Lesson

Nouns and Articles

1. Grammar Introduction
A. Common and Proper Nouns
Common
Noun
Proper
Noun

language
book

city
name

Common nouns are general names of people, animals,

Chinese
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Hong Kong
Sarah

Proper nouns are specific names. They always begin

places and things.

with capital letters.

Check the common noun and circle the proper noun.

1 Amys house is on Main Street.

2 Grace is my best friend.

3 These skates are for Sam.

4 My uncle can speak Chinese.

B. Singular and Plural Nouns

Singular

Plural

one cat
a basket

two cats
five baskets

box
watch

boxes
watches

End of noun: -ch, -sh, -s, -x

Plural form: add -es

hero
potato

heroes
potatoes

End of noun: consonant + -o

Plural form: add -es

~ies

baby
country

babies
countries

End of noun: consonant + -y

Plural form: change y to i and add -es

~ves

thief
knife

thieves
knives

End of noun: -f or -fe

Plural form: change f or -fe to v and add -es

Irregular

child
fish

children
fish

No rules

~s

~es

Singular means one. Plural means more than two.

To make most nouns plural, add -s to the singular form.

Common irregular plural nouns:

sheep - sheep

tooth - teeth

woman - women

foot - feet

mouse - mice

person - people

Write the plural form.

1 person

................................................................

2 leaf

................................................................

3 glass

................................................................

4 radio

................................................................

1 - Nouns and Articles

C. Count and Noncount Nouns

Count
Noun

Singular

Plural

a cookie
a bus
one leaf

cookies
buses
leaves

water
cheese
juice

Noncount
Noun

Count nouns are the names of objects that we can count.

They take singular or plural form.

Noncount nouns are the names of objects that we cannot

count.
They take only singular form and no a or an.

Common noncount nouns:

furniture

homework

mail

money

bread

milk

weather

music

information

soup

Choose and write. Use a / an with the count nouns.

desk

homework

bread

egg

music

water

class

letter

Noncount Nouns

Count Nouns

................................

....................................

................................

....................................

................................

....................................

................................

....................................

D. Articles: A/An and The

a

a pen
a book

a radio
a small umbrella

an

an orange
an old book

an egg
an umbrella

the

The blue cap is on the bed.

The Earth is round.

Article, a or an, means one thing.

Use it before a singular noun.
Put a before a consonant and an before a vowel.
Article, the, is used before nouns that are specific or
one and only.

Write a, an, the or . Write if a or an is not needed.

1 Amy has .................... cap and .................... hat. .................... cap is blue. .................... hat is yellow.
2 There is ................ milk and ................ cheese. ................ milk is white. ................. cheese is yellow.
3 It is .................... nice day. .................... sky is blue. .................... sun is bright.
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2. Grammar Practice
A Choose and write.

Common Nouns

Proper Nouns

planets

Earth
............................................................

..........................................................

holidays

...........................................................

.........................................................

weekdays

...........................................................

.........................................................

months

...........................................................

.........................................................

countries

...........................................................

.........................................................

names

...........................................................

.........................................................

schools

...........................................................

.........................................................

December
Saturday
New Years Day

Christmas
Mexico
Harvard

Singapore
Mars
Sam

Sunday
April
Seoul National University

Earth
Roger

B Write the correct plural form. Write if there is no plural form.

Singular

Plural

Singular

Plural

1 woman

women
.................................................

2 potato

.................................................

10 life

.................................................

3 sheep

.................................................

11 leaf

.................................................

4 notebook

.................................................

12 bench

.................................................

5 knife

.................................................

13 player

.................................................

6 lady

.................................................

14 sport

.................................................

7 furniture

.................................................

15 water

.................................................

8 tooth

.................................................

16 fish

.................................................

9 circle

.................................................

1 - Nouns and Articles

C Fill in the blanks. Use a, an or the.

1 A: I cant find my pen. Do you see it?

B: Its right there. Its on ....................... floor.

2 A: ....................... weather is so gray today.

B: I know. Where is ....................... sun?

3 A: Do you want ....................... egg for breakfast?

B: No, thank you. Ill just have ....................... glass of orange juice.
D Write the plural forms.

____________ are interesting __________! They cant fly

bird

Penguin

and they dont build ________. But they are excellent __________.
nest

swimmer

They eat __________ and plankton. ________ are very sociable.

Penguin

fish

They dont like to be alone. They live in large ___________. Most

colony

female penguins lay two ________ at a time and

egg

live for more than twenty _________.

year

3. Grammar Summary
Nouns
Common
Noun

Proper
Noun

Singular
Noun

Plural
Noun

Count
Noun

Noncount
Noun

city
mountain
whale

New York
Mt. Everest
Shamu

onion
potato
egg

onions
potatoes
eggs

letter
table
coin

mail
furniture
money

Articles
I have a blue pen and an orange pencil.

The sky is so gray. I dont see the sun.

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