Nouns

Nouns are naming words. If a word is naming a person, place, animal, thing, or idea, it is being used as a noun. Godmother, kingdom, puppy, wand, and faith are nouns.

Characteristics of Nouns

Nouns have certain signs (or characteristics) that show that they are nouns.

• NUMBER- SINGULAR/ PLURAL
  Singular- Naming words (nouns and their replacements,pronouns) can name one person, place, animal, thing or idea. When this happens, the noun shows singular number. [single/one] The noun puppy is singular.
  Plural- When the noun names more than one, it shows plural number. The noun puppies is plural.

• GENDER-MASCULINE/ FEMININE/ NEUTER Nouns name many different people, animals,and things.
  Masculine-Some of these nouns are masculine/male [ prince ].
  Feminine- Some are feminine/female [ princess ].
  Neuter- Some nouns are neither masculine or feminine.
  These nouns have neuter gender [ castle ].

• CASE- SUBJECTIVE / OBJECTIVE / POSSESSIVE Nouns are used for different jobs in a written sentence.
  Subjective- In case the noun’s job is to be the subject, it is said to be in subjective case.
  Objective- If the noun’s job is to be a direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition - it is said to be in the objective case.
  Possessive-A noun that is used to show possession is in the possessive case.

• KINDS - COMMON/GENERAL GROUP or PROPER/PARTICULAR GROUP
  Common/General Group- Nouns can also be a common /general group [puppy ]. Common nouns are lower case unless they begin sentences.
  Proper/ Particular Group- Nouns can also be a proper /particular group [Dalmatian]. Proper nouns always begin with upper case letters; common nouns are lower case unless they begin sentences.

The number, gender, and case of a noun are important to know when you need to replace it with a pronoun. The pronoun has to match the noun it is replacing in all three areas. To choose the best pronoun, you need to know a lot about the noun to be replaced.

If I had to replace my magic wand, I would need to have the replacement be as much like my original wand as possible. It is the same with nouns and pronouns: they need to match.

OTHER THINGS ABOUT NOUNS -    Nouns can be concrete or abstract.  Most ot the nouns in the Grammar Rock  video are concrete-the noun names someone or something that can  be seen,  heard, touched, tasted, or smelled. One or more of your senses can experience whatever the concrete noun names- wand, music, puppy, candy, or perfume.  Abstract nouns name things that can’t be recognized by any of the senses -loyalty, faith, honesty. These abstract nouns are names for  things that are in your mind  but not in the world. You  can’t get a “box of loyalty” for someone you thought was your friend but who left you for someone else.  Loyalty is abstract.

Some nouns are collective. There must be more than one of an item for a collective noun to exist. Herd is a collective noun; you don’t have a herd of one cow. If you have one rock, you don’t have a rock collection. Collection is also a collective noun.

Don’t confuse plural nouns with collective nouns.

 Well, let’s fly  over to discover when words are used as pronouns. Pronouns are great because they save  you a lot of time when you write.  You don’t have to keep writing your nouns over and over. You replace a noun with a pronoun.