markkula center for applied ethics - santa clara university

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Common nounsUNIT

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Grammar explainedEverything has a name, even the words that name things. We call those words nouns. There are many types of nouns, and each type has a special function. In this unit, we look at common nouns.

Common nouns:

✱ name ordinary things ✱ do not use capital letters (except at the beginning of a sentence) ✱ describe a general thing rather than a particular thing; for example, mountain

is a common noun whereas Mount Kosciuszko is a particular mountain.

Language in use1 Which of the following are common nouns? Circle your answers.

mother Canberra dictionary Australia Mrs Jones

television brother Sunday Michael policewoman

2 Read the extract and answer the questions that follow.

As he sat on the grass and looked across the river, a dark hole in the bank opposite, just

above the water’s edge, caught his eye, and dreamily he fell to considering what a nice snug

dwelling place it would make for an animal with few wants and fond of a bijou riverside

residence, above fl ood level and remote from noise and dust. As he gazed, something

bright and small seemed to twinkle down in the heart of it, vanished, then twinkled once

more like a tiny star. But it could hardly be a star in such an unlikely situation; and it was too

glittering and small for a glow-worm. Then, as he looked, it winked at him, and so declared

itself to be an eye; and a small face began gradually to grow up round it, like a frame round

a picture.

A little brown face, with whiskers.

A grave round face, with the same twinkle in its eye

that had fi rst attracted his notice.

Small neat ears and thick silky hair.

It was the Water Rat!

The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Grahame, 1908

a Underline the common nouns in the extract.

b What is the creature that emerges from the hole?

Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows is one of the most popular children’s texts. Since it was first published in 1908, it has become an international bestseller and has been transformed into a radio play, a stage show, a film and a television series.

?Did you know?

Pearson English Year 7 AB_TEXT.indd 1Pearson English Year 7 AB_TEXT.indd 1 22/04/10 12:27 PM22/04/10 12:27 PM

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c What makes the hole an attractive home? Find evidence from the extract.

d Highlight all the words in the passage that refer to light. In your notebook, rewrite the extract and substitute words that have an opposite meaning for the highlighted words. What effect does this have on the piece of writing?

Spelling practice3 Find the meaning of the following words to improve your spelling and writing.

business department minute person religion

church education modern present society

college industry nation president surface

country market operation property university

Vocabulary builder4 Draw a line to match each word on the left with its correct meaning on

the right.

Word Meaninga opposite far away or distantb dreamily serious or dignified and solemnc snug taking place slowlyd dwelling placed or seated directly facing a person

or object

e bijou a house or homef residence cosy or close-fittingg remote not likely or probable to happenh vanished in a dreamlike statei unlikely a trinket or small and elegantj gradually disappeared completelyk grave a large house

One way to test whether a word is a noun is if you can put the word ‘a’ or ‘the’ in front of it. If you can, then it is probably a noun.

Writer’sToolbox


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Proper nouns1UNIT

Proper nounsUNIT

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Grammar explainedHave you ever wondered why your name starts with a capital letter? Or why the name of the state in which you live starts with a capital letter? The answer is because it is a proper noun. A proper noun names a particular person, place, animal or thing. For instance, country is a common noun, but Australia is a proper noun. They are mostly single words, but sometimes they consist of more than one word; for instance, Pacific Ocean. The days of the week, the months of the year and particular organisations, such as Greenpeace, are also proper nouns.

Language in use1 The following words are common nouns. For each one, insert three proper

nouns. The first one has been done for you.

All proper nouns begin with a capital letter.

Writer’sToolbox

Common noun Proper noun

a planet Jupiter, Mercury, Earth

b mountain

c month

d lake

e religion

f city

g business

h nationality

i language

j continent

k holiday

l brand


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Proper nounsUNIT

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2 Look at the image. Make a list of all the common nouns and the proper nouns that you can see.


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Proper nounsUNIT

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Building on languageWhen do I use a capital letter?Some words can be either common nouns or proper nouns depending on how they are used. For example:

The White House is perhaps the most famous house in the United States.

The word house in White House refers to a particular building and is, therefore, a proper noun. The second instance of the word, however, is a common noun since it refers to houses in general.

3 Rewrite each sentence, putting in the capital letters where necessary.

a at 2375 kilometres, the river murray is australia’s longest river.

b count ferdinand von zeppelin was the inventor of the zeppelin.

c the captain of the endeavour was captain cook.

d the university of melbourne is one of the oldest universities in the country.

e sam went to mountain designs to buy mountain gear for the hiking trip to mount hotham.

f of all government ministers, the minister for foreign affairs travels the most.

