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Grammar Guide 1 - Back to Basics - Nouns


Myr

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Welcome to a brand new weekly writing feature: Grammar Guide.

If you are anything like me, you have probably not put much thought into the structure of language since you first learned it in the early days of your education.  (What used to be called grammar school).  As an adult now playing in the writing space, it has become a more pressing concern.  Understanding how things go together makes it easier to bend things to your will.  If you don't remember the terms Interrogatives, Articles, Subordinating Conjunctions, Participles (and when they can and can't dangle), or the good old Oxford Comma, then this is the place you should be.

But to get that jumble we have to build a solid base.  And the base starts with the humble noun.

What is a noun?

This is the simple one of course:

A Person: 👦

A Place: 🏖️

A Thing: 🚲

An Idea: 💡

A Noun is a label for a person, place, thing, or idea.  A noun can perform the action in a sentence or is be acted upon in a sentence.

There are some different types of nouns as well:

  • Common Noun- nonspecific person, place or thing such as city
  • Proper Noun- Specific person, place or thing such as New York City
  • Concrete Noun - a noun you can experience with your senses such as music or fog
  • Abstract Noun- a noun that is an idea, feeling or a state of being such as bravery, or exhaustion
  • Irregular Noun- a noun that has a plural with an irregular spelling other an -s or -es such as scissors, mice, or thieves. 
  • Count Noun- a noun you can count such as bike or coat
  • Non-Count Noun- a noun you can't count such as food or snow
  • Collective Noun- a noun that represents a collection or group such as a pride or a herd
  • Possessive Noun- a noun used to show ownership such as dad's truck.
  • Attributive Noun- a noun acting as an adjective to another noun such as bacon in bacon cheeseburger. Bacon is an attributive noun modifying cheeseburger.

And there you have it.  Next week we jump into the exciting world of adjectives.  Let us know what you think below and if you want to play around with the home game, give an example of each of the different types of nouns below. This week is an easy exercise, but these get tougher as you go along. (Such as examples of subordinate clauses or predicate nominatives)

  • References:
    • Kern, Jara. (2020). The Infographic Guide to Grammar. Adams Media
    • Venolia, Jan. (2001). Write Right! (4th ed.). Ten Speed Press
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28 Comments


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16 minutes ago, Ron said:

When we get to subordinate clauses and predicate nominatives, comma turns into coma. And uncontrolled drooling out the corner of one's mouth... as the head lolls.:/

LMAO

Smoke a doobie before you read those entries. You'll still be lost, but you won't care.

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1 minute ago, Myr said:

I think I will probably have @Ciado the comma post. She is very passionate about the Oxford.

Period Comma GIF by Use Commas

Someone needs to be and it's not @kbois lol

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13 minutes ago, Mrsgnomie said:

Someone needs to be and it's not @kbois lol

So I'm a little comma challenged! 🤣

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2 minutes ago, kbois said:

So I'm a little comma challenged! 🤣

Not when @Cia gets through with you.

I kid, you've improved a ton!!

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8 minutes ago, Mrsgnomie said:

Not when @Cia gets through with you.

I kid, you've improved a ton!!

Why, thank, you, very, much!

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25 minutes ago, kbois said:

So I'm a little comma challenged! 🤣

Been there... Cia destroyed my comma use when she proofed one of my early stories. I was left scarred for life.

Honestly, I deserved the harsh lesson and have hopefully improved. Having a more experienced author edit my stuff for about one million words helped. Thanks, Mann.

There's hope for most of us.

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7 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Been there... Cia destroyed my comma use when she proofed one of my early stories. I was left scarred for life.

Honestly, I deserved the harsh lesson and have hopefully improved. Having a more experienced author edit my stuff for about one million words helped. Thanks, Mann.

There's hope for most of us.

I think I have issues because I went to Catholic school for 12 years. The nuns drilled it into me and as soon as I graduated my brain went into self-preservation mode and blocked everything. I really do know this stuff, it just escapes me most days! 🤣

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2 minutes ago, Carlos Hazday said:

@kbois

At least you have a good base. I went to school in Spanish through 9th grade. The differences are significant.

I would love to have 9 years of education in another language. 

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7 minutes ago, Mrsgnomie said:

I would love to have 9 years of education in another language. 

Since Spanish's my first language it still has influence on me. I sometimes write sentences with a weird structure because that was how I originally learned. Spanish grammar rules tend to be simpler and more consistent. Funny thing is though I'm fluent in both, I'm more comfortable speaking English. 

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1 hour ago, Carlos Hazday said:

@kbois

At least you have a good base. I went to school in Spanish through 9th grade. The differences are significant.

But were they Spanish nuns?

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13 hours ago, Carlos Hazday said:

Smoke a doobie before you read those entries. You'll still be lost, but you won't care.

I don't know if you know but it's legal in Massachusetts, getting high that is, though not so much as to the getting lost part. People tend to report that if it goes on too long. :lol:

Edited by Ron
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5 hours ago, kbois said:

But were they Spanish nuns?

I wonder if @kbois meant Spanish nouns, :unsure: after all nouns are the subject of the day. :lol:

Edited by Ron
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3 hours ago, Ron said:

I wonder if @kbois meant Spanish nouns, :unsure: after all nouns are the subject of the day. :lol:

Nope, I did mean nuns.

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