NOUNS

1. Nouns are words that name persons, places, things, actions, and ideas.
2. Nouns can name things in general: "girl" and "car" (common nouns).
3. A proper noun names a particular person, place or thing. Words that name peoples
titles, holidays, days of the week, and months are also proper nouns. Each main word
in a proper noun begins with a capital letter. Nouns can name specific things: "Mrs.
Kennedy" or "Chevrolet" (proper nouns).

People Places Things

Common Girl City Month
Proper Emily Davis Kluang,Johor November

More Examples:
Common Nouns: The basketball player helped his team win the game.
Proper Nouns: Michael Jordan helped the U.S. Olympic team win.

Dont forget, there maybe more than one common or proper noun in each sentence. Make sure
you find them all!

Singular and Plural Nouns

A singular noun names one person, place, thing or idea.
A plural noun names more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

Rules for making singular nouns plural

1. Most nouns just add s. Examples: days runners
2. Add es to nouns that end in s, x, ch, or sh. churches axes
3. A noun ending in a consonant and y, change the y to I and add es. countries
4. Nouns ending in f or fe, drop the f or fe and add ves. knives

Some nouns are irregular and have special spellings in the plural form. Other irregular
nouns have the same spelling for both the singular and plural forms.
Irregular Nouns
Singular Foot Child Ox Deer
Plural Feet Children Oxen Deer
4. Nouns can be concrete--that is, they name physical objects: "cigars" or "chairs." Nouns can
also be abstract--that is, they name concepts, qualities, or emotions, such as "love" and
"honesty."

5. Types of Nouns

5.1 Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a person, animal, place, or thing that you can sense with your five senses.
Examples: computer, book, mouse, rocket, book, room, school, house, clock, perfume, cloud,
smoke
5.2 Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is an idea, emotion, feeling, or quality that cannot be detected by the five
senses. Examples: education, love, speed, wisdom, beauty, sadness, communication
5.3 Common Nouns
Common nouns name ordinary things that are not specific or important enough to be capitalized
(except at the beginning of a sentence). Common nouns refer to any of a class of people places
or things. Common nouns include most of the nouns used to name things. The following are just
a few examples: television, color, candles, computer, president, music, telephone, dog, and
weather.
5.4 Proper Nouns
Proper nouns name particular people, places, or things that are special enough to be always
capitalized. The following are a few examples: New Jersey, Sony, Atlantic Ocean
Grice Middle School, Hamilton Township, Walnut Street
5.5 Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a noun that refers to a group of entities that may be considered either as
individuals or as one larger entity. Examples: class, navy, fleet, band
5.6 Compound Nouns
Reminder: the word compound means two or more
There are three forms of compound words:
i. the single word compound noun, in which the words are melded together,
such as firefly, secondhand, baseball, childlike, redhead, keyboard, makeup,
notebook;
ii. the hyphenated word compound noun, such as daughter-in-law, master-at-
arms, over-the-counter, six-year-old, mass-produced;
 iii. and the separate word compound noun, such as New Jersey, post office, real

7. Nouns can be used as subjects of sentences.

S V
The car was wrecked.
8. Nouns can be direct objects, indirect objects, and subject complements.

S V DO
Susan baked a chocolate cake.

S V IO DO
Susan gave me a piece of cake.

S V SC
Susan is a good baker.
9. Nouns can also be used as objects of prepositions.

S V Prep. Obj.
Sally works at the toyshop.
Nouns Exercise

a. Circle the nouns below and cross out the words that are not nouns:

1. chair sing car Shoe store chew

2. write television classroom Run happiness pencil

3. crayon eat dog Ball cafeteria sandwich

4. learn teacher office Student nurse talk

5. lunch friend table backpack sit video

b. Underline each plural noun in the sentences below and indicate if it is regular (REG) or
irregular (IRREG) in terms of how it is pluralized.

Sample: The women (IRREG) received their education at some exclusive schools (REG).

1. The doctor treated most of the patients who were waiting.

2. The geese crossed the road nearmy car.
3. She set a trap to catch the mice that had invaded her kitchen.
4. You will have to feed the oxen most afternoons.
5. Whenever I travel to the countryside,I see many sheep, ducks, deer, and cows.

c. For each underlined noun in the sentences below, indicate if it is being used as a count (C) or
noncount (NC) noun in that sentence.Use the plural,much/many, or fewer/less tests to help you.

