English Language ArtsLevel 7 #2

Today’s Objectives

Prefixes Parts of Speech – The Noun Sentence BuildingReading AssignmentIdiom of the Day

Part 1 - Prefixes

In our last lesson, you learned two new prefixes: “anti” and “co.” “Anti-” at the beginning of a word means “against.” (antidote) “Co-” at the beginning of a word means “together.” (coexist)

Today’s Prefixes “demos” and “inter”

Demos at the beginning of a word means “people.”

“Inter-” at the beginning of a word means “between.”

‘

Prefix: “demos-”

Example usage of “demos” which means “people:” Many nations would like to become a “democracy.” (government by the people)

Prefix: “Inter-”

Example usage of “inter-” which means “between”.

Many people hope that there will soon be “inter-” national peace. (Peace “between” nations)

Assignment

During our next lesson, we will discuss the prefixes “mis-” “post-” and “pre-.”

To prepare for that lesson, find one word each in the dictionary or on the web for words that begin with “mis-” “post-” and “pre-.”

Break

Part 2 - Grammar:Parts of Speech

Nouns A noun is a word used to

name a person, animal, place, thing, or abstract idea. In our diagrammed sentences, the subjects (the first part in our diagram) are considered nouns because each refers to a person or thing.

Types of Nouns

Proper NounsCommon NounsConcrete NounsAbstract Nouns

Possessive Nouns

The Proper Noun

Since the proper noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing, always write a proper noun with a capital letter. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organizations and religions are all proper nouns and must be capitalized.

Examples of Proper Nouns

Days of the week: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, etc. Languages: Spanish, English, Malay, French, etc.Names of Countries and Continents: United States, France, Malaysia, Africa, Asia

Proper Nouns

Months: April, July, November, etc.

Holidays: Christmas, Thanksgiving, Fourth of July, etc.

Religions: Islam, Christianity, Catholicism

Locations: Niagra Falls, The White House, The Taj Mahal

Common Nouns

Let’s move on to common nouns. A common noun is a noun that refers to a person, place, animal, thing or idea in a general sense (man, building or book). In this case, we are not naming a specific man, building or book.

Common Nouns

A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun. We do not capitalize common nouns unless they begin a sentence.

Non-specific persons: man, child, doctor, boy, etc.

Non-specific animals: cat, dog, rabbit, hamster, squirrel, etc.

Other Common Nouns

Non-specific places: parks, school, city, church, home, etc.Non-specific things: chair, table, notebook, door, car, etc.

Only when we give a specific name to the common noun, do we capitalize it.

For Example:

Park is a common noun, but when we name a specific park, such as Yellowstone National Park, it is a proper noun and must be capitalized.

Car is a common noun, but Mercedes Benz, is a proper noun, and we must capitalize it.

Concrete Nouns

A concrete noun is a noun which names anything (or anyone) that can be perceived through your five senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. You can “see” a book, therefore, it is a concrete noun.

Concrete Nouns

Examples of concrete nouns: plate, napkin, glass, paper, book, apple, ice cream, door, statue, window, sock, foot, arm, nose, desk.

These are concrete nouns because they are things that you can see or touch.

Abstract Nouns

Abstract nouns are the opposite of concrete nouns. You cannot feel, taste, touch, smell or see abstract nouns. They are ideas. For instance, you cannot see or touch friendship, but friendship is a noun. Therefore, it is an abstract noun.

Common Abstract Nouns

At the end of this lesson, review the Common Abstract Nouns list. We will refer to them in the future.

Plural Nouns

Plural nouns indicate more than one. For the most part, we add an “s” to a noun to make it plural.

For some nouns, the endings of the words must be changed in order to show it as plural or more than one.

Plural Nouns

The plural form of a noun indicates simply that there are more than one of the person or thing in question. For most nouns, the plural form includes the letter "s" at the end of the word:

DogsTrees

Turtles

Plural Nouns ending in s, z, ch, sh, and x

Nouns with these letters at the end require an "es" to show more than one. This added syllable makes pronunciation easier.

beach = beachesFox = foxes

Wish = wishes

Plural Nouns Ending in “y”

To form the plural of nouns ending in “y,” drop the “y” and add "ies.“ This is true in most cases, but there are exceptions.

Family = familiesStory = storiesBaby = babies

Plural Nouns Ending in “o”

Some nouns ending in “o” are made plural by adding an "s," while others require an "es“ at the end. These words must be memorized because there is no simple rule to explain the differences.

Plural Nouns Ending in “o”

Add “s” or “es” after a noun that ends in “o” to make it plural.

echo = echoes hero = heroespotato = potatoes veto = vetoes auto = autos memo = memos

Plural Noun Quiz

Let’s see how much you have learned about making nouns plural. At the end of this lesson, complete the Plural Nouns Quiz. You must have at least 36 correct answers to show proficiency.

Possessive Nouns

Let’s move on to possessive nouns. The possessive noun signifies that the noun owns something:

A musician's talentA woman's ambition

The Apostrophe “S”

Possessive nouns call for a properly placed punctuation mark called the apostrophe (‘). The placement of an apostrophe (‘) is different for singular and plural nouns.

Singular Possessive Nouns

Singular possessive nouns are nouns that show ownership by one person, place or thing. The apostrophe “s” (‘s) after a proper noun or a common noun indicates the possessive form.

Always place the apostrophe before the “s” (‘s) after a singular noun to make it show ownership.

