nouns: Nouns that name specific persons, places, or things.
They must be capitalized.
Examples: Snoopy, Bible, Monopoly, Bank of America, Nikes, Etiwanda High School
Nouns: Lesson 6: Possessive Nouns
Possessive noun:
a noun that shows ownership
Example: Bill’s bike (means the bike is owned by Bill)
Singular noun: a noun that is just one person, place, thing, or idea
Examples: child, man, woman, park, candy, liberty
Plural noun: a noun that is more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Examples: children, men, women, parks, candies, liberties
 Rules for Forming Possessive Nouns
1. For a singular noun: add ‘s, even if the singular noun ends in an s!
Examples: waitress’s apron truck’s tires boy’s room lady’s purse
2. For a plural noun that does NOT end in s: add an ‘s
Examples: men’s room children’s stories firemen’s truck
teeth’s gums
3. For a plural noun that ends in s: just add an apostrophe at the end.
Examples: waitresses’ aprons
bunnies’ whiskers
ladies’ shoe department
Nouns: Lesson 7: Singular & Plural Nouns
Singular noun: a noun that is just one person, place, thing, or idea
Examples: child, man, woman, park, candy, liberty
Plural noun: a noun that is more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Examples: children, men, women, parks, candies, liberties
 Rules for forming plural Nouns:
Rule 1: The plural of most words is made by adding just an “s” at the end.
Examples: map = maps
dog = dogs
basket = baskets
Rule 2: If the word ends in “s”, “ch”, “sh”, “z”, or “x”, add an “es”.
Examples: mess = messes
church = churches
bush = bushes
box =boxes
Rule 3: If a word ends in a consonant & a “y”, drop the “y” and add an “ies”.
Examples: baby = babies
candy = candies country = countries
Rule 4: Some words totally change their form.
Examples: man = men
woman = women
child = children
mouse = mice
Rule 5: Some words that end in “f”, drop the “f” and add “ves”.
(Not all words
ending in “f” follow this rule, especially words that end in double “f”!)
Examples: shelf = shelves self = selves leaf = leaves
Rule 6: Some words that end in “o”, you add an “es”.
this rule!)
Examples: tomato = tomatoes potato = potatoes
(Not all words ending in “o” follow
hero = heroes
Nouns: Lesson 8: Appositives
Appositive: a word or group of words that stands next to a noun.
An appositive adds additional information.
 An appositive in the middle of a sentence is surrounded by commas:
Examples: Tweety, my pet canary, lives in a cage.
My teacher, the woman in the red dress, is over there.
 An appositive maybe at the end of a sentence, but it must have an apostrophe
before it:
Examples: Your bracelet is made with my favorite jewels, emeralds.
Dessert was served to the guests, members of the P. T. A.
 More than one appositive may appear in a sentence:
Examples: Lady Gray, my horse, and Duke, my cousin’s horse, won first-place ribbons at the fair.
Nouns: Lessons 9: Predicate Nominatives
Linking Verbs: a verb that doesn't show action; it links a subject to something else in the sentence.
The most common linking verbs: is am are was were
Examples: She is tall.
She was a teacher.
 Substitution trick: If you can substitute the verb or verb phrase with is, am, are,
was, or were, then the verb is a linking verb.
Example: She had remained calm. -> She was calm. (“had remained” is a linking verb)
Common linking verbs:

to seem, to remain, to become, to stay, to appear, to grow, to feel, to sound,
to taste, to smell
Remember to use the substitution trick to tell if a verb is a linking verb!
Predicate Nominative (PN):
1. A noun or pronoun
2. It follows a linking verb
3. The predicate nominative can be switched with the subject of the sentence.
Example: Mrs. Batsford became our teacher. (“teacher” = PN) -> switch: Our teacher became Mrs. Batsford.
The winners were Ken and Bob. (“Ken, Bob” = PN) -> switch: Ken and Bob were the winners.