Year 3 English: Nouns: naming words
Part of the Year 3 English word classes chapter. Chapter overview · whole chapter on one page
Nouns: naming words
Every word has a word class. The word class tells us the job that a word does in a sentence. This chapter has eight word classes.
A noun is a naming word. It names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea. Goat, farmer and tractor are nouns. So are kindness and happiness, which name ideas.
A proper noun is the name of a particular person or place. It starts with a capital letter, such as Mia or London.
The simple test for a noun: can you put the in front of it? The goat makes sense, so goat is a noun.
| Word class | What it does | Simple test | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Noun | names a person, place, thing, animal or idea | can go after the | goat, London, kindness |
| Verb | shows an action or a state | can change to show time | jumps, was, have |
| Adjective | describes a noun | can go after very | tall, green, happy |
| Adverb | tells how, when, where or how often | answers how?, when?, where? or how often? | quickly, here, soon |
| Pronoun | takes the place of a noun | can replace a noun | he, them, mine |
| Preposition | shows where, when or how things are related | is followed by a noun or pronoun | under the table, after lunch |
| Conjunction | joins words, phrases or sentences | joins two parts | and, but, because |
| Determiner | comes before a noun | says which one or how many | the, a, my, every |
Key ideas
- A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.
- Proper nouns start with a capital letter: Mia, London.
- The test: a noun can usually go after the word the.
- Kindness is a noun, because it names an idea.
Method. Find the job of dog in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The dog sleeps by the door.
- Ask the test question. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.Put the in front: the dog makes sense, so dog is a noun.
- Write the answer. noun
Check. Check the job of dog once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a noun.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Our teacher reads a long story.
- Pick out the nouns. Each noun does the job that the chapter describes.teacher, story
- Write the answer. teacher, story
Check. Each word in the answer is a noun. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Look for the names of particular people.
- Look at Ali. Ali is the name of one particular person, and it starts with a capital letter.Ali: a proper noun
- Look at Sam. Sam is also the name of one particular person.Sam: a proper noun
- Look at pencil. Pencil is a thing, not a name, and it starts with a small letter.pencil: a common noun
- Write the answer. Ali, Sam
Check. Both names start with a capital letter. ✓
Watch out. A common noun, such as pencil, does not start with a capital letter.
Watch out
Watch out: a proper noun always starts with a capital letter. Write London, not london. Ideas and feelings are nouns too: happiness is a noun, even though you cannot touch it.
Exam tip
Grown-up tip. Point at things in the room and ask your child to put the in front of their names. If the fits, the word is a noun. Then ask whether the noun is a name, which needs a capital letter.
Exercise 3A Practice: nouns and proper nouns
Method. Find the job of dog in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The dog sleeps by the door.
- Ask the test question. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.Put the in front: the dog makes sense, so dog is a noun.
- Write the answer. noun
Check. Check the job of dog once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find the job of sleeps in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The dog sleeps by the door.
- Ask the test question. A verb tells what someone or something does, is or has.Ask what sleeps shows. It shows an action (what someone does) or a state (being or having), so it is a verb.
- Write the answer. verb
Check. Check the job of sleeps once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Verbs can change to show time: today I jump, yesterday I jumped.
Method. Find the job of tulips in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.The children planted tulips in the garden.
- Ask the test question. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.Put the in front: the tulips makes sense, so tulips is a noun.
- Write the answer. noun
Check. Check the job of tulips once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find the job of London in the sentence, then name its word class.
- Read the sentence and find the word. Look at the word in its sentence, not on its own.Mia visited London with her mum.
- Ask the test question. A noun names a person, a place, a thing, an animal or an idea.London names a particular person or place, and it starts with a capital letter, so it is a proper noun. A proper noun is a kind of noun.
- Write the answer. noun
Check. Check the job of London once more in the sentence. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a noun.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.The dog sleeps by the door.
- Pick out the nouns. Each noun does the job that the chapter describes.dog, door
- Write the answer. dog, door
Check. Each word in the answer is a noun. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a noun.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Kindness makes the class feel happy.
- Pick out the nouns. Each noun does the job that the chapter describes.Kindness, class
- Write the answer. Kindness, class
Check. Each word in the answer is a noun. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a noun.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.The children planted tulips in the garden.
- Pick out the nouns. Each noun does the job that the chapter describes.children, tulips, garden
- Write the answer. children, tulips, garden
Check. Each word in the answer is a noun. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. Find each word in the sentence that is a noun.
- Read the sentence. Check the job of each word.Ali gave Sam a red pencil.
- Pick out the nouns. Each noun does the job that the chapter describes.Ali, Sam, pencil
- Write the answer. Ali, Sam, pencil
Check. Each word in the answer is a noun. ✓
Watch out. Ideas such as kindness are nouns too. Proper nouns start with a capital letter.
Method. A noun for a place tells us where something is.
- Look at each noun. Children, tulips and garden are nouns.children, tulips, garden
- Find the place. Garden is a place where the tulips grow.garden
- Write the answer. garden
Check. The tulips are in the garden. ✓
Watch out. Tulips is a thing, and children is a group of people.
Method. Think of one animal and one place.
- Think of an animal. An animal is a living creature, such as a goat, a cat or a fish.goat
- Think of a place. A place is where something is, such as a school, a park or a shop.school
- Write the answer. Any correct answers, for example: goat and school.
Check. Both words are nouns, and you can put the in front of each. ✓
Watch out. Check that the word can go after the.
Method. Proper nouns are names. They start with a capital letter.
- Look at Mia. Mia is the name of a particular girl.Mia
- Look at London. London is the name of a particular city.London
- Write the answer. Mia, London
Check. Both names start with a capital letter. ✓
Watch out. Mum is a noun, but it is not a name here, so it has a small letter.
Method. Check the first letter of a place name.
- Look at london. Every place name starts with a capital letter.london
- Change the first letter. London is a place name, so the L is a capital letter.London
- Write the answer. London
Check. London starts with a capital letter. ✓
Watch out. Proper nouns always start with a capital letter.
Method. Choose three nouns, one of each kind.
- Person. Friend is a noun for a person.friend
- Place. Park is a noun for a place.park
- Idea. Happiness is a noun for an idea.happiness
- Write the answer. Any correct sentence, for example: My friend shared her happiness in the park.
Check. Friend, park and happiness are all nouns. ✓
Watch out. Check that each noun can go after the.
Method. Check what a noun names.
- Look at the test. A noun can name a place as well as a thing.the garden
- Check the job of garden. The garden names a place, so it is a noun.garden: a noun
- Write the answer. No. A place can be a noun. Garden names a place, so it is a noun.
Check. The garden makes sense after the. ✓
Watch out. Nouns name people, places, things, animals and ideas.
Method. Plants and animals are things, so their names are nouns.
- Look at tulips. A tulip is a plant, which is a thing.a plant
- Use the test. The tulips makes sense in this sentence.the tulips
- Write the answer. No. Tulips names a thing (a plant), and the tulips makes sense. So tulips is a noun.
Check. Tulips is a noun. ✓
Watch out. The word for a plant or an animal is a noun too.
Method. Use each noun after the.
- Use garden. Garden is a noun for a place.the garden
- Use plant. Plant is a noun for a living thing.the plant
- Write the answer. Any correct sentence, for example: We watered the plant in the garden.
Check. Both nouns can go after the. ✓
Watch out. Check that each noun can go after the.