Do I capitalise everything?We know that proper nouns need to have capital letters but what do you do if the proper nouns consist of more than one word? The answer is that you do not need to capitalise prepositions (those of fewer than five letters) or articles (a, an, the). For example, the President of the United States or Catherine the Great.


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4 Read the passage and highlight the proper nouns that need to be capitalised.

One of the most famous of all the english monarchs is henry viii. As the king of england,

he made decisions that changed the course of history in that country. He was instrumental

in changing the religious denomination from roman catholic to church of england. His fi rst

wife was katherine of aragon. She was a spanish princess who gave birth to their daughter,

mary, who later became queen mary i. Henry and katherine later divorced.

Henry then married anne boleyn. She gave birth to a daughter called elizabeth who

became the queen after her half-sister mary died. Henry had anne boleyn executed at the

tower of london.

Henry’s third wife was jane seymour. She had a son, edward, who would later become

king. Jane died soon after edward was born.

His fourth wife was a fl emish princess, anne of cleves. This was a very short marriage and

they were divorced soon after.

Henry then married anne boleyn’s cousin, catherine howard. Unfortunately, queen

catherine also lost her head after henry ordered her execution.

Henry’s fi nal wife was catherine parr. As the sixth queen of england, she managed to

outlive her husband.

Spelling practice5 Find the location of these Australian placenames (proper nouns) to improve

your spelling and geographical knowledge.

Arnhem Land Great Dividing Range Queanbeyan

Barossa Valley Kalgoorlie Stradbroke Island

Cape York Peninsula MacDonnell Ranges Euroa

Coober Pedy Murray-Darling Basin Uluru

Fremantle Nullarbor Plain Wagga Wagga

Freycinet Peninsula Oodnadatta Wilsons Promontory

Geographe Bay Port Macquarie Wollongong


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Collective nouns

Grammar explainedCollective nounsWe know that everything has an individual name, but what do we call a group of those individual things? We can’t call them all by their common or proper noun—that’s just too time-consuming. The answer is to use a collective noun to name groups of people, places, animals or things.

For example, if we are looking at a group of cows in a paddock we could say, ‘There’s a cow and a cow and a cow and ...’, or if we knew some of the cows’ names we could say, ‘There’s Daisy and Buttercup and Elfrida and Mabel and ...’ The easier way, of course, is to use a collective noun. In this case we call a group of cows a herd of cows.

Language in use1 Use the internet or your dictionary to find the collective nouns that describe

groups of the following people, animals or things.

Collective noun

a ants

b owls

c football players

d ships

e books

f fish

2 Describe each picture using a common, proper and collective noun. Write each type of noun on a separate line underneath the picture.

Some collective nouns are easily identified as meaning a group of one thing; for example, ‘jury’, which can only mean a group of twelve people who adjudicate on a court case. Others, like ‘crowd’, ‘heap’ or ‘gathering’, may refer to groups of different things such as people, blocks or musicians.

Writer’sToolbox

Collective noun

g students

h flowers

i racehorses

j geese

k stars

l bees

dog

Rover

a pack of dogs

a b


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Vocabulary builder3 Each of these words has two or more meanings; at least one meaning is a

collective noun for a group of animals. Look up each word in your dictionary and write down all the meanings in your notebook. Then write two sentences for each word. Each sentence should illustrate a different version of the word’s meaning.

barren brace business charm dray haremlitter murder muster parcel parliament plump

Building on language4 Find out all you can about the derivation of the collective nouns for animals in

question 3. Who came up with these terms? Where and when were they most popular? Were they meant to be taken seriously?

5 Make up your own collective nouns to describe groups of the following.

Collective noun

g computers

h clocks

i T-shirts

j presidents

k clowns

l dresses

Collective noun

a iPods

b fashion models

c cars

d wigs

eprescription glasses

f newsreaders

c d e


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Concrete and abstract nouns

Grammar explainedEven though Shakespeare said that ‘a rose by any other name, would smell as sweet’, if we didn’t have a word to describe it, there would still be an awful lot of confusion when we tried to talk about the rose. We give names to everything to help us to explain these things to other people. Concrete nouns name the things we can feel, smell or hear. Abstract nouns name the things that are ideas, values, qualities or feelings.

Language in use1 Circle the abstract nouns in red and the concrete nouns in blue.

anger apathy book cards carpet dirt envy

honour integrity jealousy joy jumper justice

kindness odour sofa table television vase

2 Read the passage and complete the activities that follow. You should read the passage at least twice to make sure that you understand it completely.

