Language

Proper Nouns – names of specific people, places, organizations, and things. They are always capitalized.

Examples: November, International Space Station, Dennis Tito, Cirque de Soleil, Neil Armstrong
Common Nouns – general names of people, places, things, or ideas. They begin with a lowercase letter unless they are at
the beginning of sentences.

Examples: men, women, station, experiments, traveller, spacecraft, days

Concrete Nouns – names something or someone that can be touched, seen, heard, smelled, or tasted.

Examples: telephone, TV, book, files, chair, spaceship, helmet, telescope

Abstract Nouns – names an idea, thought, or feeling that cannot be touched, seen, heard, smelled, or tasted.

Examples: love fear

friendship beauty

cooperation life

Abstract nouns can also be formed from base form of adjectives, verbs, or a common noun. We add suffixed to them to
change them to nouns.

Examples: dark (adjective) + -ness (noun suffix) = darkness

discern (verb) + -ment (noun suffix) = discernment

citizen (common noun) + -ship (noun suffix) = citizenship

brother (common noun) + -hood (noun suffix) = brotherhood

Collective Nouns – name a group of people or things.

Examples: band audience hand flock bed ream

panel club board troop pack gaggle

choir orchestra school swarm cast host

committee government congress parliament pod congregation

jury team class band fleet crowd

 army family assembly senate colony trip

Rules in Forming the Plural of Regular Nouns

1. Add -s to most nouns.

Examples: snake - snakes ski - skis
2. We add -es to nouns ending in sh, ch, s, ss, x, z, and zz.
Examples: lunchbox - lunchboxes quiz - quizzes
pass - passes fox - foxes
3. We change y to i and add -es to nouns ending in y preceded by a consonant.
Examples: enemy - enemies
duty - duties
berry - berries
If a singular noun ends in y and is preceded by a vowel, add -s to form the plural.
Examples: monkey - monkeys day - days
keys - keys donkey - donkeys
4. We change f or fe to v and add -es or -s to most nouns ending in f or fe.
Examples: calf - calves life - lives
thief - thieves wife - wives
half - halves elf - elves
knife - knives loaf - loaves
We add -s to some nouns ending in f or fe.
Examples: proof - proofs
roof - roofs
handkerchief - handkerchiefs
Some nouns have two plural forms:
Examples: dwarf - dwarfs or dwarves scarf - scarfs or scarves
hoof - hoofs or hooves wharf - wharfs or wharves
5. We add -s to most nouns ending in o.
Examples: cello - cellos
stereo - stereos
avocado – avocados
We add -es to some nouns ending in o.
Examples: hero - heroes
potato - potatoes
volcano - volcanoes
To other nouns ending in o, we add -s or -es.
Examples: zero - zeros or zeroes halo - halos or haloes
 buffalo - buffalos or buffaloes
cargo - cargos or cargoes

Rules in Forming the Plural of Irregular Nouns

1. We change the middle vowels of some irregular nouns to form their plural.
Examples: foot - feet goose - geese
louse - lice mouse - mice
man - men tooth - teeth
2. The singular and plural form of some words are spelled the same.
Examples: bison - bison deer - deer
moose - moose sheep - sheep
swine - swine salmon - salmon
3. We add syllable -ren or -en to some irregular nouns to form their plural.
Examples: child - children
ox - oxen
4. For lowercase letters, an apostrophe and s are used to form their plural.
Examples: three s’s
two p’s
Add s to capital letters and numbers to form their plural.
Examples: seven Ds
3s
5s

Special Nouns

1. There are nouns that are plural in form but singular in meaning. These nouns take a singular verb.
Examples: The news is amazing.
Gymnastics makes me healthy.
Mathematics is interesting.
Other examples: politics, tuberculosis, diabetes, statistics, measles
2. There are nouns that are plural in form and meaning. Theses nouns take a plural verb.
Examples: His pants are torn.
Her scissors were stolen.
Her eyeglasses have slipped down his nose again.
Other examples: tongs, pliers, trousers, shorts, jeans, pajamas
Foreign Nouns
 1. There are nouns that retain their foreign (Latin or Greek) form when forming their plural, but may change their
spelling.
Examples: Cacti grow in dry deserts.
The students’ theses are about the Mangyans in Mindoro.
Some fungi are microscopic.
These foreign nouns change their spelling in plural form.
nucleus - nuclei
focus - foci
crisis - crises
phenomenon - phenomena
alumnus - alumni
alumna - alumnae
index - indices or indexes
vertex - vertices or vertexes
forum - fora or forums
memorandum - memoranda or memorandums
genus - genera

Compound Nouns

In general, compound nouns form their plural by adding -s to the base word or the most significant word.
Examples:
assistant headmaster - assistant headmasters
mother-in-law - mothers-in-law
passerby - passersby
assistant secretary of state - assistant secretaries of state
toothbrush - toothbrushes

