Chapter III: Classification of Nouns

=6.= There are certain beings in the world that are called men, and certain other beings that are called horses, certain things that are called cities, and certain other things that are called rivers, hence the words _man_, _horse_, _city_, and _river_ are names, or nouns. Since these nouns belong in common to a great many individuals, we call them =common nouns=.

=7.= On the other hand, every man, every horse, every city, and every river is likely to have a _special_ name that distinguishes that particular man or horse or city or river from all others. _Cæsar_, _Gypsy_, _Denver_, and _Penobscot_ are such names. Since these names belong to only one thing instead of to a class of things, we call them =proper nouns=.

=8.= A common noun is a name that belongs to a person, a place, or a thing because of its nature or qualities. A boat is entitled to the name _boat_ because it has the characteristics of boats. A proper noun is a name conferred or given by some person, as when a certain boat was named by its owners _Westernland_.

It sometimes happens that the same name is conferred upon several objects. There is more than one city named Madison, more than one dog named Shep. Still these names are proper names, because they are names conferred upon a special city and a special dog to distinguish them from other cities and other dogs.

A proper noun always begins with a capital letter.

=9.= When a word denoting relationship, like _father_, _mother_, _uncle_, is used as the name of a particular person, it is a proper noun and should therefore begin with a capital letter; as, “Did Father say that Grandma and Auntie are coming?”

=10.= A title like _Colonel_, _Judge_, _Duke_, is a proper noun when it is used to denote a special person; as, “Thousands had gathered to welcome the Colonel home.” When such a word is the name of a class of persons, it is a common noun; as, “A new uniform was designed for the colonels.”

When a title is followed by another name, as, _Colonel Bouck_, _Judge Gary_, the two words are considered as one proper noun. In the same way, any group of two or more words forming one special name may be considered as one proper noun; as, _Liberty Bell_, _Bay of Biscay_, _Mountains of the Moon_. In such groups of words, each important word begins with a capital letter.

NOTE.—Names of qualities, conditions, or actions are often
called =abstract nouns=; as, _honesty_, _power_, _boyhood_, the
_passing_ of the train, sound _thinking_, _suspense_.

=Summary.=—A =common noun= is a noun that belongs in common to each one of a class of persons, places, or things.

A =proper noun= is a name that has been conferred upon a particular person, place, or thing.

Every proper noun should begin with a capital letter.

=Exercise.=—Select all the nouns in the following sentences, and tell whether they are common or proper nouns. Give your reason in each case. Account for the capitalization.

1. The Bermudas are a cluster of small islands, lying as far
south as Charleston, as far east as Nova Scotia.

2. Hotel Hamilton is a large, commodious building with many
pillars and broad verandas.

3. The _Tenedos_ is lying off Grassy Bay, making herself fine
to receive the Princess Louise, and her jolly tars are in high
spirits.

4. On the Sunday of the christening, Mrs. Howe and her children
watched the merrymaking in Poverty Lane from a second story
window.

5. Where was Prospero’s cell? Where slept the fair Miranda?
Upon what bank sat Ferdinand when Ariel sang?

6. The Duluth High School is a fine structure built of red
sandstone.

7. The _Deliverance_ was a ship of eighty tons.

8. Old Lobo, or the King, as the Mexicans called him, was the
gigantic leader of a remarkable pack of gray wolves, that had
ravaged the Currumpaw Valley for a number of years.

9. About this time I met with an odd volume of the _Spectator_.

10.

Wynken, Blynken, and Nod one night
Sailed off in a wooden shoe.

11. Let us all go to the station Monday to meet Uncle.

12.

The cows were coming one by one;
Brindle, Ebony, Speckle, and Bess,
Shaking their horns in the evening wind.

13. Gunpowder had been a favorite steed of his master’s, the
choleric Van Ripper, who was a furious rider.

14. Upstream, at the bend of the sluggish pool round the Peace
Rock, stood Hathi, the wild elephant, with his sons, gaunt and
gray in the moonlight.

15. In his eighth year Charles Lamb entered Christ’s Hospital,
a famous school in London.

It is evident from this exercise that several different sorts of things, as hotels, streets, books, and ships, may have special names conferred upon them. Think of ten other things that may have special names, and write two names for each one.