Nouns

Nouns
A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. Nouns come in these varieties: com-
mon nouns, proper nouns, compound nouns, and collective nouns.
1. Common nounsname any one of a class of person, place, or thing.
girlcityfood
2. Proper nounsname a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized.
BarbaraNew York CityRice-a-Roni
3. Compound nounsare two or more nouns that function as a single unit. A compound noun
can be two individual words, words joined by a hyphen, or two words combined.
Individual words:time capsule
Hyphenated words:great-uncle
Combined words:basketball
4. Collective nounsname groups of people or things.
audiencefamilyherdcrowd
Possessive Nouns
In grammar, possession shows ownership. Follow these rules to create possessive nouns.
1.With singular nouns, add an apostrophe and an s.
dog ?dog’s bone
singer ?singer’s voice
2.With plural nouns ending in s, add an apostrophe after the s.
dogs ?dogs’ bones
singers ?singers’ voices
3.With plural nouns not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
men ?men’s books
mice ?mice’s tails
Plural Nouns
Here are the guidelines for creating plural nouns.
1.Add sto form the plural of most nouns.
cat ?catscomputer ?computers
2.Add esif the noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x.
wish ?wishesinch ?inchesbox ?boxes

9682 Rozakis_01_f.qxd 5/9/03 3:13 PM Page 9
Parts of Speech
9
3.If a noun ends in consonant -y, change the y to iand add es.
city ?citieslady ?ladies
4.If a noun ends in vowel -y,add s.Words ending in -quydon’t follow this rule (as in solilo-
quies).
essay ?essaysmonkey ?monkeys
Prepositions
Prepositions link a noun or a pronoun following it to another word in the sentence. Use this
chart to help you recognize some of the most common prepositions:
aboutaboveacrossafteragainstalong
amidaroundasatbeforebehind
belowbeneathbesidebetweenbeyondbut
bydespitedownduringexceptfor
fromininsideintolikenear
onontoofoffoppositeout
outsideoverpastsincethroughto
towardunderunderneathuntiluponwith
A noun or pronoun always follows a preposition. A prepositional phraseis a preposition and
its object. A prepositional phrase can be two or three words long.
on the wingin the door
However, prepositional phrases also can be much longer, depending on the length of the
preposition and the number of words that describe the object of the preposition.
near the violently swaying oak trees
on account of his nearly depleted bank account