Grammatical form and meaning

Answers:

1. 
   C – He kicked the ball so hard that his shoe came off.
   
2. 
   C – Correct me if I’m wrong, but I think you enjoy studying.
   
3. 
   D – The dog stole Tara’s ice cream before it ran away.
   
4. 
   B – She enjoys going to the gym early each morning.
   
5. 
   C – We prefer hiking to movies.
   
6. 
   A – It is raining again.
   
7. 
   B – She puts ketchup on everything she eats.
   
8. 
   B – You can have ice cream after you finish your dinner.
   

A noun is a word that names a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. All nouns can be further classified as a proper or common noun. Common nouns are words used to name general items rather than specific ones. Go into your living room. What do you see? A lamp, chair, couch, TV, window, painting, pillow, candle – all of these items are named using common nouns.
Common nouns are everywhere, and you use them all the time, even if you don’t realize it. Wherever you go, you’ll find at least one common noun. Street, closet, bathroom, school, mall, gas station, living room; all of these places are things, and thus they are common nouns.
What is the difference between common and proper nouns?
When we look at the two main types of noun – proper and common – we can differentiate between the two by saying that a common noun is a general way of classifying something, and a proper noun is a specific way of classifying something, So, for example, the word dog is a common noun; but if your dog was called Fido, the word Fido is a proper noun:

• 
  Dog = common noun
  
• 
  Dog’s name (Fido, in this case) = proper noun
  

More examples of the difference between common and proper nouns:

• 
  My favorite newspaper (common noun) is the Washington Post (proper noun).
  
• 
  Her husband (common noun) is called Frank (proper noun).
  
• 
  The award-winning Babe Ruth (proper noun) is the greatest baseball player (common noun) in history.
  

You may have noticed from the examples that common nouns are not usually capitalized, unless they begin a sentence, whereas proper nouns are normally capitalized. You will also notice that both types of nouns can be more than a single word.
When to use common nouns?
We use common nouns to denote a class of objects or a concept. Consider the word star, as in the stars we see in the sky. Star is used as a common noun, used to denote the class of objects that we view in the night sky, i.e. the luminescent bodies that are spread across the universe, twinkling overhead. The Sun, however, is a proper noun, used to describe the specific star that is at the center of our solar system.
So, anything that is a thing can be generally classified as a common noun:
Professions: lawyer, doctor, teacher, nurse, politician, football player.
People: People in general are named using common nouns, though their official titles in certain cases or given names are proper nouns. When we refer to people using common nouns, we use words like teacher, clerk, police officer, preacher, delivery driver, boyfriend, girlfriend, grandma, cousin, and barista.
For example, when talking about your mother, mother is a common noun.

• 
  My mother is an actress.
  
• 
  Barbara’s mother was the best cook in the city.
  

But when speaking to your mother, or using mother as her name, mother is used as a proper noun.

• 
  “Mother, can you bake your brownies for the party?”
  
• 
  I asked Mother Thompson to join us at dinner.
  

Objects: car, newspaper, boat, potato chip, shoe, house, table, sword.
However, common nouns can also be more abstract concepts, not things but ideas, emotions and experiences, for example:
Abstract ideas: Culture, love, democracy, time, hatred, peace, war, empathy, anger, laughter.