Sample:Their new album(C)was a huge hit.

1. Algebra ( ) was one of my worst subjects ( ) in high school ( ).

2. I had no idea that there were various theories ( ), such as Euclidean and fractal.
3. The smoke ( ) rose through the chimney ( ).
4. Bread ( ) is a staple in many societies ( ).
5. She decided to push the issue ( ) further.
Answers (Nouns Practice)
No. 1

1. chair sing car shoe store chew

2. write television classroom Run happiness pencil

3. crayon eat dog ball cafeteria sandwich

4. learn teacher office student nurse talk

5. lunch friend table backpack sit video

No. 2
1. The doctor treated most of the patients (REG) who were waiting.
2. The geese (IRREG) crossed the road near my car.
3. She set a trap to catch the mice (IRREG) that had invaded her kitchen.
4. You will have to feed the oxen (IRREG) most afternoons (REG).
5. Whenever I travel to the countryside, I see many sheep (IRREG), ducks (REG), deer
(IRREG), andcows (REG).

No. 3
1. Algebra (NC) was one of my worst subjects (C) in high school (C).
2. I had no idea that there were various theories (C), such as Euclidean and fractal.
3. The smoke (NC) rose through the chimney (C).
4. Bread (NC) is a staple inmany societies (C).
5. She decided to push the issue (C) further.
 PRONOUNS

1. Pronouns are words that stand for nouns and can take the place of nouns in sentences. The
noun that the pronoun refers to is called the antecedent.

2. Personal pronouns are used in place of peoples names. Personal pronouns may also be
used to refer to things.

Pronoun Usage

A pronoun is a word used in place of one or more than one noun. It may stand for a person,
place, thing, or idea. There are many different kinds of pronouns.

Personal Pronouns:

Subjective Objective Possessive Demonstrative Interrogative

Pronouns: Pronouns:

I Me My, mine Who This

You You Your, yours Whom That
He Him His What These
She Her Her, hers Which Those
It It Its Whose
We Us Our, ours
They Them Their, theirs

Indefinite Pronouns:

Singular: (one-words) (-body words) (-thing words) (others)

One Nobody Nothing Each

Anyone Anybody Anything Either
Everyone Everybody Everything Neither
Someone Somebody Something
Plural: several few both many

Singular or all any more most some

plural:

Intensive/Reflexive Pronouns: Some of the pronouns in the personal pronouns list can
be combined with -self or -selves: yourself, myself, herself, himself, ourselves.
 Subjective pronouns are used as subjects, and objective pronouns are used as
objects.

They are getting tired. (They is the subject of the sentence)

The clerk gave the forms to me. (me is an object; clerk is the subject)

She will leave tomorrow. (She is the subject of the sentence)

The boss gave her a raise. (her is an object; boss is the subject)

Like nouns, possessive pronouns can be used to indicate possession. Note: Do not
use an apostrophe with possessive pronouns.

When used in a sentence, a pronoun must agree in number and gender with the word that it
refers to.

Examples:

Singular: Brad brought his guitar. Ann has her lunch.

Plural: Jamie and Rebecca forgot their books.

Singular: The dog is missing its collar.

Demonstrative pronouns are either singular or plural.

Examples:

Singular: This book is hers. That is a big spider.

Plural: These books are theirs. Those spiders are huge.

However, some indefinite pronouns are always singular, some are always plural, and
some may be either singular or plural.

Examples: Singular: Everybody took his turn in line.

Singular: Everyone on the girls' team forgot her books.

Singular: Neither of the dogs did its tricks.

Singular: Either of the boys can get his hair cut today.
 Plural: Both of the girls took their cakes home.

Plural: Many people forgot their books.

Plural: Few of the dogs did their tricks.

Plural: Several of the boys can get their hair cut today.

Intensive and reflexive pronouns must refer to a previous noun or pronoun and agree
in number with the words that they refer to.

Examples:

Jack fixed the computer himself.

We were supposed to do the work ourselves.

You can finish that yourself.

