C h a p t e r 4 2
Classification of Words
Parts of sPeecH
NoUNS
A noun is the name of a person, place, or thing.
Walking in the woods is fun for Jason.
(Walking is the name of a thing; woods is the name of a place; and Jason is
the name of a person.)Nouns function in one of three ways: as subjects, as objects (direct object, indirect
object, object of a preposition, and object of a verbal), and as predicate nouns.
Woodpeckers hammer loudly.
(Woodpeckers, a noun, is the subject of the verb hammer.)
One woodpecker carved a hole.
(Hole, a noun, is the direct object of the verb carved.)
The woodpecker fed its fledgling some suet.
(Fledgling, a noun, is the indirect object of the verb fed.)
The woodpecker hammered on a dead tree limb.
(Limb, a noun, is the object of the preposition on.)
Do woodpeckers get headaches from hammering trees?
(Trees, a noun, is the object of the verbal hammering.)
Golden-shafted flickers are woodpeckers.
(Woodpeckers, a noun, is the predicate noun after the linking verb are.)A noun will have one or more (but not necessarily all) of the following characteristics:
Nouns are characterized by certain endings.
-^ Nouns can be made plural, so they have plural endings, usually –s or –es.
woodpecker, woodpeckers; box, boxes