Learn about nouns

UNIT 1: NOUNS

              Lesson 1: Identifying nouns

             Nouns are commonly defined as words that refer to a person, place, thing, or idea.

             How can you identify a noun?

                  Quick tip 1.1

                If  you  can  put  the  word  the  in  front  of  a  word  and  it  sounds  like  a  unit,  the  word
                is  a  noun.

             For example, the boy sounds like a unit, so boy is a noun. The chair sounds like a unit, so

             chair is a noun. Compare these nouns to *the very, *the walked, *the because.Very, walked,
             and because are not nouns.While you can easily put the and very together (for example,

             the very tall boy), the very, by itself, does not work as a unit while the chair does. So, chair is

             a noun; very is not. (There is one kind of noun that cannot always have the in front of it;

             see Lesson 6 later in this unit.)

Test yourself 1.1

Which of the following words are nouns? See if they sound like a unit when you put them here:

the           . Check the appropriate column.

                           Noun        Not a noun

Sample: always
                           .............

Getting started (answers on p. 20)                                       More practice (answers on the website)

1.  tree                                                                   6.  slowly
                        ...................   ...................                                  ...................   ...................

2.  when                                                                   7. factory
                        ...................   ...................                                 ...................    ...................

3.  beds                                                                   8.  ticket
                        ...................   ...................                                  ...................   ...................

4.  glass                                                                  9. boxes
                        ...................   ...................                                 ...................    ...................

5.  said                                                                 10.   almost
                        ...................   ...................                                  ...................   ...................

Test yourself 1.2

Underline the nouns in these phrases. Test each word to see if it sounds like a unit when you put it
here: the             .

Sample: all my friends

Getting started (answers on p. 20)

1.  your red sweater                                                     4.  many digital photos

2.  those boxes                                                          5.  his very interesting article

3.  a few men