The children worked on the science project by themselves.

Other important information to know about pronouns:

The personal subjective pronouns (I, you, he, she, it, we, and they) can also be used as
subjective complements. A subjective complement is a noun or pronoun which follows
a linking verb and is the same as the subject.

Example: It was she on the phone.

Some abbreviated sentences that express comparisons by the words than or as create
problems in determining whether to use a subjective or objective pronoun. In
determining which pronoun to use, decide whether the omitted word following the
pronoun is a verb. If so, the correct pronoun is the subjective pronoun.

Example: Bobby left earlier than I.

(The omitted word would be left or did a verb.

Consequently, the subject pronoun I is correct.)

However, if the omitted word following the pronoun is not logically a verb, try to add words
(subject and verb) before the pronoun choice. If doing so makes the sentence logical, then the
correct pronoun is the objective pronoun.

Example: The dress fits me better than (it fits) her.

(Adding it fits in front of pronoun her makes sense.)

 The pronouns who and whom are interrogative pronouns (introduce questions) as well
as relative pronouns (introduce subordinate clauses). Sometimes it seem difficult to
know when to use who (and whoever) and whom (and whomever). The key is to use
who when the word serves as the subject of a sentence and to use whom when the word
does not serve as the subject.

Examples:

A child who is crying can be distracting. (who is the subject of the clause who is crying)

Who wants to go to the store? (who is the subject of the sentence)

Whom did you ask to bring the cake? (In these two examples, the whom does not

We didnt know whom to call? serve as the subject of either sentence.)

Also remember to use who, whom, whoever, and whomever when referring to people.
Use that and which when referring to animals or things.

Examples:

A child who is crying can be distracting.

The dog that was hit by the car was my dog.

Pronouns Exercise

a.Circle the forms in parentheses appropriate in standard English.

1. Everyone expected Margaret and (I, me) to be nervous.

2. Wasnt it strange for (she, her) and Fred to complain?
3. My birthday gift from Gene and (he, him) came yesterday.
4. You and (he, him) must have just missed each other.
5. Either George or (she, her) will meet you at the train.

b. Substitute standard pronoun forms for the nouns in bold print.

1. Victor and Carmen danced the tango for us.

2. Miss Gish gave Lois and Pete permission to work together.

3. Penny and I helped them with the wallpapering.

4. Couldnt Ray and Dick change the tire for you?

5. Most of those records belong to Ken or Ross.

c. In each of the following sentences there is a nonstandard pronoun form.

Underline the error and correct.

1. Clyde and me were the first to sign up.

2. Between you and I, hes not much of an actor.

3. A neighbour told Bob and she, and they told Harold.

4. The only ones who want to go by bus are you and him.

5. Her and Ray found the kitten hiding under the rosebush.
Pronouns Exercise Answers

Exercise A

1.me

2. her

3. him

4. he

5 she

Exercise B

1.she

2.him

3.she

4.he

5.him

Exercise C

1. me - I

2. I - me

3. she - her

4. him - he

5. Her - She
 CONJUNCTIONS

Conjunctions connect words or groups of words to each other. There are four kinds of
conjunctions:

I. coordinating conjunctions,
II. correlative conjunctions,
III. subordinating conjunctions,
IV. and conjunctive adverbs.

Coordinating Conjunctions

Coordinating conjunctions must connect the same parts of speechtwo or more

nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, prepositions, conjunctions, phrases, or clauses.

A strong but warm breeze blew across the desert. (two adjectives: strong & warm)
Please print or type the information on the application form. (two verbs: print & type)
Her arguments were easy to ridicule yet hard to refute. (two phrases of equal
importance:easy to ridicule & hard to refute)
Note how the two linked words in the following sentence are not the same part of speech:
He was angry and a dwarf.
This sentence is awkward because angry is an adjective and dwarf is a noun, thus they are
incompatible.
The coordinating conjunctions are: and, but, or, yet, for, nor, so

Correlative Conjunctions

Correlative conjunctions join equal elements (parts of speech or phrases).

Both Bechtel and Kaiser submitted bids on the project.

