16 3.1 Nouns and Capitalization

There are two ways to be a correct writer:

• read a lot
• study grammar

If you were lucky enough to have a family that encouraged you to read books as a child, and you continued to read a lot over the years, chances are your writing is already correct. Why? Because your brain absorbed the structures and systems we call “standard English usage” as you read.  You may not be able to recite the rules, but you are able to use them.

If that didn’t happen, then you probably struggle with writing to some extent. You didn’t see enough correct language to embed the rules in your unconscious mind. But it is never too late! The more you read good writing, the more you will automatically write correctly.

Why does correct grammar matter?  Take a minute to read this essay: “I Won’t Hire People Who Use Poor Grammar. Here’s Why” by Karl Wiens.  It was published in the Harvard Business Review (where big employers get their information) and is available at https://hbr.org/2012/07/i-wont-hire-people-who-use-poo.

Writers who want to write more correctly need to study grammar so they can consciously make correct choices when they write.  The information in this chapter will get you closer to the kind of writing you want to be able to do.

The “8 Parts of Speech”

“Parts of speech” is the system we use to explain how words are used in a sentence–which word goes where, why, and in what form.

Even if you struggle with writing, your brain already has a pretty good grasp of how this system works. For example, you know there is something wrong with this sentence:

I love dog my.

If I asked you to explain the problem, I doubt you would say, “The possessive pronoun ‘my’ is being used as an adjective here, to show who owns the dog, and it should be placed before the noun it modifies.” But you’ve heard enough correct examples that your brain automatically sees the problem.

Can you spot the more subtle errors in the following sentences?

• The two best things about the party was the music and the food. (Error: subject/verb agreement. The verb “was” does not agree with the subject “things.” It should be “were.”)
• Natalie found a sparkly girl’s bracelet on the sidewalk. (Error: misplaced modifier. It’s not a sparkly girl, it’s a sparkly bracelet.)
• When John’s dog came back, he was so happy. (Error: unclear pronoun reference. Who was happy? The dog or John?)

Understanding how words work can help writers communicate more clearly and correctly. Start here:

“Part of speech” is what job a word is doing in a sentence.

There are eight parts of speech in English. In other words, there are eight possible jobs.  Here is a list, with brief job descriptions:

1. noun: names a person, place, thing, or idea
2. pronoun: used in place of a noun to avoid repetition
3. adjective: modifies a noun or pronoun
4. verb: shows action, links subjects with words that describe them, or helps other verbs do those things
5. adverb: modifies verbs, adjectives, and other adverbs
6. preposition: shows the position of something or someone in space and time
7. conjunction: connects words, phrases, or clauses
8. interjection: shows surprise or emotion

In this chapter, we will study each of the eight parts of speech one at a time and in depth.

What Is a Noun?

The simplest words in English are nouns; they are easy to understand and found everywhere. To understand how English is structured, start by understanding what nouns do and how to find them in sentences.

A noun is a word that names people, places, things, or ideas.

Remember that “part of speech” is what job a word is doing in a sentence. Naming is a noun’s job. All of the following words are nouns because they name someone or something:

rabbit, tangerine, paper clip, Mars, democracy, student, Alaska

Most nouns are things you can see (like a mouse or the sun), but nouns can also name ideas  (like democracy or faith).

Proper Nouns

There are two types of nouns: proper and common. Proper nouns name specific people, places, things, or ideas. For example:

• people: Shakespeare, Jean
• places: Paris, Gresham, the South
• things: Kleenex, Geology 101, Oreos
• ideas: Christianity, Buddhism

Proper nouns can be more than one word, but they still name one thing. For example:

• people: Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Bill Gates, Billie Eilish
• places: New York City, Republic of Ireland
• things: House of Representatives, MacBook Pro
• ideas: Harlem Renaissance, the Green New Deal

The following types of words are usually proper nouns:

• deities, religions, religious followers, sacred books (Allah, Catholic, Protestants, the Torah)
• family relationship when used as a name (Mom, Grandpa Lenz)
• nationalities, languages, races, tribes (Italian, Japanese, African American, Apache)
• educational institutions, departments, specific courses (Mt. Hood Community College, Humanities Department, Writing 115)
• government departments, organizations, political parties (Army Corps of Engineers, Doctors Without Borders, Democratic Party)
• historical movements, periods, events, documents (Black Lives Matter, the Renaissance, March Madness, Declaration of Independence)
• trade names (Apple, Xerox, Newman’s Own)
• months, holidays, days of the week–but not seasons (July, Yom Kippur, Friday, but not winter)

  Tip

  Proper nouns are always capitalized.

  Common nouns are never capitalized, unless they are the first word of a sentence.

• titles when used as part of a person’s name–but not when used alone (Governor Brown, but not the governor of Oregon)
• titles of books, movies, CDs (The Hunger Games, “Bohemian Rhapsody,” Back to Black)

Common Nouns

Common nouns name general people, places, things, or ideas. For example:

• people: students, aunt, dog
• places: river, country, home
• things: aquarium, car, hamburger, rose
• ideas: democracy, love, happiness, religion, work

Common nouns, like proper nouns, can be more than one word, but they still name one thing. For example:

• people: homeless person, state representative
• places: high school, swimming pool
• things: printer cartridge, washing machine
• ideas: gay pride, public speaking

Nouns of more than one word are called compound nouns. The two words together have a meaning that is different from the two separate words. For example, a “state” is one thing, a “representative” is another thing, and a “state representative” has a third, slightly different meaning. Sometimes compound nouns are written as one word (“greenhouse”) or hyphenated (“mother-in-law”). Check a dictionary to be sure.

