English Writing Basics - Use of Nouns

This is part of a continuing series meant to improve and reteach some of the basics of writing properly in English. Other sections include:

1)  The 8 Parts of Speech
2)  The Use of Nouns



Nouns

* Are an essential component of most sentences.

* Being able to identify different types of nouns can help you improve in 3 areas:

1.       Capitalization becomes easier when you know how to spot proper nouns.

2.       Subject-verb agreement in a sentence depends on whether a noun is countable or non-countable.

3.       Being about to spot abstract nouns and replacing them with concrete nouns can help your writing become more clear a vivid.

* Common Noun – the generic name of one thing in a class of group. (May sometimes become a proper noun.)

* Proper Noun – the name of a person or the official name of a place or thing. All begin with a capital letter. (May sometimes be used figuratively and informally.)

* When the correct form of a verb matches with the subject in a sentence it is called subject-verb agreement.

1.       Count Nouns – Name things that can be counted (ie. books, pens). May be singular or plural. They take the appropriate singular or plural verb forms.

2.       Non-Count Nouns – Name things that can’t be counted (ie. advise, water). Also called collective or mass nouns. Usually takes a singular verb when it is the subject of a sentence. However when there is expressed a quantity of units before a non-countable noun, the verb must agree with the units.

* An article comes before a noun or noun phrase.

1.       The articles (a) or (an) indicates that the noun is indefinite. Use the indefinite article (a) or (an) before a singular count noun when you mention it for the first time. (A) and (an) are never used before a proper noun.

2.       The article (the) indicates that the noun identifies something definite. Plural count nouns are never preceded by (a) or (an). The definite article points to a definite object that is so well understood that it does not need description. A singular or a plural count noun may take the definite article.

3.       Non-count nouns don’t take an indefinite article, except when you’re referring to different types of something that’s not countable. Non-count nouns that represent a collection or a mass may be preceded by a phrase that indicates quantity, such as (a lot of, a little, some, much, any). Non-count nouns may also take the definite article.

* Singular Count Noun – Used in three situations:

1.       When noun was mentioned before.

2.       Identified immediately before or after it was stated.

3.       The noun is unique or the only one in existence. (ie. The Earth)

 

* Abstract Nouns – denote feelings, thoughts, concepts, or ideas. May be interpreted differently by different people.

* Concrete Nouns – name people, places, or things you can experience through at least one of you five senses. They can be clearly visualized and are less likely to cause confusion.

English Writing Basics - The 8 Parts of Speech

This is part of a continuing series meant to improve and reteach some of the basics of writing properly in English. Other sections include:
1)  The 8 Parts of Speech
2)  The Use of Nouns






The 8 Parts of Speech
 

The parts of speech tell you how words function in a sentence, rather than what words are or mean. (ie. the same word may be a noun in one sentence, but a verb in another.)

Words can also be altered to function as different parts of speech. 

The 8 Parts are:

1. Nouns

2. Pronouns

3. Verbs

4. Adverbs

5. Adjectives

6. Conjunctions

7. Interjections

8. Prepositions

Below each of these parts of speech is explained further.

1. Nouns

a)    Words that name things (ie. persons, places, things, ideas, or qualities)

  b)   Can be categorized into 5 groups:

  1. Common Noun - Names a generic type of person, place, or thing. They can be further divided up into Count, Abstract, and Collective Nouns.

            2. Proper Noun – Name unique people, places, or things, rather than identifying them based on the categories to which they belong. They always start with a capital letter.

            3. Count Noun – Occur in both singular and plural forms. They express enumerable things (ie. Book or books, pen or pens)

            4. Collective Noun – Also called mass nouns. Refer to things that are not normally countable, either because they are abstract or because they denote an indeterminate number of people or things (ie. Money or management)

            5. Abstract Noun – Name things that can’t be seen, heard, smelled, tasted, or touched. They describe feelings, ideas, or concepts (ie. Honesty, justice)

2. Pronouns

a)    Replace nouns. (ie. He, hers, him, his, it, she, their, themselves, they, our, ourselves, we, you)

b)    Make sentences less cumbersome and repetitive.

c)     May have different forms or cases, depending on how they function in a sentence.

