SworDGrammar School

Continuation

INCORRECT USE OF NOUN.

      Noun is an essential part of our daily speech whether written or verbal but most times, they are being used incorrectly. Here, we look at few ways noun is being used wrongly.

Noun and capital letter.
- All proper nouns indicating the name of a person and place, starts with capital letter.
Examples:
1.Williams not williams.
2. Abuja not abuja.

-Start the name of months and week days with capital letter.
Examples:
1. January not january
2. Monday not monday

- Start the title of a person with capital letter.
Examples:
1. The Principal not The principal.
2. Queen of England not queen of england.

-Write the first letter of seasons and holidays in capital letter.
Examples:
1. Winter not winter.
2. Christmas not christmas

-Write the main words of poem, drama, articles, journals titles  with capital letter.
Examples:
1. Women of Owu not women of owu
2. The Lord of the Flies not the lord of the flies

Noun with singular and plural.
- In noun, countable nouns usually go with plurals.
Examples: pen- pens, book-books.
If what you are talking or writing about what is more than one, it should be in plural form. To know more on plural form, look at the last lesson. A book for one book. Two books not two book.

-Uncountable nouns does not take plural form. Examples: Cattle, furniture, mischief, filth, woodwork, machinery, hair.

- Some uncountable now can take plural form when we have different varieties. Example: Rice, corn, fish, water.

Noun and determiner agreement
Determiners are in singular and plural.
-The singular determiner goes with singular noun.
1. A or an goes with countable singular noun. A book, an orange. Never say, a books or an oranges.
A goes with nouns that start with consonants. E.g. A book, a car, a house.
An goes with nouns that start with vowels. E.g. An orange, an umbrella.

2. This and that goes with singular noun.
Examples:
I. This pen not this pens
II. That man not that men.

-The plural determiner goes with plural noun. When you are referring to a noun more than one you use plural determiners.
1. These or those goes with plural noun.
Examples:
I. These books are mine
    Not this books are mine or these book are mine.
II. Those men are dancing,
     not, those man are dancing or that men are dancing.

2. Many and much goes with plural noun. Many goes with countable nouns, many oranges. Much with uncountable noun, much money.

Noun and verb
This is one place many people miss it. They use noun with verb wrongly. For a sentence to make sense, there must be verb noun agreement.
- Singular nouns go with verbs with -s.
Examples:
I. Ade goes to school. Not Ade go to school.
II. The tree moves from side to side. Not, the tree move from side to side.

2. A plural noun goes  with a plural base verb without -s.
Examples:
I. The trees move from side to side. Not, the trees moves from side to side.
2. They dance like no other. Not they dances like no other.

You must always be careful with the use of noun in a sentence so they do not make a mess of your speech or writings.