PROPER NOU

N
 • A specific people, places,
WHAT I things or ideas.

S PROP
Maya: specific woman
Paris: specific city

ER NOU Rover: specific dog

• Begin with capital letters

N? Central Park Zoo, Pacific Ocea
n

TARGET LEANERS:SECONDARY
PROPER In the following sentences, p
roper noun examples are compa

NOUN V
red with common nouns.
• Proper nouns: specific and unique

S COMM
• Common nouns: more general in nature
.
1.CN: I want to be a writer.

ON NOU
PN: Agatha Christie wrote many
books.
2.CN: Would you like a cookie?

N PN: I’m craving Oreos.

3.CN: Let’s go to the city.
PN: Let’s go to San Francisco.
 PROPER NOUN AS PEOPLE

J.K. Rowling Mark Elliot Zuckerberg Billie Eilish

Famous author of the much-
Co-founder of Facebook Famous American singer
loved series of seven Harry
and songwriter
Potter novels
 PROPER NOUN AS PLACES

Pulau Redang Mount Kinabalu Eiffel Tower

One of the largest islands off the Highest mountain between the Wrought-iron lattice tower on
east coast of Peninsular Malaysia Himalayas and New Guinea the Champ de Mars in Paris,
France
 PROPER NOUN AS THINGS

World Wide Web

The leading information retrieval service of Oscars
the Internet (the worldwide computer Academy awards for artistic and technical
network) merit in the film industry.
REMINDER
A proper noun may be eit
her plural or singular,
but it is always specifi
c.
SINGULAR PROPER NOUN
• A singular proper noun usually takes no article; howev
er, in certain cases, it may take a “the.”
1.McDonalds is my favorite restaurant.
‒ McDonald’s is the proper noun taking no article.
2.The Pacific Ocean is home to the Great Barrier Reef.
‒ The Pacific Ocean and the Great Barrier Reef are both proper
nouns.
‒ A specific type of noun is included in the name (“Ocean” a
nd “Reef”), the proper noun takes the specific article.
PLURAL PROPER NOUN
• A plural proper noun usually takes a “the”; however, in
certain cases it takes no article.
1.The Great Lakes are home to fascinating birds and fish.
− The Great Lakes is a plural set of specific mountains, a named noun which
takes the article.
2.Americans are often poor travelers overseas.
− Referring to a non-specific group of Americans, the plural proper noun can
not take a specific article, so it takes none.
3.The Americans dined at a pizza shop.
− Because this refers to a specific set of Americans, the specific article i
s needed.
COMMON NOUN USED AS PROPER NOUN

• When a proper noun, for example the name of a particular pe

rson, place or thing is used for the common trait of that p
erson, place or thing , it becomes a common noun.
1. He is the Newton of our class. (Newton is the famous scie
ntist name)
2. She was injured in a fall from her jet ski. (Jet Ski is a
brand name owned by Kawasaki)
3. Every day she brings a thermos of pea soup to the coffee
room. (Noun from a brand name Thermos)
THANK YOU