Possessives of Singular, Plural, and Compound Nouns

1. The possessive of singular nouns are formed by adding an apostrophe and s (‘s).
Examples: Joe’s house (the house belongs to Joe)
dog's bowl (the bowl belongs to the dog)
2. If the singular noun ends in s, add an apostrophe and s (‘s) to make it possessive.
Examples: Iris’s dress (the dress belongs to Iris)
The class’s blackboard (the blackboard belongs to the class)
3. The possessive of plural nouns ending in s is formed by adding an apostrophe (‘).
Examples: students’ books (the books belong to the students)
animals’ habitat (the animals have their habitat)
 4. To form possessive of irregular plural nouns that do not end in s, add an apostrophe and s (‘s).
Examples: the children’s lunch boxes (the lunch boxes that belong to the children)
the men’s conference (the men have a conference)
5. If the nouns have joint ownership, add an apostrophe and s (‘s) to the last noun. If the nouns have separate
ownership, add an apostrophe and s (‘s) to both nouns.
Examples: Mr. Castro and Mrs. Castro’s house is near their office.
The girls’ and boys’ shoes are in the cubbyholes.
6. Add an apostrophe and s (‘s) or apostrophe (‘) at the end of a compound noun.
Examples: My mother-in-law’s car is brand-new.
The police officers’ badges are blue and yellow.
Note: Be careful not to confuse plurals with possessives. Forming the plural of a noun does not need an
apostrophe.
Example: The girls wore their P.E. uniforms.
Functions of Nouns

a. Subject
Example: The doctor performs heart surgery.
b. Predicate Nominative – complete a linking verb and renames the subject.
Example: My father is a doctor.
c. Direct Object – answers the questions who or what.
Example: I love my heart.
d. Indirect Object – tells to whom or for whom something was done.
Example: Sally gave Vilma a heart-shaped pillow.
e. Appositive – may be a noun, noun phrase, or a noun clause that comes after another noun to rename or describe
it.
Example: The popular doctor, Dr. Kellog, was invited to speak before the student doctors.
f. Direct Address – is the person who is being directly spoken to.
Example: Nelson, are you attending the workshop?
g. Object of the Preposition – noun that follows a preposition.
Example: Tom threw the ball to Father.
h. Objective Complement – follows the direct object to rename or modify it.
Example: I call my dog Oscar.
Personal Pronouns

Nominative Pronouns are used either as subject or predicate nominative of a sentence. When used as predicate
nominative, the pronoun is preceded by a linking verb.
Examples:
 She is nominated for class secretary. (as subject)
The class secretary is she. (as predicate nominative)

Objective Pronouns are used as either direct object, indirect object, or object of the preposition of a sentence.
Examples:
Rico’s father scolded him. (as direct object)
Rico’s mother gave him an angry look. (as indirect object)
That look is for him. (as object of the preposition ‘for’)
Possessive Pronouns show ownership. They are used to replace possessive nouns.
Examples:
This book is Sonia’s. (possessive noun)
This book is hers. (possessive pronoun)
The cars are Mom and Dad’s. (possessive noun: joint ownership)
The cars are theirs. (possessive noun)
Nominative Objective Possessive
I Me Mine
You You Yours
He Him His
She Her Hers
It It Its
We Us Ours
They Them Theirs

Interrogative Pronouns used to ask questions. Represent the things that we don’t know (what we are asking the
question about).
Four main interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, and which.
Examples:
Who ate the carrot? (Donald ate the carrot). Donald is a subject.
Whom did you tell the secret? (I told Marie the secret). Marie is an object of the verb.
Relative Pronouns introduce subordinate clauses. Examples of relative pronouns are which, whom, whose and
that. A subordinate clause is also called a dependent clause. It cannot stand alone because it is introduced by a
relative pronoun. It gives additional information about the subject or the object.
Examples: John is the guy who plays soccer.
subordinate clause

The book that you borrowed from John was my gift to him on his birthday.
subordinate clause

Indefinite Pronouns do not refer to any specific person, thing, or amount.

Plural Singular
 all most another nobody
both much any nothing
few several anybody no one
many some anything none
more anyone neither
each one
either other
everybody somebody
everything something
everyone someone

Reflexive Pronouns refer to the subject and direct the action of the verb back to the subject.
Example: The children kept themselves busy by answering written exercises.
Intensive Pronouns merely emphasize a noun or another pronoun and give additional information about it/
Example: The teacher herself wrote the exercise.
Some examples or compound personal pronouns:
First Person : myself, ourselves
Second Person : yourself, yourselves
Third Person : himself/herself, themselves