Nine Noun Functions

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Nine Noun Functions
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• A NOUN is a part of speech. It can
  FUNCTION in 9 different ways. (PRONOUNS stand in
  the place of nouns can function any way a noun
  can.)

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• Subject
• The subject USUALLY does the action
• John ran away from the monster.
• Five days a week my mother dusts.
• Nearing the yellow light, the driver sped up.
• Its not fair! shouted John.
• Note that occasionally, as in d, the subject can
  follow the verb.
• Sometimes the subject receives the action.
  Thats whats called a passive voice sentence.
  There will always be a form of to be
  (is,are,was,were,be) a past participle (jumped,
  laughed, eaten, spoken, sung, frozen, etc.)
• The song was sung a capella.
• The book was written in 1988.
• John was hit in the head.

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• 2. Direct Object
• A direct object follows the verb receives its
  action. It answers the question what or
  whom
• John threw the ball. (Threw what?)
• Tomorrow morning Elisa will meet your sister.
  (Meet whom?)
• We helped him with his homework. (Helped whom?)
• He doesnt understand anything about what he just
  read. (Understand what? Anything is a pronoun.)
• While hiking, Alicia found a silver bracelet.

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Identify all the SUBJECTS DIRECT OBJECTS in
this excerpt from Harry Potter the Chamber of
Secrets.

• October arrived and spread a damp chill over
  the grounds and into the castle. Madam Pomfrey,
  the nurse, was kept busy by a sudden spate of
  colds among the staff and students. Her Pepperup
  potion worked instantly, though it left the
  drinker smoking at the ears for several hours
  afterward. Ginny Weasley, who had been looking
  pale, was bullied into taking some by Percy. The
  steam pouring from under her vivid hair gave the
  impression that her whole head was on fire.
• Raindrops the size of bullets thundered on the
  castle windows for days on end the lake rose,
  the flower beds turned into muddy streams, and
  Hagrid's pumpkins swelled to the size of garden
  sheds. Oliver Wood's enthusiasm for regular
  training sessions, however, was not dampened,
  which was why Harry was to be found, late one
  stormy Saturday afternoon a few days before
  Halloween, returning to Gryffindor Tower,
  drenched to the skin and splattered with mud.
• Even aside from the rain and wind it hadn't been
  a happy practice session. Fred and George, who
  had been spying on the Slytherin team, had seen
  for themselves the speed of those new Nimbus Two
  Thousand and Ones. They reported that the
  Slytherin team was no more than seven greenish
  blurs, shooting through the air like missiles.

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• 3. Indirect Object
• The indirect object follows the verb answers
  to/for whom. (It can also be to/for what, but
  its usually to/for whom.) The indirect object
  is frequently a pronoun.
• John gave me the money. (to whom?)
• Elisa sent John a letter. (to whom?)
• Addison bought Alex a car. (for whom?)

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• 4. Predicate Nominative (Predicate Noun)
• A predicate nominative follows the verb renames
  the subject.
• John is a student.
• A Christmas Carol is a good book.
• Elisa became a lawyer.
• Addison will be an excellent surgeon.
• Emory is a private university.

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• Object of a Preposition
• Prepositions are words that link the rest of the
  sentence to their object. English is full of
  them of, near, after, before, from, to, through,
  under, over, across, withto name a few. A
  preposition has to have an object, the object
  is a noun or pronoun.
• He left after class.
• I work with your friend.
• My best friend lives across the street.
• Over the river through the woods to
  Grandmothers house we go.

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• 6. Appositive
• An appositive follows a noun renames it.
• My sister Rita lives in Virginia.
• The book Im reading, The Scarlet Letter, is set
  in the U.S.
• I met my friend Helene last year.

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• Objective Complement
• An objective complement renames the direct
  object. It can be distinguished from an
  appositive (which can rename ANY noun) by
  determining if the words to be can be inserted
  before it.
• We elected Obama (to be) president.
• I consider him (to be) my brother.
• He saw my sister Rita yesterday.
• Rita in the last sentence is an appositive, not
  an objective complement, because you couldnt
  say, He saw my sister to be Rita yesterday.

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• 8. Retained Object
• A retained object follows a passive voice verb
  (to beis/are/was/were/be-- past participle)
• He was fed spinach. (Was fed what?)
• They were given a new kitten. (Were given what?)
• He was elected president. (Was elected what?)

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• 9. Noun of direct address
• You use a noun of direct address when talking to
  someone
• Juan, when are you going to leave?
• Mr. Smith, I havent finished the list.
• Professor Gellar, I need to turn in my paper late.

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• Traditionally, the following two usages arent
  considered functions of a noun because they are
  adjectives. But they are nouns that function as
  adjectives. If you study a foreign language,
  its helpful to know when its a noun were using
  as an adjective in English, because chances are a
  noun cant be used as an adjective in the
  language youre studying.
• I need a paint bucket.
• Give him that water glass.
• We also make nouns possessive so that they can
  function as adjectives
• I met your mothers friend.
• We saw the clowns face.

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• Go here for the assignment.
• Extra practice
• 1.http//www.softschools.com/quizzes/grammar/funct
  ions_of_nouns/quiz3150.html
• 2.http//www.grammaruntied.com/nouns/nounquiz1/Iqu
  izn.html
• 3.http//www.quia.com/quiz/814440.html
• 4.http//www.towson.edu/ows/exercisenoun_functions
  2.htm (In this one, subjective complement is
  the term used for a predicate nominative.)