Noun

Defining a noun

A noun is a naming word which is used to name:

• People - child
• Place - park
• Thing - duck, sunflower, tree

Every sentence we read will have at least one noun but it can have more than one.

Proper & common nouns

Nouns can either be common or proper nouns:

Common Nouns

Common nouns name people, places or things and do not need a capital letter. For example

• man (people),
• wheelchair (thing)
• ball (thing)
• jumper (thing).
• star (thing)
• bag (thing)

Singular & Plural Common Nouns

Common nouns are often plural (more than one). When common nouns are plural we need to adjust their spelling. In many cases this is achieved by adding the letter 's' to the end of the word. For example

• pot becomes pots
• tree becomes trees
• star becomes stars
• house becomes houses

Some common nouns just happen to end in the letter 's'. In this case we need to add the letters 'es'. For example

• bus becomes busses
• dress becomes dresses
• class becomes classes

Proper Nouns

Proper nouns name specific people, places and things and need a capital letter. For example

• King Charles (people)
• Cardiff Castle (place)
• Royal Mile (place)
• Edinburgh Castle (place)
• Jesse (people)

Note when using proper nouns we need to use a capital letter no matter where it appears in a sentence.

Proper nouns are rarely plural.