What Are Proper Nouns And How Do You Use Them?

What Are Proper Nouns? (with Examples)

As you usually know, a noun is a word that refers to a person, place, thing and idea. In English, there are different types of nouns that we use to describe all the people and things around us. When we want to refer to a specific person or thing we use a special noun known as a proper noun. You've usually used a lot of proper nouns in your life, even if you don't know what they're called. As you will soon learn, proper nouns are a special type of noun, so we should give them the attention they deserve and learn more about them.

What is a Proper Noun?

Proper nouns have two distinct characteristics; They name a specific type of item, and begin with a capital letter wherever they appear in the sentence. Here, we'll take a closer look at proper nouns, providing examples of proper nouns. I'll even help you learn how to use a proper noun correctly.

Remember that all nouns are words that name people, animals, places, things, and ideas. Each noun can be classified as more common or proper. It's easy to differentiate once you've seen some examples and come up with a few of your own.

What are Common and Proper Nouns?

In English, every noun is a proper noun. Common nouns are nouns that refer to a class or group of similar people, animals, places, things, and ideas. Some examples of common nouns include:

In the English language, every noun fits either a 'proper noun' or a 'common noun'. Let's take a look at both and uncover the differences between them with some examples.

Common nouns always refer to a 'class' or 'group' of similar objects, animals, places, etc Some examples of common nouns include:

• girl
• city
• cat
• company
• Spaceship

Proper nouns always refer to a specific member:

• Jane
• Madrid
• Tommy’s Cat
• Tesla Cars

In addition to naming one-of-a-kind items, the other key feature that distinguishes proper nouns from common nouns is that they must always begin with a capital letter, regardless of where they appear in a sentence.

Proper Noun Examples

We use proper nouns to refer to a wide variety of different things. Let's explore some of the different things and use the correct nouns to refer to.

People and animals
The names of specific people and animals in any sentence or word are called proper nouns. This applies to both real and imaginary people and animals. For example, the names Michael Curie and Alexander are both proper nouns.

It seems simple enough but capitalization can often be difficult when using the correct noun. With names, titles are capitalized only when used with a specific person's name. For example, the captain's name is correctly capitalized in the sentence The pirates were led by Captain Cutlass. However, the sentence The pirates drank grog with their Captain has the wrong capitalization because captain is not a proper noun.

Registers and other unimportant words are also not usually capitalized when referring to the names and titles of specific people and animals. You can see this in proper nouns like John the Baptist or Richard, Duke of York.

Places

Specific place names are also proper nouns. For example, the words Florida and British Columbia are proper nouns and the words state and province are not. As with names, don't capitalize articles or unimportant words in place names: You swim in the Pacific Ocean and go to the United States (not).

Things

Proper nouns can also refer to things. Figuring out which things in particular are proper nouns can be difficult. Remember, proper nouns specify and refer to unique things. Thus, Jupiter (a specific planet), Friday (a specific day of the week), and Muslim (a specific religion) are proper nouns. However, titles and names of creative works are also proper nouns. For example, Jon Players is a proper noun when referring to a painting by the artist Jean-Michel Basquiat.

However, seasons and cardinal directions are not proper nouns and therefore are not capitalized without part of a name. For example, I drove 500 miles north during the summer. The words summer and north are not proper nouns in this sentence, but they are capitalized when used in nouns, as in the sentence I drove to North Dakota for the Summer of Fun Festival.

Here are English Grammatical rules this link.

More Examples of Proper Noun:

1. My name is Ismail.
2. His name is Dinash Kartik.
3. London is a big city.
4. Olivia is a very good girl.
5. John lives in UK.
6. He works for Sony.
7. Let’s go to United Kingdom.
8. Neymar is an excellent player.
9. He was born in Australia.
10. I got accepted to WTO.
11. Usain Bolt is not a fasted sprinter.
12. I have to work on Sunday.
13. Merry and Sophia are close friends.
14. Albert Einstein was born in Africa.
15. My favourite operating system is Nokia.
16. My best friends are called Alex and Amelia.
17. Viral Kohli plays for Bangalore in IPL.
18. My favorite cartoon character is Tom & Jerry.
19. Doctor Michel took care of my broken hand.
20. Do you not think the KKR will win the game?
21. Sharmila never goes anywhere without the Fantasy Kingdom.

Test Your Knowledge on Proper Nouns

Capitalize the correct nouns in the following sentences:

1. Did you meet smith yesterday?
2. The manager took us all to kfc for dinner today.
3. Have you read about the Alexander?
4. I wish I had a holiday on sunday.
5. Jerry picked up the regional language, london, sooner than we all thought she would.
6. When did Sunita reach home last night?
7. It is too sultry in the month of june.
8. I told mom about your final results.
9. I think the new girl is from south africa.
10. My dad bought me a gucci bag for my birthday.

Now, check if everything is ok.

1. Did you meet Smith yesterday?
2. The manager took us all to KFC for dinner today.
3. Have you read about the Alexander?
4. I wish I had a holiday on Sunday.
5. Jerry picked up the regional language, London, sooner than we all thought she would.
6. When did Sunita reach home last night?
7. It is too sultry in the month of June.
8. I told Mom about your final results.
9. I think the new girl is from South Africa.
10. My brother bought me a Gucci bag for my birthday.

Short A Video Summary

For a good understanding, watch this video on chapters, What Are Proper Nouns? And How To Use It? Then it will help to understand the matter more are rules of Proper Nouns.