Nouns

What is a Noun?

A noun is a person, place, thing,

or idea.

Nouns

There are two main classes of nouns:

common and proper nouns.

*A noun is common OR proper—NOT BOTH!

Common Noun A common noun names any

general person, place, thing or idea.

Ex: woman, boy, city, tree

Proper Noun A proper noun names a

particularperson, place, thing, or idea. A proper noun begins with a

capital letter.

Ex: Atlanta, Mrs. Schellenberg, Language Arts, Inman Middle School, Virginia Avenue

Common or Proper? football church Thomas mall Burger King Statue of Liberty

Concrete and Abstract

Another category that a noun falls into is concrete or abstract.

A noun is either concrete OR abstract—NOT BOTH!

Concrete Noun A concrete noun names things

youcan see and touch.

Ex: television, chair, car, desk, sidewalk

Abstract Noun An abstract noun names an

idea,quality, action, or feeling.

Ex: bravery, goodness, love

Collective Noun A collective noun names a

group ofpersons or things.

Ex: crowd, team, squad

Let’s Practice: Discuss if these are common or proper, concrete or abstract or collective.

air team NFL table computer ignorance

Try It Yourself Write one example for each of thefollowing noun types on a sepertate

sheet of paper: collective proper abstract common concrete