Nouns and Pronouns
What is the definition of a noun?
Nouns are words that represent people, places, or things.
What is a linking verb?
Answer: A linking verb is a verb used to re-identify or to describe its subject.
What is a verb phrase?
Answer: A verb phrase consists of a main verb and any auxiliary/helping verbs.
What is the difference between an adjective and an adverb?
Answer: Adjectives describe only nouns, including pronouns. Adverbs mainly describe verbs, but can also describe other adverbs.
What parts of speech must always be capitalized?
Answer: proper nouns
CHALLENGE: Identify the compound nouns in the following sentence.
Grace wanted sword fish for her fish tank, but her mother took her to get ice cream instead.
Answer: sword fish, fish tank, ice cream
* Note: A compound noun is a noun made from at least two words.
Does this sentence contain a linking verb? (Please identify it).
Miguel is an intelligent student.
Answer: Yes, is
Is this sentence a complete sentence?
Jimmy Johns has the best sandwiches.
Answer: Yes.
Identify the adjective in the following sentence.
He is happy.
Answer: happy
Explain why the following sentence is incorrect.
jina and rahema went to the museum of natural history to see the exhibit on dinosaurs.
Answer: First, both girls names need to be capitalized (Jina, Rahema). Second, the museum is a proper noun and should be capitalized as well (Museum of Natural History).
Identify the proper nouns in the following sentence.
Tanisha and Meghan went to suggested that the class trip take place in Mexico.
Answer: Tanisha, Meghan, Mexico.
Which sentence contains the linking verb?
1. Tony always smells like the soup.
2. Tony always smells the soup.
Answer: 1. Tony always smells like the soup.
What is the verb phrase in the following sentence?
I should have been painting the fence when the lightning struck.
Answer: should have been painting
Identify the adverb in the following sentence.
George is an extremely quick swimmer.
Answer: extremely
True or False:
The Metropolitan Museum of Art is a proper noun.
Answer: True. It is a proper noun because it serves as the name for a specific place, person, or thing. To distinguish them from common nouns, proper nouns are always capitalized in English.
Identify the pronouns in the following sentence.
Clay, Trey, Eric descended on New York's Central Park. They swarmed across it like locusts.
Answer: They, it
Identify the linking verb in this sentence.
It always seems impossible until it's done.
Answer: seems
What is the verb phrase in the following sentence?
Jacob will have sung his song before the third act.
Answer: will have sung
Identify the relative adverb in the following sentence.
I know the town where you live.
Answer: where
*Remember that relative adverbs give extra information about place, time, and reason for the main clause in the sentence. Examples: "where", "when", and "why"
Should the title in bold be viewed as common noun or a proper noun?
Johnson now acts as the chief executive officer of the company.
Answer: Common noun
*NOTE: Nouns that act as titles (e.g., political, religious, or professional titles) are only capitalized when they are used as part of the name of a specific person holding that title.
CHALLENGE: Identify the noun phrase in the following sentence.
Singing in the bath relaxes me.
Answer: Singing in the bath
*Note: A noun with any sort of modifier (even it's just "a" or "the") is called a noun phrase. Like any noun, a noun phrase can function as a subject, an object, or a complement within a sentence.
Identify the verb in the following sentence:
Mariah swiftly chased Zanna down the hallway.
Answer: chased
What is the verb phrase in the following sentence?
Skylar has been studying in the library.
Answer: has been studying
CHALLENGE: Does this sentence have a verb, adjective, adverb or all three?
Dae-Jah jumped very quickly over the fence.
Answer: All three
CHALLENGE: Capitalize or Not?
Edit the following excerpt from the article, U.S. Literacy Statistics. Which words need to be capitalized? Which words do not? Write the words correctly.
"poverty and illiteracy are closely linked, with education being less available in poverty-stricken areas. this correlation is evident globally, as many Countries with the lowest literacy rates are situated in regions with high poverty rates, such as south asia..."
Answer: Capitalized: Poverty, This, South Asia
Not Capitalized: countries