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Parts of Speech
Chapter 2  - Nouns

A noun is often defined as a word which names a person, place or thing.  Here are some examples of nouns: boy, river, friend, Mexico, triangle, day, school, truth, university, idea, John F. Kennedy, movie, aunt, vacation, eye, dream, flag, teacher, class, grammar. John F. Kennedy is a noun because it is the name of a person; Mexico is a noun because it is the name of a place; and boy is a noun because it is the name of a thing.

Some grammar books divide nouns into 2 groups - proper nouns and common nouns.  Proper nouns are nouns which begin with a capital letter because it is the name of a specific or particular person place or thing.  Some examples of proper nouns are: Mexico, John F. Kennedy, Atlantic Ocean, February, Monday, New York City, Susan, Maple Street, Burger King. If you see a word beginning with a capital letter in in the middle of a sentence, it is probably a proper noun.  Most nouns are common nouns and do not begin with a capital letter.

Many nouns have a special plural form if there is more than one.  For example, we say one book but two books.  Plurals are usually formed by adding an -s (books) or -es (boxes) but some plurals are formed in different ways (child - children, person - people, mouse - mice, sheep - sheep).

Review this lesson as many times as you want, and when you are ready, take the pop quiz on this chapter.