Apostrophe “S”

Examples of how the apostrophe “s” (‘s) shows ownership in the singular form:

The truck’s tires The man’s boots

The girl’s dress The baby’s cryThe goose’s egg The dog’s bone

‘S (apostrophe before the “s”)

When you see the (‘S) at the end of a word, you will recognize that this mark means ownership and that only one person, place or thing owns the thing that comes after the (‘S).

Practice

Put an (‘s) (apostrophe “s”) after the appropriate noun to make it show ownership.

The boy coatThe lady hatThe fish tailThe boat anchor

Answers

Put the ‘S after a word to make it show ownership.

The boy’s coatThe lady’s hatThe fish’s tailThe boat’s anchor

Plural Possessives

When more than one person, place or thing owns something, we switch the (‘S) (apostrophe “s”) to (S’) (“s” apostrophe).

When more than one lady owns hats, for instance, we show the plural possessive form as “the ladies’ hats.”

Plural Possessives

Did you notice that we changed lady (one) to ladies (more than one) by dropping the “y” and adding ies? After we have changed the noun to more than one, we place the apostrophe after the “S.” (S’)

Practice

Put an S’ ( “s” apostrophe) after each word that shows ownership by more than one person, place or thing.

The boy coatThe lady hatThe fish tailThe boat anchor

Answers

Notice that the words after the S’ (“S” apostrophe) also show more than one.

The boys’ coatsThe ladies’ hatsThe fishes’ tailsThe boats’ anchors

Did You Notice?

When we changed boy to boys’ to make it plural possessive, the item after boys’ also became plural or more than one:

the boys’ coats

Exceptions

There are some plural nouns that do not take the (S') (“s” apostrophe) to show ownership. To make some nouns plural you must change the spelling. When the spelling of a noun changes to make it plural, then add an ('S) (apostrophe “s”) as with the singular possessive noun.

Examples

The men’s bootsThe geese’s eggs

“’S” Example

The geese’s eggs

Notice the word, “geese.” In the singular form it was spelled goose. Since we changed the spelling to make it more than one, we add an (’S) apostrophe “s.”

Another Exception

The men’s bootsNotice that we changed the

spelling from man to men to make it plural.

In this case we added the (’S).

(apostrophe “S”) to show that more than one man owned more than one pair of boots.

Review: Noun Types

Today we learned how to make singular nouns plural and possessive. We also learned the difference between Proper Nouns and Common Nouns.

Review: Noun Types

We learned the difference between Concrete Nouns and Abstract Nouns.

Finally, we learned to add the apostrophe “s” (‘S) to make singular nouns possessive, and we learned to add “s” apostrophe (S’) to make plural nouns possessive.

Noun Test

At the end of this lesson, take the noun test to show your proficiency. You must answer at least seven (7) sections (three questions each section) correctly in order to show proficiency in noun usage and understanding.

Nouns Used in Sentences

After our break, we will diagram the common nouns that were used in our sentences from the last session.

Break

Sentence Building

Take out your diagrammed sentences from our last lesson.

Your were asked to give more information about the subject and object by adding modifiers to the diagram.

Sentence Building

In our diagrammed sentences, the subject and the object are considered common nouns because, although they name a person or thing, they do not name a specific person, place or thing.

Adding Modifiers

Words that modify (describe) both proper and common nouns are called adjectives.

Adding Adjectives

Adjectives are words that describe. The Articles — a, an, and the — are adjectives. We will discuss adjectives in detail in a future lesson. For now, just remember that adjectives modify all nouns.

Add Modifiers (Adjectives)

1. The boy wrote a story. boy wrote story

2. The mother made cookies.mother made cookies

adjective

Verb adjective

adjective

Verb adjective

Add Modifiers (Adjectives)

3. The girl likes candy.girl likes candy

4. The car made a noise.car made noise

adjective

Verb

adjective

adjective

Verbadjective

Adjectives Describe the Noun

In the following sentences, the words in red are adjectives that describe the nouns.

Example Answer

1. The smart boy wrote a scary story.

boy wrote story

smart

scary

TheThe

a

Example Answer

2. The happy mother made chocolate chip cookies.

mother made cookies

happy

chocolat

e chip

The

Example Answer

3. The pretty girl likes peppermint candy.

girl likes candy

pretty

peppermin

tThe

Example Answer

4. The new car made a loud noise.

car made noise

new

loud

The

a

Assignment

Add another adjective to your diagrammed sentences. Example: The handsome, smart boy wrote a scary, Halloween story. Diagram to show the adjectives.

boy wrote story

Example Answer

boy wrote story

For our next lesson, add another adjective to our diagrams.

The

handsom

e

a scaryHallowe

en

smart

Next Lesson

In our next lesson we will learn three new prefixes.

In addition, we will learn more information about adjectives, and we will introduce a section on pronouns.

Part 3 - The Idiom

Idioms are spoken phrases that cannot be found in the dictionary. An idiom is an expression that means something other than the literal meanings of its individual words.

Idiom of the Day

“handle with kid gloves:”to be very careful

handling someone or something.

Example: The very old book was handled with kid gloves.

Idiom of the Day

“Handle with kid gloves” does not mean that gloves must be made out of kid leather. Nor does it mean one has to wear gloves. “Handle with kid gloves” means to be gentle with something or someone.

This lesson has ended

It was a pleasure to work with you today. During our next lesson, you will learn more about prefixes, and the parts of speech. We will continue to diagram sentences, as well as learn a new idiom. Goodbye until next time.