A person, place, thing, or idea.

The 8 Parts of Speech A dictionary

lists thousands of words.

They all can be divided into eight groups called the parts of speech.

A word’s part of speech can be determined by the job it does in a sentence.

Noun (names) Adverb (describes, limits)

Pronoun (replaces)

Preposition (relates)

Verb (states action or being)

Conjunction (connects)

Adjective (describes, limits)

Interjection (expresses strong feeling)

Common NounNames any person, place, or thing.

All nouns are either common or proper.

Proper NounNames a

particular person, place, or thing.

Every proper noun begins with a capital letter.

Common Nouns and Proper NounsCommon woman city building team day

Proper Mrs. Wiley Paris Space Needle Seattle Seahawks Sunday

*A proper noun sometimes includes more than one word (Space Needle). It is considered one noun because it is the name of one place.

Concrete NounsSomething that

can be perceived by the senses- taste, touch, smell, hearing, sight.

Ex: desk, pencil, pen, paper, book

Abstract NounsName of an

idea, quality or state.

Things that you cannot taste, touch, smell, hear, or see.Ex: fear, love,

sadness

Concrete and Abstract How can I tell whether a noun is

concrete or abstract? A “senses” test should do the trick.

Ocean, violin, democracy, friendship. . . Can I see an (ocean)? Can I touch an (ocean)? Can I hear an (ocean)? Can I taste an (ocean)? Can I smell an (ocean)? If I can perceive the noun with my

senses, then it is a concrete noun. If not (i.e. friendship), then it is abstract.

Singular NounsONE person,

place, thing, or idea.Ex:

photograph, dog, mailbox, desk, key

Plural NounsMORE THAN one

person place, thing, or idea.Ex: keys, dogs,

students, Usually can be

identified by an ‘s’ or ‘es’ ending.

Collective NounsA collective noun names a group of people or things.

Common collective nouns:band, committee, colony, crew, crowd,family, flock, herd, league, nation,orchestra, swarm

Collective Noun Practice

1. My classmates and I listened to presentations by members of an environmental group.

2. According to the organization, a number of animals have recently been declared endangered.

3. Because the group was so interesting, the entire faculty of the school came to hear them.

Compound Nouns

A noun that includes more than one word is called a compound noun.

For example- post (which is one word) and office (which is another) combine to become the noun post office. Compound nouns take one of three forms.

Separate Words: living room, home run, peanut butter, ice cream

Hyphenated: break-in, attorney-at-law, bird-watcher, great-grandmother

Combined: birdhouse, headband, flashlight, crosswalk, brainpower

General PracticeWrite the nouns in each sentence

1. How did Houdini escape from jails, straightjackets, and strange containers?

2. Sometimes he kept keys in his throat.3. He used the same method sword-

swallowers use.4. Once, when escaping from a jail in

New York, he hid a piece of metal in a callus in the heel of one foot.

5. He attached it to a wire that he had hidden in his hair to make a key.

Answers:

1. How did Houdini escape from jails, straightjackets, and strange containers?

2. Sometimes he kept keys in his throat.

3. He used the same method sword-swallowers use.

4. Once, when escaping from a jail in New York, he hid a piece of metal in a callus in the heel of one foot.

5. He attached it to a wire that he had hidden in his hair to make a key.

Create a Graphic Organizer

On page _____ of “The Most Dangerous Game,” read 2 paragraphs and list all of the nouns under the category of person, place, thing or idea.

Once they are in their category, mark what type of noun using the following key:

concrete = “co” common = “cn” abstract = “ab” proper = “pr”collective=“col” compound =“cd”singular =“si” plural = “pl”

Example (pg. 20)

PersonSanger Rainsford

(si, co, pr)*Remember that this means Sanger Rainsford is a person and the noun is singular, concrete, and proper.

PlaceNew York City (si,

co, pr, cd)*This means New York City is a place and the noun is a singular, concrete, proper, compound noun.