Common and Propper Nouns

Nouns are divided into two basic categories:

Common Nouns are general people, places, or things. These nouns begin with a lower case letter. For example, book, students, boy, girl, house, and job are all common nouns.

Proper Nouns are words that refer to specific people, places, or things. These nouns begin with a capital letter. For example, Thomas, Obama, Thanksgiving, Tuesday, and United States are all proper nouns.

Common nouns can become proper nouns when they are part of a name or title. Examples include Doctor Phill, President Obama, Nurse Sally, and Governor McPherson.

Example of sentences with proper nouns: (all proper nouns are highlighted)

1. “We all know that James is my best friend.”

2. “Is it Saturday yet?”

3. “Have we been to Southtown Beach before?”

4. “We got to see President Obama give his Inauguration Address.”

5. “My house is on Maple Wood Street.”

6. “My favorite book is The Lord of the Rings.”

7. “Have you seen the Twilight.”

8. “My favorite time of year is Christmas.”

9. “The Civil War was the bloodiest war fought on American soil.”

10. “My Aunt Paula works at Suntrust Bank.”

Examples of similar sentences when turning the proper nouns into common nouns: (all common nouns are highlighted)

1. Everyone knows that he is my best friend.”

2. Is it the weekend yet?”

3. Have we ever been to this beach before?

4. “We got to see the president give a speech.”

5. Our house is on this Street.”

6. “That is one of my favorite books!”

7. “I have not watched that movie yet.”

8. “This is my favorite holiday.”

9. “That war was the bloodiest war ever fought on this country.”

10. “My aunt works at the bank.”

Tip to remember:
A noun can be both common and proper depending on how it is used and how specific you are being.

Examples:

	Common noun	Proper noun
	high school	Forrest High School
	bank	Regions Bank
	credit card	Visa Credit Card
	aunt	Aunt Marsha
	persident	President Obama
	doctor	Doctor Phill
	magazine	National Geographic Magazine
	boy	Boy Scouts
	club	Boys and Girls Club
	gym	Anytime Fitness Gym
	college	Central Florida Community College

Questions and answers:

Can a word be both proper and common?
Yes, it depends on how the noun is used and whether it is a general or specific focus.

When I see a noun that starts with a capital letter.,can I immediately infer that it is a proper noun?
Not always as the first word in a sentence is always Capitalized, but otherwise, yes most capitalized words are Proper Nouns.

When I see a noun that is not capitalized,can I immediately infer that it is a common noun?
Yes.

To Summarize:

The key is to think in terms of whether the noun you are looking at is general or specific. Is it referring to any and all? Then it is a common noun. Is it referring a very specific form of the noun? Then it is a proper name. Also remember that common nouns can become proper nouns when used as part of a name or title (eg. "President Lincoln").

Interactive Exercises:

Click: True or False

1. The word "Michael" is a common noun.	True \| False
2. The word "table" is a proper noun.	True \| False
3. The word "vehicle" is a common noun.	True \| False
4. The word “Halloween” is a proper noun.	True \| False
5. The word “boulevard” is a common noun.	True \| False
6. The word “dog” is a proper noun.	True \| False
7. The word “White House” is a proper noun.	True \| False
8. The word “sled” is a common noun.	True \| False

Click the underlined words that are proper nouns:

(Please note: all words are uncapitalized on purpose)

1. I am going to the library to check out my favorite book, the canterbury tales.
2. My favorite aunt is coming to visit us from new york.
3. We went to yellowstone national park last year for my brother’s birthday.
4. Do you have professor Smith for your high school science teacher?
5. The nearest bank is down the street across from the walmart.
6. My father went to the same high school as I did and was on the ivy league team.
7. Where did Milly and My aunt Beth go on their shopping trip in town?
8. How far is it from our town to merrysville ?

Click only the proper nouns inside the following sentences:

(Please note: all words are uncapitalized on purpose)

1. edna is a cute girl.
2. the best country i visited in europe was italy.
3. what did you think of president obama and his inauguration address?
4. did uncle chris make it to the airport in time for his delta flight back to nevada?
5. we have walked all along magnolia avenue and up to the bank looking for skip the dog.
6. one of the most feared serial killers was known as jack the ripper.
7. sally and billy are excellent students at west port high school.
8. why did we have to bring our neighbors with us to peach tree park?