Noun

Noun - is the name of a person, place,thing,quality,activity, concept or condition. A noun may perform many functions in a sentence: subject of a verb,direct object of a verb, object of a preposition,object of a verbal (gerund,infinitive,participle),indirect object of a verb, predicate complement, and modifier of another noun.

Subject of Verb
• Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.
• Modern art has many admirers.

Direct Object of a Verb
• The cattle forced the crowd off the road
• Tobacco causes many deaths

Object of a Preposition
• I expect to sail my boat after lunch
• The attendant parked my car in the shade

Object of a Verbal
• Swimming the lake was more than he could manage. (Verbal Swimming, object of the verbal lake)
• All I want now is to see my granddaughters again, (Verbal to see, object of the verbal granddaughters)
• Having lost my way, I decided to wait for help. (Verbal Having lost, object of the verbal way)

Indirect Object of a Verb
• The judge gave her assistant a new assignment. (Verb gave, indirect object assistant)
Predicate Complement
• He is the hottest performer in town. (Verb is, predicate complement performer)
• One problem facing the nation id illiteracy. (Verb is, predicate compliment illiteracy)

Modifier of Another Noun
• The peace talks seem to be getting nowhere. (Noun peace modifies noun talks)
• Combative hockey teams seem intent on fighting instead of skating. (Noun hockey modifies noun teams)

TYPES OF NOUNS

There are two types of nouns: Proper nouns and Common nouns.

Proper noun is the name of s specific person, place, or thing. Capitalize all proper nouns. Capitalize a common noun only when you use it as the first word in sentence.

• Audrey Hepburn will long be remembered for her work on behalf of children
• He was a Democrat when he first went to Washington
• The Statue of Liberty holds out hope to the world

Common noun is the name used for any unspecified member of a class of person, places, qualities, or concepts

• Poets struggle to gain recognition
• Who does not admire children in inner cities who manage to get a decent education
• That building is yet another example of poor urban architecture
• Our principal aim was to nurture democracy in the country

Collective noun may represent a group or a class considered as a unit. In this case, treat the collective noun as singular

• The band played uninspiringly. (The band as a unit)
• The jury was unable to reach a verdict. (The jury as a unit)
• The couple is without a home (The couple as a unit)

A collective noun may also represent a group or a class of individuals considered as individuals. In this case, treat the collective noun as plural.

• The audience are leaving their seats. ( The members of the audience, as individuals, are leaving)
• The couple disagree on almost everything. (Both husband and wife, as individuals, disagree.)
• The remainder are going to be left behind. (The remaining members of a group, as individuals, are going to be left behind.)

Noun Clauses
A noun clause has a subject and verb and functions as a noun. Noun clauses usually introduced bt that, which, who, whoever, whatever, why, where, how, or which.

As subject:
That a daughter can speak so harshly to her mother is difficult to believe.(Subject of is.)
Why you ask such questions befuddles me. (Subject of befuddles.)

As object:
We insist that our goevernment look after the needy.(Object of the insist.)
They said that they would change their ways.(Object of said.)

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