(two proper nouns: Betchel & Kaiser)

Maisha not only sent a card but also visited me in the hospital.
(two action phrases: sent a card & visited me)
The correlative conjunctions come in pairs. They are: both...and, just as...so, not
only...but also, either...or, neither...nor, whether...or

Subordinating Conjunctions

Subordinating conjunctions introduce adverb clauses and signal the relationship

between the adverb clause and another clause, usually an independent clause.

An adverb clause answers the question how, when, or why. An independent clause is group of
words that can stand on its own as a complete sentence. In the following sentence, the
subordinating conjunction when signals a time relationship, letting us know that one event (the
fire alarm going off) caused the other (the jumping).

I jumped when the fire alarm went off.

The subordinating conjunctions are: after, although, as, as if, because, before, if,
in order that, once, since, so that, than, though, unless, until, when, where, while

Example sentences:

Once sales improve, the company will be able to pay its bills
My grandmother began traveling after she sold her house.

Conjunctive Adverbs
Conjunctive adverbs connect two sentences. They explain how the first sentence
relates to the second.
They can be considered both adverbs and conjunctions because they modify the second clause
and connect the second clause to the first.

The conjunctive adverbs are:

also Anyway Besides Certainly finally Furthermore
However Incidentally Indeed Instead Likewise Meanwhile
Moreover Namely Nevertheless Next Now Otherwise
Similarly still Then therefore Thus undoubtedly

Conjunctive adverbs can be moved to different positions in a clause

(part of a sentence).
Independent clauses
(parts of a sentence that could stand alone as a complete sentence)
connected by a conjunctive adverb must be separated by a semicolon or a period, not
just a comma.

Examples:
The cider tasted bitter; however, each of us drank a tall glass of it.
The cider tasted bitter; each of us, however, drank a tall glass of it.
The cider tasted bitter. Each of us drank a tall glass of it, however.
The cider tasted bitter. However, each of us drank a tall glass of it.
Conjucntions Exercise

1. Check your grammar: matching conjunctions

Match the two parts of the sentence and write a h next to the number 1 8.

1. We wanted to go to the show a. so we dont get there late.

2. I often make omelettes b. or at the football match?
3. Shall we go to the cinema c. because he laughs in his
sleep.
4. Burgers are very tasty d. and watch that film you
were talking about?
5. My neighbours are friendly e. because theyre quick and
easy.
6. Do you know if hes at home f. although they are not very
healthy.
7. Pick me up early, please, g. but theyre noisy.
8. We know he has great dreams h. but there werent any
seats left.

2. Check your grammar: multiple choice conjunctions

Circle the best word to complete these sentences.
1. I'd love to stay so / and / but I have to catch my bus.
2. His hot chocolate was too hot so / and / but he put some cold milk in it.
3. Or / Although / Because we had an umbrella, we got extremely wet.
4. I only passed my exam because / but / although you helped me.
5. They were hungry but / because / so they made some sandwiches.
6. We can go to the pool and / but / or we can go horse-riding, whichever you prefer.
7. She didn't want him to see her and / so / although she hid behind a plant.
8. He's in the town centre so / because / but he wants to look for shoes.

3. Check your grammar: rewrite the sentence conjunctions

Rewrite as one sentence using the conjunction given.

1. I don't eat cheese. I don't eat butter. (or)

.
2. I like him. He's annoying. (but)
.
3. We're having salad for lunch. We're not very hungry. (so)
.
4. She doesn't use much suncream. She has very pale skin. (although)
.
5. This year, he's been to China. He has also been to Brazil. (and)
.
Conjunctions Exercise Answer
Exercise 1
1,(h)
2.(e)
3.(d)
4.(f)
5.(g)
6.(b)
7.(a)
8.(c)

Exercise 2
1. but
2. so
3. because
4. because
5. so
6. or
7. so
8. because

Exercise 3.

1. I don't eat cheese or butter. (or)

2. I like him but he's annoying. (but)

3. We're having salad for lunch so we're not very hungry. (so)

4. She doesn't use much suncream although he has very pale skin. (although)

5. This year, he's been to China and he has also been to Brazil. (and)
 Short Story:

Dance Like No One's Watching

by Crystal Boyd

We convince ourselves that life will be better after we get married, have a baby, then another.
Then we're frustrated that the kids aren't old enough and we'll be more content when they are.
After that, we're frustrated that we have teenagers to deal with. We'll certainly be happy when
they're out of that stage.

