Nouns

A noun is a word that names a person, place, or thing. Nouns come in these varieties: common nouns, proper nouns, compound nouns, and collective nouns.

1. Common nouns name any one of a class of person, place, or thing.

girl, city, food

2. Proper nouns name a specific person, place, or thing. Proper nouns are always capitalized.

Barbara, New York City, Rice-a-Roni

3. Compound nouns are two or more nouns that function as a single unit. A compound noun

can be two individual words, words joined by a hyphen, or two words combined.

Individual words: time capsule

Hyphenated words: great-uncle

Combined words: basketball

4. Collective nouns name groups of people or things.

audience, family,  herd,  crowd

Possessive Nouns

In grammar, possession shows ownership. Follow these rules to create possessive nouns.

1. With singular nouns, add an apostrophe and an s.

dog → dog’s bone

singer → singer’s voice

2. With plural nouns ending in s, add an apostrophe after the s.

dogs → dogs’ bones

singers → singers’ voices

3. With plural nouns not ending in s, add an apostrophe and an s.

men → men’s books

mice → mice’s tails

Plural Nouns

Here are the guidelines for creating plural nouns.

1. Add s to form the plural of most nouns.

cat → cats,  computer → computers

2. Add es if the noun ends in s, sh, ch, or x.

wish → wishes,  inch → inches,  box → boxes

3. If a noun ends in consonant -y, change the y to i and add es.

city → cities,  lady → ladies

4. If a noun ends in vowel -y, add s. Words ending in -quy don’t follow this rule (as in soliloquies).

essay → essays,  monkey → monkeys