English Grammar for the Utterly Confused - Laurie Rozakis 2003
Nouns
Chapter 1. Parts of Speech
Part 1 Welcome to grammarland
A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. Nouns come in these varieties: common nouns, proper nouns, compound nouns, and collective nouns.
1. Common nouns name any one of a class of person, place, or thing.
girl
city
food
2. Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized.
Barbara
New York City
Rice-a-Roni
3. Compound nouns are two or more nouns that function as a single unit. A compound noun can be two individual words, words joined by a hyphen, or two words combined.
Individual words: time capsule
Hyphenated words: great-uncle
Combined words: basketball
4. Collective nouns name groups of people or things. audience
family
herd
crowd
Possessive Nouns
In grammar, possession shows ownership. Follow these rules to create possessive nouns.
1. With singular nouns, add an apostrophe and an s.
dog → dog’s bone
singer → singer’s voice
2. With plural nouns ending in s, add an apostrophe after the s.
dogs → dogs’ bones
singers → singers’ voices
3. With plural nouns not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.
men → men’s books
mice → mice’s tails
Plural Nouns
Here are the guidelines for creating plural nouns.
1. Add s to form the plural of most nouns.
cat → cats
computer → computers
2. Add es if the noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x.
wish → wishes
inch → inches
box → boxes
3. If a noun ends in consonant -y, change the y to i and add es.
city → cities
lady → ladies
4. If a noun ends in vowel -y, add s. Words ending in -quy don’t follow this rule (as in soliloquies).
essay → essays
monkey → monkeys