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Learn how to identify the people, places, and things in a story and the actions they perform.
Imagine a world where everything was invisible and nothing ever moved. How would you tell a story? To build a world, you need 'naming' words and 'doing' words!
Every story starts with a noun. A noun is a word that names a person (teacher), a place (school), a thing (pencil), or even an idea (love). Think of nouns as the 'characters' and 'sets' in your favorite movie. Without them, we wouldn't know who we are talking about! Most nouns are common nouns, which name general things like dog or city. However, some are proper nouns, which name specific things like Buddy or New York. Proper nouns are special, so they always start with a Capital Letter.
Quick Check
In the sentence 'The boy went to Paris,' which word is a proper noun?
Answer
Paris
Let's find the noun and the verb in a simple sentence.
1. Sentence: 'The cat sleeps.' 2. Ask: Who or what is the sentence about? The cat. (Noun) 3. Ask: What is the cat doing? It sleeps. (Verb) 4. Result: .
Quick Check
What is the action verb in the sentence: 'The rocket blasts into space'?
Answer
blasts
To become a master writer, you must spot the difference between the subject (the noun doing the work) and the action (the verb). Sometimes a sentence has many nouns, but only one is doing the main action. For example, in 'The girl eats an apple,' both 'girl' and 'apple' are nouns, but only the 'girl' is performing the verb 'eats.' Identifying these parts helps you understand exactly what is happening in a story.
Let's look at a harder sentence: 'Dr. Smith runs to the hospital.'
1. Identify the Proper Noun: Dr. Smith (Specific person). 2. Identify the Common Noun: hospital (General place). 3. Identify the Action Verb: runs (What Dr. Smith is doing). 4. Check capitalization: Dr. Smith is capitalized because it is a proper noun.
Which of these is a proper noun?
Find the verb in this sentence: 'The happy whale swims in the ocean.'
In the sentence 'I have a great idea,' the word 'idea' is a noun.
Review Tomorrow
Tomorrow morning, look around your room and name three nouns (things) and three verbs (actions) you can do with them.
Practice Activity
Write three sentences about your favorite superhero. Circle the nouns and underline the verbs!