We tell ourselves that our life will be complete when our spouse gets his or her act together,
when we get a nicer car, are able to go on a nice vacation, when we retire.

The truth is, there's no better time to be happy than right now. If not now, when?

Your life will always be filled with challenges. It's best to admit this to yourself and decide to be
happy anyway.

One of my favorite quotes comes from Alfred D. Souza. He said, "For along time it had seemed
to me that life was about to begin - real life. But there was always some obstacle in the way,
something to be gotten through first, some unfinished business, time still to be served, or a debt
to be paid. Then life would begin. At last it dawned on me that these obstacles were my life."

This perspective has helped me to see that there is no way to happiness. Happiness is the way.
So, treasure every moment that you have and treasure it more because you shared it with
someone special, special enough to spend your time with...and remember that time waits for no
one.

So, stop waiting until you finish school, until you go back to school, until you lose ten
pounds, until you gain ten pounds, until you have kids, until your kids leave the house, until
you start work, until you retire, until you get married, until you get divorced, until Friday night,
until Sunday morning, until you get a new car or home, until your car or home is paid off, until
spring, until summer, until fall, until winter, until you're off welfare, until the first or fifteenth, until
your song comes on, until you've had a drink, until you've sobered up, until you die, until you're
born again to decide that there is no better time than right now to be happy.
 Nouns

Common Nouns Proper Nouns Concrete Nouns Countable Nouns

Name people, Name Name nouns Name nouns
places or specific that we can that can be
things that are people, perceive with counted.
not specific. places or our five
things. senses.

Example: Example: Example: Example:

Baby Alfred D. Car Debt
(Line 1, paragraph 1) Souza (Line 2, paragraph 2) (Line 4, paragraph 5)
Kids (Line 1, paragraph 5) Home Pounds
(Line 2, paragraph 1) Sunday (Line 4, paragraph 7) (Line 2, paragraph 7)
Teenagers (Line 4, paragraph 7) School Challenges
(Line 3, paragraph 1) Friday (Line 1, paragraph 7) (Line 1, paragraph 4)
(Line 3, paragraph 7)
Pronouns

Personal Pronouns Indefinite Pronouns

Relative Pronouns Demonstrative
Takes the Used to refer
Are used to Pronouns
place of a to nonspecific
connect a To points out
specific or people,
clause or a specific
named places or
phrase to a person, place
person or things.
noun or or thing.
thing.
pronoun.
Example: Example:
Example: Example:
We Another
Ourselves That
(Line 1, paragraph 1) (Line 2, paragraph 1)
(Line 1, paragraph 1) (Line 3, paragraph 1)
They No one
Yourself These
(Line 4, paragraph 1) (Line 4, paragraph 6)
(Line 1, paragraph 4) (Line 4, paragraph 5)
It Something
(Line1,parapgraph 4) (Line 3, paragraph 5)
 Determiners

Articles Demonstrative Quantifiers Possessives

Express the Can be used Point out When
definiteness as pronouns how much or referring to an
and or adjectives. how little of entity that
specificity of something is belongs to
a noun. being another.
indicated.
Example: Example: Example: Example:
a These Some My
(Line 1, paragraph 1) (Line 4, paragraph 5) (Line 2, paragraph 5) (Line 1, paragraph
The That 5)
(Line 3, paragraph 5) (Line 7, paragraph 7)
Adjectives

Proper Adjectives Possessives Common Adjectives Demonstrative

Describes a Adjectives Known as Adjectives
noun begins Used to point common Used to point
with a capital out the noun because they out the noun.
letter but do that belongs are adjectives
not capitalize to someone. which are not
seasons derived from
other
words/word
classes.
Example: Example: Example: Example:
spring Your Frustrated This
(Line 5,paragraph 7) (Line 2, paragraph 1) (Line 1, paragraph 1) (Line 1, paragraph 6)
summer Happy
(Line 5, paragraph 7) (Line 4, paragraph 1)
fall Nicer
(Line 5, paragraph 7 (Line 2, paragraph 2)