NOUNS

(form vs. function)

POS

NOUNS:

NOUNS

PRONOUNS

VERBS

ADJECTIVES

ADVERBS

PREPOSITIONS

CONJUNCTIONS

INTERJECTIONS

________________

ERRORS

MECHANICS

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030

101

102

BARD

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A) *DEFINITION:  A noun names a person, place, object, feeling, attribute.

·       COMMON NOUNS: general terms for objects (common, average, casual)

·       PROPER NOUNS:  specific, personal names (uncommon, specific, formal)

 

COMMON NOUNS

PROPER NOUNS

city

New York City, Philadelphia, Oxford

car

Honda Accord, Chrysler PT Cruiser

concert

Live 8, Ozzfest

movie

The Exorcist, Casablanca

   *Note:  Note that PROPER NOUNS are capitalized and movie titles are

                     underlined.

B) *FUNCTIONS:   

 

1) SUBJECT:

  •  the subject is the performer of the action/verb, so ask, “Who or what did the action?”

  •  the quarterback of the sentence, if you will              

  •  That STUDENT failed the test.

2) OBJECT:                                                                          

  •  receiver of action/verb

  •  if the subject=the quarterback, then the object=the wide receiver of the sentence

  •  The professor failed that STUDENT.

  • Direct Object:  receives the action of the verb; subject + action + receiver (who/what)

  •  Indirect Object:  ask, “by whom?” or “to whom?”

  •  The professor returned the graded quizzes (DO) to the Composition class (IO).

3) SUBJECT COMPLEMENT:          (a.k.a. “PREDICATE NOMINATIVE”)

  •  “completes” the subject; follows a linking verb

  •  LV=forms of the verb “to be” (is, am, are, was, were) not functioning as a Helping Verb

  •  The class president is that STUDENT.

4) OBJECT of PREPOSITION:       

  •  follows a preposition; preposition + its object = “PREPOSITIONAL PHRASE”

  •  anywhere a mouse can go (in, on, through, across, beneath, behind, …)

  •  plus for, of, during

  •  This replacement test is for that STUDENT.

5) MODIFIER (adjective):                 

  •  modifies subsequent noun

  •  Jackson is a STUDENT worker.

6) APPOSITIVE:                    

  •  an appositive renames the noun located immediately next to it (notice COMMAS)

  •  like the 2 p’s in the name, these 2 nouns are interchangeable

  •  Clarissa, a STUDENT at LCCC, studies long hours.

7) POSSESSIVE NOUN:     

  •  shows ownership with ’s or s’

  •  That STUDENT’s books are collecting dust in the corner.


 

 

·       A. Nouns can be preceded by an ARTICLE (a, an, the)

·       B. Nouns commonly end with

  •       -ment (government),

  •       -ness  (happiness),

  •       -ity     (nationality),

  •       -tion   (relation),

  •       -hood (childhood),

  •       -ism   (socialism)

·       C. Nouns can end in -ing (noun as a “gerund”) (not preceded by a Helping Verb)

·       D. Nouns can be made POSSESSIVE (’s or s’)

  •       placing an (’s) at the end of a word to demonstrate ownership will usually be correct

  •       if the word ends in (-s), then you may place just an (’) after the last letter   (James’) to eliminate a stuttering sound)

  •       (’s) is the reversal of a prepositional phrase SO do not do BOTH

  •     the fools’ ship

  •     OR

  •        the ship of fools

  •        not ship of fool’s/fools’

  •       Group Nouns: 

  •        place the (’s) on the last word

  •        The Queen of England’s throne

  •        Romeo and Juliet’s motifs

  •       Hyphenated Compound Nouns: 

  •        put the (’s) on the last word 

  •        mother-in-law’s

  •        Her sister-in-law’s ex-boyfriend lost his job yesterday.