(1) Megan sat on the grass above the rock face, gently stroking the dog’s soft fur. (2) She

gazed into the distance, seeking with her eyes the ship that she knew should be coming

through the headlands. (3) The waves pushed strongly against the rocks and the wind blew

directly into her face, but still she sat, waiting and hoping to see the sails. (4) Megan had

sat here every day for the past three months. (5) At fi rst her emotions had played across her

face; the fear, the anxiety, the desperate yearning for her father to return home. (6) In her

other hand, the one resting on her lap, she held tightly the last letter her father had sent

home, promising to return to her as soon as he possibly could, reassuring her he would be

home for her thirteenth birthday and sending her all his love. (7) The letter was creased and

blurred with tears, a much-read reminder of her father. (8) She had turned thirteen a month

ago. (9) The ship had not come. (10) He had not returned. (11) But still she sat on the grass

watching and waiting.

a Find the concrete and abstract nouns in each sentence and write them in the table.

Sentence no.

Concrete nouns Abstract nouns

1

2

3

4

5

4UNIT


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Concrete and abstract nounsUNIT

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Sentence no.

Concrete nouns Abstract nouns

6

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b Write a passage in your notebook of about the same length that describes Megan’s father’s situation at this time. Make sure you use lots of concrete and abstract nouns to explore where he is and what he is feeling.

Vocabulary builder3 Rearrange the tiles so that you can read the hidden meaning. Write your

answers in the correct box as you go. A few tiles have already been placed as clues. You should use a pencil.

ARE HE TE NAM QU E T NS EEL

CT S. ID TH HE ALU NS NOU

R F NGS THI CON N F AT NOU THI

EEL E T CA NGS CRE S O L O TIE

WE ALI . , V ABS ES, ING TRA

MEL EAR NAM EAS R H , S

CON NOU NS

. ABS NOU

NS

QU ALI

TIE EEL ING S.

Spelling practice4 Find the meaning of the following words to improve your spelling and writing.

active common energetic measure position

anxious concern govern money reason

brisk develop history office school


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Proper nounsInfinitive and regular verbs5UNIT

Grammar explainedA verb is a word that expresses an action or a state of being. Every sentence, even the shortest, contains a verb. Generally, we call verbs the doing words of the English language. They can also be:

✱ having words: I own the book. ✱ thinking words: I wonder what is in the book. ✱ being words: I know the book exists. ✱ saying words: I explained the plot of the book.

Language in use1 Write down six verbs that describe things you have done today.

2 Read each sentence and decide if it contains a doing, having, thinking, being or saying verb.

a I watched the cat pounce on the bird.

b Rodney told me all about the car’s engine.

c A philosopher is paid to ponder the big questions of life.

d He tapped on his keyboard as he wrote his essay.

e The dog ran towards his master.

f It is hard to survive in the wilds of Africa.

g I want to possess the autograph of every member of the Australian

team.

3 The following extract has been jumbled by the printer and all the verbs have fallen out of the text. Your job is to put them back in. The printer has very kindly put them in a box at the bottom of the extract.

Sure enough, next ball Jayawardene for the full-blooded sweep

but top-edged it high into the air—a spiralling chance over my left shoulder that required

a delicate balance between and an eye on the

ball’s fl ight path. Just as I to my hands

with arms outstretched for the catch, I the ball in the sun; I

it a moment later, but in that blinding millisecond I’d my fi nishing


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Infinitive and regular verbsUNIT

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point and had to to the offering. Instead

of the worn leather nestle into the soft fl eshy part of the palm,

I _______________ the numbing pain of my head like it had

been by a Mike Tyson knockout punch. In that fl eeting moment

I couldn’t out what had . How could such a

brilliant piece of captaincy and inspiration go so horribly wrong?

Out of My Comfort Zone by Steve Waugh, Penguin Books, 2005

experienced feeling feeling found happened

keeping link lost lunge miscalculated

poleaxed sprinting take went went work

Vocabulary builder4 Draw a line to match each verb with its correct meaning.

Verb Meaninga babble stroke or hit hardb flee give abundantly or generouslyc articulate provoke or try to anger by insult or mockeryd initiate wavere lavish run away from danger or pursuersf hone pronounce words distinctlyg prise begin or originateh smite sharpen or polishi taunt utter incoherent or meaningless soundsj vacillate raise or force with a lever

5 Use each verb from question 4 in a sentence.

a

b

c

d

e

f

g

h

i

j


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