Grammar for Everyone - Barbara Dykes 2007
Proper nouns
Introduction
Part II The parts of speech
Definition: The word ’proper’ comes from the French word propre meaning one’s own, i.e. belonging to a particular person or thing.
Proper nouns are the special names that we give to people, places and particular things like the days of the week, months of the year, or even the titles of books or TV shows.
For example:
Jason, Town Hall, China, French, The Wishing Chair
Because they are special and individual names, they start with a capital letter and, apart from people, most of these things have only one proper name.
1.2 Activities: proper nouns
Students could do the following:
1. Draw a large simple flowchart in their grammar exercise books. It should have four lines, since we have four kinds of nouns. We fill in the first two and add the remaining two later on.
Students choose their own example to add below each class heading. Remember that all the proper nouns must start with a capital letter.
2. Name the members of their family. This may be done in the form of a family tree. For example:
3. Write answers naming, for example:
a. a friend
b. a fish
c. a town
d. a horse
e. a book
f. a country
g. a famous person
h. a kind of car
i. a sportsperson
j. a building
4. Draw a real or imaginary ’mud map’ and label it with names of streets. Add and label with a name: a bridge, a river, a person, a hill, a church, a shop and any more of their choice, such as a dog, a horse and so on.
Some of these exercises provide excellent group activities and can be done in teams, and on the board. Some exercises should always be done in the Grammar Exercise Book to serve for reference and for revision.