  •       Joint ownership:  

  •        place the (’s) on the last name alone

  •        if separate ownership, then place a (’s) on each noun

  •        Justina’s and Jessica’s student aid checks arrived on time. (separate)

 ·       E. Nouns can be made PLURAL (+s, +es)

 *CONSULT a DICTIONARY*

1) IRREGULAR:

(-s/-ss/-ch/-sh/-x)

 

- add (-es) to words with these endings

-Joneses, gases,

-kisses, grasses,

-bunches, witches,

-ashes, wishes,

-mixes, boxes

(-en)

 

-certain words form the plural by adding (-en)

-child, children

-ox, oxen

-man, men

-woman, women

(no semblance)

 

-the plural of some words bears little resemblance to the singular form

-person, people

-goose, geese

-mouse, mice

-tooth, teeth

(no change)

 

-some words do not change in the plural form

-deer, deer

-moose, moose

-fish, fish

 

 

2) LATIN/GREEK:

-medium, media

-focus, foci

-nucleus, nuclei

-syllabus, syllabi

-fungus, fungi

-cactus, cacti

-phenomenon, phenomena

-index, indices

-appendix, appendices

-stratum, strata

-addendum, addenda

-datum, data

-medium, media

-thesis, theses (“ease”)

-crisis, crises (“ease”)

-basis, bases (“ease”)

 

*alumnus, alumni (male)

*alumna, alumnae (female)

 

 

3) COMPOUND NOUNS:

(in-law)

 

-make the first word plural

-daughters-in-law (not daughter-in-laws)

-sisters-in-law

-courts martial

-notaries public

-sergeants-of-arms

(BUT)

 

- for a word that ends with +ful, written as a single word, place +s at the end of the word

-handfuls, bucketfuls,

-platefuls, bowlfuls

  

4) TRICKY ENDINGS:

(-lf, -fe)

 

-add -ve to words with these endings

-werewolves, wives, knives, hooves, selves, leaves, lives, elves, selves

 

*BUT:  dwarfs, roofs

 

(consonant + -y)

 

-change -y to -i, add -es

-cities, families, babies, galleries

 

 

 

*boys, keys

 

(+o)

 

(vowel + o)

-add -s to such words

-stereos, radios, rodeos

 

(consonant + o)

-add –es to such words

- heroes, potatoes, torpedoes

 

(words that apply to music and end in -o)

-add -s to such words

-pianos, cellos, banjos,

-oratorios, sopranos, contraltos

 

*BUT:  oboes

 

 5) FAMILY NAMES:

(+s )

 

-add -s to most last names

-Smiths, Hausknechts,

 

(+es)

 

-for names that end with –s,

-sh, -ch, or -z, add -es

-Maddoxes, Gonzalezes, Bushes

(BUT)

 

-when the name ends in an -s with a strong “Z” sound, do not add any ending to form plural

-Hodges, Stephens, Chambers

 

6) (’s) AS PLURAL, not POSSESSIVE:

-avoid abbreviations whenever possible in formal academic writing

-spell out “CD” as “compact disc” or “DVD” as “digital video disc”

 

*Rule Change:  years and acronyms now do not have (’s) added to them, just an (-s)

-1990s, 1860s

-IRAs, URLs

-CDs, DVDs

-PhDs, IQs

 

-use (’s) for plural on letters,

- Jordan received two new A’s on his quarterly report card.

-Joshua writes his B’s like D’s.

 

-use (’s) for plural on numerals

-Dr. Howe’s 4’s look like 9’s.

-use (’s) for plural on a word that refers to the word itself

-Becky ended with, “No if’s, and’s, or but’s about it.”

-Dr. Jemenez told Nichole that Nichole had too many and’s in her last essay.

 

*In this instance, some textbooks advise italicizing the word but not the apostrophe-s:  too many and’s in her last essay.

 

   *CONSULT a DICTIONARY*

*The Oxford English Dictionary, and its database,

can be found in most college research libraries.

*free online dictionaries include:

  •        http://www.dictionary.com

  •        http://www.webster.com

  •        http://www.thefreedictionary.com


 

D) *FUNCTION vs/ FORM:  Finding the noun.

·       The running water made J’mal have to use the bathroom.

·       Running is a great form of stress relief.

·       Bubba was running across the parking lot because he was late for class.

*Nouns that look like verbs*

 

A. VERB FORM vs/ NOUN FORM:

 

absorb (V)

absorption (N)

govern (V)

government (N)

embezzle (V)

embezzlement (N)

inform (V)

information (N)

* NOTICE the endings on the nouns

 

B. VERB or GERUND:

 

Dancing

Bob was dancing (V). 

Bob enjoys dancing  (N).

Racing

Bob was racing (V).

Racing is Bob’s favorite sport.

*NOTICE the HELPING VERB that precedes the verb.

 

C. WORDS COMBINED with PREPOSITIONS to FORM NOUNS:

·       dropout

·       breakthrough

·       sit-down

     ·   higher-up