Brighter Grammar 1 - Margaret Macaulay 1987
Lesson One. Parts of speech: nouns
We use words when we speak or write a language. In English grammar we study the use of English words. We see how we change the words and how we arrange them to make sentences that other people understand.
We say that English words are of eight kinds. If we want to decide which kind a word is, we ask ourselves: ’What work does this word do in the sentence?’ The answer tells us which ’box’ the word comes from. These eight ’boxes’ are the eight parts of speech.
Let’s look at the words from the biggest box: nouns. What work does a noun do in a sentence? It is a word that we use to name a person (man, woman, John), or people (men, boys, Indians), or an animal (horse, dog), or a thing (house, town), or an idea (peace, size etc.).
A noun is a word that names anything.
Exercises
A Write down words that name
six people (Example: teacher)
six animals (Example: horse)
six things (Example: table)
You have written down eighteen words. What part of speech are your eighteen words?
В Pick out the nouns that name people in these sentences. There are 26 of them.
Example: Those women are teachers in my school.
Answer: women, teachers
1 The boy saw his brother.
2 The teacher speaks to his pupils.
3 My sister is a clever girl.
4 That boy is my friend.
5 There is a man and a woman in the picture.
6 Three doctors work in this hospital.
7 The children are staying with their uncle and aunt.
8 The man opened the door for his wife.
9 My father and mother have asked my cousin to come and stay at our house.
10 The soldiers marched through the town.
11 That little girl is my daughter.
12 The sailors were led by an officer.
13 A supermarket sells tea and sugar.
14 The chemist has a shop in that street.
C Pick out the nouns that name things in these sentences.
1 There is a pen on the desk.
2 The boy kicked the football through the goal.
3 Put the chalk on the table.
4 On the plate there were some apples and oranges.
5 The car went quickly along the road.
6 There were some new pencils in the box.
7 You can buy tea and sugar at the shop.
8 There are three windows in this room.
9 The bus is coming along the road.
10 The driver stops the bus at the corner.
11 The men are putting the boxes on the top of the bus.
12 The passengers are in their seats, and the bus starts.
13 Open your books and read the words on the first page.
14 There aren’t any nuts on that tree.
15 The boy put too many nuts in his mouth.
D Pick out the nouns that name animals in these sentences. There are 21 of them. (’Animals’ here include birds, fish and insects.)
1 The dog is running in the field.
2 Look! The cat has caught a mouse.
3 I saw lions and tigers in the zoo.
4 The bird is singing in the tree.
5 Try to keep flies and other insects away from the food.
6 Here is a hen with twelve chickens.
7 We get milk from cows.
8 There are horses and donkeys in the field.
9 The eagle is a very big bird.
10 The kittens and the puppies were playing together.
11 A whale lives in the sea, but it isn’t really a fish.
12 I am going now to feed the ducks and geese.
E Here are some nouns that name ideas. Use one to complete each sentence. We have completed number 1 for you.
1 What is the answer to this question?
2 In some countries, ... is a very cold season.
3 We measure ... in hours.
4 What’s the ... of those shoes? - Forty dollars.
5 Everybody wants ... and not war.
6 Please don’t make so much ... . I’m trying to study.
7 Have you heard the ...? The war has ended.
8 They arrived at the end of their long ... .
F Pick out all the nouns in this story. There are 15 different nouns in it.
To cure a headache
A man went into a chemist’s shop and said, ’I want something for a very bad headache.’
The chemist took a bottle from a shelf, held it under the man’s nose and opened it. The smell was so strong that tears came into the man’s eyes and ran down his cheeks.
’What did you do that for?’ he said angrily, as soon as he could get back his breath.
’But that medicine has cured your headache, hasn’t it?’ said the chemist.
’You fool,’ said the man. ’It’s my wife that has the headache, not me!’