NOUNS Main Definition of a Noun: are words that name persons, places, things or ideas. Proper Nouns: name particular (specific) persons, places, things, ideas or events. EX: Mississippi River, Bayonne High School, Christmas Common Nouns: refer to general, not particular persons, places, things, ideas or events. EX: river, school, holiday Collective Nouns: name a GROUP of people, animals, or things. EX: Swarm, herd, couple, flock, student council Compound Nouns: consists of two or more words. You may have to use a dictionary to find out if a word is hyphenated, written as one word, or written as two or more words. EX: stepson, father-in-law, CD-player, air conditioner

Exercise # 1 Identifying Nouns Directions: Underline all of the nouns in the following passage. Then above each noun identify which type of noun it is. Write the entire passage in your notebook while skipping lines to have enough space. Our drive from Albuquerque, New Mexico, through the Jemez Reservation stunned me. From the bus I photographed dramatic landscapes in the high desert. Passing a village, I took pictures of dried red peppers, called ristras, which hung from strings outside each adobe home. We continued into the mountains outside Santa Fe. My spirits soared when I spotted an elk. Of course, I took a few snapshots. Most amazing of all, though, was our visit to Bandelier National Monument. There we viewed the ruins of prehistoric cliff dwellings and ceremonial sites that belonged to the Pueblo Indians. The homes are carved into the rock of Frijoles Canyon, overlooking beautifully forested land crisscrossed by freshwater streams. My favorite photograph shows my friend Jesse climbing the last of many steep ladders up to the Kiva, a sacred cave reserved to ceremonies.

Our guide explained that this area holds important keys to the past. The Pueblo Indians did not have a written language, but they did leave behind petroglyphs - drawings etched into rock - and artifacts that reveal much about the beliefs and traditions of these ancient people of the Southwest.

Exercise #2 Directions: Fill in the blanks in each sentence with the kinds of nouns indicated in parentheses. Choose specific nouns to be more creative and vivid. 1. The place I would like most to visit is (proper noun) _____, located near (proper noun) _____. 2. At my favorite spot, the (concrete noun) _____ and the (concrete noun) _____ are unforgettable. 3. When I listen to my favorite (common noun) _____, I am overcome with feelings of (abstract noun) _____. 4. The reporter wrote an in-depth (common noun) _____ about a candidate for (proper noun) _____. 5. The sailor bravely steered his (concrete noun) _____ through a raging (common noun) _____.