They can be:

1.     Subjective Pronoun – Replace nouns that act as the subjects (nouns describing who or what performs the action) in sentences. (ie. I, you, he, she, we, they, and it)

2.     Objective Pronoun – Act as the objects in sentences. They preplace nouns identifying who or what is the recipient of the action expressed by a verb.

3.     Possessive Pronoun – Indicate ownership, or possession. The possessive pronouns my, our, your, his, her, its, and their can be used as adjectives to qualify nouns. Each possessive pronoun also has a corresponding independent form that can stand alone, without a noun. (ie. Mine, ours, yours, his, hers, its, and theirs) With the independent form, the thing possessed may be either an antecedent or something understood. The independent form can also be the subject or object of a verb.

d)    Some personal pronouns are compounds that use the suffix self or selves. These are: my-myself, our-ourselves, your-yourself, your-yourselves, him-himself, her-herself, it-itself and them-themselves. They are used for two main purposes, for emphasis (called intensive pronouns) or to refer to the subject of the verb (called reflexive pronouns). Although they look alike, a Reflexive Pronouns reflect the action that the verb describes by renaming the subject, whereas an Intensive pronoun adds emphasis and gives force to a sentence. (ie. Intensive: I myself wrote the story. Reflexive: I prepared myself.)

3. Verbs

a)    Commonly described as action words because they usually describe the performance or occurrence of actions. They can also indicate a state of being or condition. (ie. Is or imagine)

b)    Helping verbs, known as auxiliary verbs, combine with some verb forms. The combinations are known was verb phrases. They many indicate tense or obligation, or provide other additional meaning. Commonly used helping verbs are versions of the verb: to be.

Present tense (to be): am, is, and are

            Past tense (to be): was and were
            Future tense (to be): will

4. Adverbs

a)    Describe, qualify, limit, or modify verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs.

b)    Can be classified into three types

1.     Adverbs of time tell when something occurs

2.     Adverbs of manner describe how something is done.

3.     Adverbs of place tell you where something occurs.

c)     Commonly end in the letters: ly. (ie. Carefully, quickly, slowly, particularly, only)

d)    Do NOT modify a nouns or pronouns.

5. Adjectives

a)    Describe nouns or pronouns.

b)    They answer the questions: Which one? What kind? How many? Or How much?

6. Conjunctions

a)    Join words, phrases, or sentences.

b)    Two types of conjuctions:

1.     Coordinating – Join words or groups of words that are of equal importance. (ie. And, but, nor, or, for, so, yet)

2.     Subordinating – Introduces a clause that is dependent on the main clause of sentence. (ie. Until, because, although, as, since, if, so that, when)

       c)     It is now thought to be acceptable to begin a sentence with a conjunction such as (and, but, so) as long as the previous sentence makes it clear what the conjunction is referring to. Or begin with a conjunction such as (because, since) if the sentence begins with an introductory clause that modifies another clause that follows.

7. Interjections

a)    Words, phrases, or clauses that denote strong felling or emotion.

b)    Often followed by exclamation marks. (ie. Oh!, Goodness!, Oh dear!)

8. Prepositions

a)      A word or phrase that links an object to another word in a sentence to show the relationship between them.

b)      A preposition’s object is usually a noun or pronoun.

c)       Different prepositions indicate different types of relationships.

1.       Prepositions such as (on, above, under, and below) identify spatial relationships – they specify where something is in relation to something else

2.       Prepositions like (before, after, at, during, and until) indicate time relationships.

3.       Prepositions such as (by, to, for, and with) identify logical relationships.

d)      Usually placed before its object. However it may sometimes end a clause or sentence. (ie.  A preposition used with the relative pronoun (that) always comes after the object.

e)      Almost always follows the pronoun (which). (ie. Which opinion is your approach aligned with?)