The Proper Noun

Recognize a proper noun when you see one.

Nouns name people, places, and things. Every noun can further be classified as
common or proper. A proper noun has two distinctive features: 1) it will name a
specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and 2) it will begin with a capital letter no
matter where it occurs in a sentence.

Check out the chart below:

Common Noun Proper Noun

writer Herman Melville

teacher Mrs. Hacket

beagle Snoopy

cookie Oreo

city Orlando

restaurant Paco's Mexican Cafe

document Declaration of Independence

school University of Virginia

Read the following sentences. Notice the difference between the common and
proper nouns.

Tina offered Antonio one of her mother's homemade oatmeal cookies but
only an Oreo would satisfy his sweet tooth.

cookies = common noun; Oreo = proper noun.

Charlie had wanted an easy teacher for his composition class, but he got
Mrs. Hacket, whose short temper and unreasonable demands made the
semester a torture.

teacher = common noun; Mrs. Hacket = proper noun.

Gloria wanted to try a new restaurant, so Richard took her to Paco's
Mexican Cafe, where no one dips into the hot sauce until the drinks have
arrived at the table.

restaurant = common noun; Paco's Mexican Cafe = proper noun.

The Common Noun

Recognize a common noun when you see one.

Nouns name people, places, and things. Every noun can further be classified as
common or proper. A common noun names general items.

Go into the kitchen. What do you see? Refrigerator, stove, microwave, window,
curtain, coffee maker, wallpaper, spatula, sink, faucet, plate--all of these things
are common nouns.

Leave the house. Where can you go? Mall, restaurant, school, post office,
backyard, beach, Laundromat, supermarket, gas station--all of these places are
common nouns.

Go to the mall. Who do you see? Teenager, grandmother, salesclerk, police

officer, toddler, mother, father, manager, janitor, shoplifter--all of these people are
common nouns.

The important thing to remember is that common nouns are general names.
Thus, they are not capitalized unless they begin a sentence or are part of a title.
Proper nouns, those that name specific things, are the class of nouns that
require capitalization.

Notice the difference in the chart below:

Common Noun Proper Noun

 coffee shop Starbucks

waiter Simon

jeans Levi's

sandwich Big Mac

chair Lazy Boy

arena TD Waterhouse Center

country Australia

fire fighter Captain Richard Orsini

Read the following sentences. Notice the difference between the common and
proper nouns.

Although there are five other chairs in the living room, everyone in Jim's
family fights to sit in the puffy new Lazy Boy.

chairs = common noun; Lazy Boy = proper noun.

Harriet threw the stale cucumber sandwich in the trash can and fantasized
about a Big Mac dripping with special sauce.

sandwich = common noun; Big Mac = proper noun.

Because we like an attentive waiter, we always ask for Simon when we eat
at Mama Rizoni's Pizzeria.

waiter = common noun; Simon = proper noun.

The Collective Noun

Recognize a collective noun when you see one.

Nouns name people, places, and things. Collective nouns, a special class,
name groups [things] composed of members [usually people]. Check out the
chart below:

Collective Nouns

army council minority

audience department navy

board faculty public

cabinet family school

class firm senate

committee group society

company jury team

corporation majority troupe

Use correct verbs and pronouns with collective nouns.

Each noun from the list above is a single thing. That thing, however, is made up
of more than one person. You cannot have a committee, team, or family of
one; you need at least two people who compose the unit.
Because more than one person makes up each of these collective nouns--and
because people behave as both herd animals and solitary creatures--collective
nouns can be either singular or plural, depending on context. In writing, this
double status often causes agreement errors. How do you tell if a collective
noun is singular or plural? What verbs and pronouns do you use with it?

Here is the key: Imagine a flock of pigeons pecking at birdseed on the ground.
Suddenly, a cat races out of the bushes. What do the pigeons do? They fly off
as a unit in an attempt to escape the predator, wheeling through the sky in the
same direction.

People often behave in the same manner, doing one thing in unison with the
other members of their group. When these people are part of a collective noun,
that noun becomes singular. As a result, you must use singular verbs and
pronouns with it. Read the following examples.

Every afternoon the baseball team follows its coach out to the hot field to
practice.

Team = singular; follows = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun.

Today, Dr. Ribley's class takes its first 100-item exam.

Class = singular; takes = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun.

The jury agrees that the state prosecutors did not provide enough
evidence, so its verdict is not guilty.

Jury = singular; agrees = a singular verb; its = a singular pronoun.

Now imagine five house cats in the living room. Do the cats do the same thing at
the same time? Not this group! One cat might be sleeping on top of the warm
television. Another might be grooming itself on the sofa. A third animal might be
perched on the windowsill, watching the world outside. There is one group of
animals, but the members of that group are all doing their own thing.

Members of collective nouns can behave in a similar fashion. When the

members are acting as individuals, the collective noun is plural and requires
plural verbs and pronouns. Here are some examples:

After the three-hour practice under the brutal sun, the team shower,
change into their street clothes, and head to their air-conditioned homes.

Team = plural; shower, change, head = plural verbs; their = a plural pronoun.

After the long exam, the class finish their research papers on famous
mathematicians at home.

Class = plural; finish = a plural verb; their = a plural pronoun.

The jury disagree about the guilt of the accused and have told the judge
that they are hopelessly deadlocked.

Jury = plural; disagree, have told = plural verbs; they = a plural pronoun.

Whenever you cannot decide if a collective noun is singular or plural, exercise

your options as a writer. You have two ways that you can compose the sentence
without causing an agreement error: 1) insert the word members after the
collective noun [jury members, committee members, board members], or 2)
use an entirely different word [players instead of team, students instead of
class, soldiers instead of army]. Then you can use plural verbs and pronouns
without worrying about making mistakes or sounding unnatural.
The Abstract Noun
Recognize an abstract noun when you see one.

Nouns name people, places, and things. One class of nouns is abstract. Your
five senses cannot detect this group of nouns: you cannot see them, cannot
hear them, cannot smell them, cannot taste them, and cannot feel them.

Check out the following example:

When Joseph dived into the violent water to rescue a drowning puppy, his
bravery amazed the crowd of fishermen standing on the dock.

Bravery, one of the nouns in this sentence, is an example of an abstract noun.

You can see Joseph, the water, the crowd, but you cannot see bravery itself.
Bravery has no color, size, shape, sound, odor, flavor, or texture--no quality that
you can see, hear, smell, taste, or touch. Any noun that your five senses cannot
experience is an abstract noun.

Don't confuse an abstract noun with a concrete noun.

Most nouns are concrete, not abstract. Concrete nouns register on your five
senses. Here is an example:
Joseph cuddled the wet puppy under his warm jacket.

Puppy is an example of a concrete noun. You can see a puppy, stroke its fur,
smell its Milk-Bone breath, and listen to it whine. You can even taste the puppy if
you don't mind pulling dog hair off your tongue afterwards. Because a puppy will
register on all five senses, puppy is a concrete noun.

Look over this chart contrasting abstract and concrete nouns:

Abstract Nouns Concrete Nouns

deceit the President

dedication teacher

curiosity cat

trust airplane

relaxation bubble bath