Practical tools for learning and teaching grammar

the
rope, 
the 
poison
If it does not make sense, the word cannot be a noun.
1.1 Activities: common nouns
Students could do the following:
1. Walk outside, touch and name things as they pass. This is especially 
popular with young children.
2. Walk outside. Come back in and name the things that they saw. 
In class, the children can take turns to name one thing without 
repeating any.
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3. As above, then write down the things that they saw. Read the list 
aloud. Write the words on the board.
4. Using pictures of indoor or outdoor scenes provided, students name 
or list the objects they see in their picture. This activity is particularly 
popular with ESL students of any age.
5. Make sentences using some of the selected words, underlining each 
noun.
6. Play any form of the ever-popular parlour game ‘The Old Oak Chest’, 
in which students in turn name items found in the Old Oak Chest, 
each person repeating the list in its correct order and adding one 
item of their own. This game can be played in a variety of ways, 
such as naming articles bought at the market, or found under the 
Christmas tree.
7. List things beginning with letters in alphabetical order. 
For their own reference, students should write a heading NOUNS in 
their grammar exercise books, followed by an accurate definition and 
several examples.
Checklist: common nouns
Students should now be able to:
• correctly answer the question ‘What is a noun?’
• say one way to be sure that a word is a noun
• give examples of common nouns
• recognise nouns in sentences
• use each noun in a sentence
Proper nouns
Definition: 
The word ‘proper’ comes from the French word 
propre
meaning one’s own, i.e. belonging to a particular person or thing.
Proper nouns are the special names that we give to people, 
places and particular things like the days of the week, months of 
the year, or even the titles of books or TV shows.