Grade Eight Nouns

A Definition  Nouns are a part of speech that can be categorized in four ways:  Person  Ex. nurse  Place  Ex. Statue of Liberty  Thing  Ex. crutches  Idea  Ex. friendship

Compound Nouns  Compound nouns are formed when two or more words are joined together to form one person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns can be made compound in three different ways.  Single words  Ex. basketball, snowball  Open Compounds  Ex. fire hydrant, post office  Hyphenated Compounds  self-respect, merry-go-round

Proper and Common Nouns  Proper nouns name specific persons, places, or things. They must be capitalized.  Ex. Ben Roethlisberger, Empire State Building  Common nouns name non-specific people, places, things, or ideas. They are not capitalized.  Ex. football player, skyscraper

Concrete and Abstract Nouns  Nouns are classified as concrete if they can be touched.  police officer, Grand Canyon, flute  Nouns are classified as abstract if they cannot be touched. That makes them hard to picture.  love, honesty, idea

Collective Nouns  Nouns are classified as collective if they are singular and refer to an entire group of something.  Ex. team, herd, government