Changing Jobs

Sometimes words can be a proper noun in one sentence but a common noun in another. For example:

• My sister Fern prefers ferns to flowers. (“Fern” is a proper noun because it is a specific person’s name, but “ferns” is a common noun because it names a general type of plant.)
• My mother said she was tired, but Dad was ready to go. (“mother” is a common noun here because it names the relationship, but “Dad” is what we call him, so it’s a proper noun.)
• When Obama was President, he actually called the president of my garden club. (“President” is only capitalized when it refers to the President of the United States, not when it refers to someone like the “president of my garden club.”)

Showing Possession

Possession occurs when one noun possesses (owns, for lack of a better way to put it) another noun.  Notice how the nouns in the following phrases show measurement, origin, ownership or authorship, showing possession:

Manager’s employees (Ownership)

Mt. Rainier’s volcano (Origin) 

Michelle Obama’s new book (Authorship)

five years’ time (Measurement)

When expressing possession, writers and speakers have choices about how they can rephrase possession using apostrophes or using prepositional phrases with no apostrophes.

the employees of the manager

The volcano on Mt. Rainier

the new book by Michelle Obama

the time of five years

Apostrophes are used to make nouns possessive, not plural. You would never use an apostrophe to indicate more than one of something:

I had beans (correct) with lunch.

I had bean’s (incorrect) with lunch.

When you have any doubt about using an apostrophe, put the word of in front of the noun. Doing so will help you recognize the ownership of the word and see whether it ends in an s.

There are three main steps in using the apostrophe correctly:

1. Look at the possessive construction – Are two nouns appearing together? If so, there is usually a relationship between them.  Are they singular or plural?

Company(‘s) income 

Rita(‘s) resume 

investors(‘) portfolios

2. Reverse the nouns and add a prepositional phrase such as “of the” to show ownership.

Income of the company 

Resume of Rita

Portfolios of the investors

3. Examine the ownership word(s) to determine of they are singular or plural. If the words are singular, add apostrophe and an s, if they are plural, add just the apostrophe. If they already end in an s but are singular, add and apostrophe and an s, i.e. Mrs. Evans’s class.

If both the ownership word and the possession are both plural, add an apostrophe to the owner and an s to the possession, i.e. Investors‘ portfolios.

Challenging Possessive Construction

Only in situations where adding the ‘s makes pronunciation difficult will you not add the apostrophe s to a noun that already ends in an s sound. An example of this is: Texas’ ten-gallon-hats must be seen to be believed.

There are a few situations where possessive noun constructions can be challenging. here are a few of those situations; Showing possession with time and money, incomplete possessives, separate and combined ownership and with academic degrees.

Time and Money

The hints in the parenthesis will help you understand these conventions.

one year’s salary (the income of one year)

five years’ experience (the experience of five years) 

your time’s worth (the worth of your time) 

your money’s worth (the worth of your money) 

today’s forecast (the forecast of today) 

tomorrow’s agenda (the agenda of tomorrow) 

Incomplete Possessives

When the second noun in a possessive is unstated, the first noun is often treated as a possessive. It helps to think of it as an “implied” noun.

I need to run by my doctor’s to pick up a prescription (doctor’s office) 

The study group will meet at Cindy’s after class today to study. (Cindy’s house)

Her test scores were higher than the other students’. (than the other students’ test scores) 

Separate and Combined Ownership

When two nouns express separate ownership, make both nouns possessive. If they hold joint ownership, make only the second noun possessive. One trick to determine whether the ownership is separate or combined is to look at the object being owned. If the object is singluar, it is usually combined ownership, if hte object is plural is it usually single ownership.

Separate Ownership 

John’s and Judy’s cars were stolen from the apartment parking lot last night.

Combined Ownership 

John and Judy’s car was stolen from the apartment parking lot last night.

Academic Degrees

When academic degrees are written in a generic sense, referring to a person having a degree but not specifically what that degree is, they should be written with possessive apostrophes. The apostrophe is necessary even if they word degree is implied.

She earned her associate’s degree before transferring to a university. (not associate)

A bachelor’s degree can benefit a career. (not bachelor)

Jeff earned his bachelor’s before taking the state exam. (degree is implied) 

Capitalization

Using capitalization correctly sends the message that you care about the ideas you are conveying. Knowing what to capitalize is not difficult: there are only a few rules.

Why are rules of capitalization in a chapter about nouns?  Because one of the main ways capital letters are used is to differentiate between proper and common nouns.

Proper nouns are always capitalized.  Common nouns are not. The following table will give you a sense of the differences:

Besides proper nouns, there are several other capitalization rules:

• The pronoun “I” is always capitalized. For example: It’s time I settled down and found a job.
• The first word in every sentence is capitalized. For example: Peaches taste best when they are cold.
• The first word in a sentence-length quotation is capitalized.  For example: The college president asked, “What can we do for our students?”
• The first, last, and main words in a title are capitalized.  For example: I found a copy of Darwin’s book The Origin of Species at a yard sale.

That’s it. The challenge is not understanding when to capitalize.  It’s remembering to do it.