Identify Common and Proper Nouns

In this activity, we’re going to be looking at two different types of noun.

The first type are called common nouns.

Common Nouns

Common nouns are the names of places and objects that are general things and not specific.

Take a look at the sentence below:

The ball rolled into the road.

Both ball and road are common nouns as they are non-specific things.

Can you spot the common nouns in the sentence below?

The dog was in the kitchen.

Our common nouns were kitchen and dog.

Proper Nouns

Another type of noun is a proper noun.

Proper nouns are the specific names we give people, places and things.

Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.

They could be the specific name of a place:

London (capital city)

Spain (country)

They could be the specific name of a person:

Joe

David Beckham

Roald Dahl

They could be the name of a famous landmark:

Buckingham Palace

Tower of London

Proper nouns also include months of the year and days of the week.

Can you identify the proper nouns in the sentence below?

Sophie went to Blenheim Palace.

This sentence had two proper nouns: Sophie (the name of a person) and Blenheim Palace (the name of a place).

In this activity, you’ll be on the look-out for common and proper nouns. If a question asks you to find the nouns, then you should look for both common and proper nouns.