Grammar Tips & Articles »

A Summary of the 10 Functions of Nouns

This Grammar.com article is about A Summary of the 10 Functions of Nouns — enjoy your reading!


2:54 min read
40,465 Views
  Ed Good  —  Grammar Tips
Font size:

Here they are again—the 10 functions of nouns.

1. Subjects of Sentences

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

2. Subject Complements (“Predicate Nouns” or “Predicate Nominatives”)

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

3. Direct Objects of Transitive Verbs

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

4. Objects of Verbal Phrases

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

5. Indirect Objects

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

6. Objects of Prepositions

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

7. Noun Appositives

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

8. Noun Modifiers

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

9. Noun Adverbs

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his students feverishly taking notes on all he said.

10. Noun Absolutes

The professor, John Smith, is the noun expert, so yesterday he gave the class his views on the importance of learning to write papers clearly, his studentsfeverishly taking notes on all he said.

Those are the 10 biggies. You must know them cold. You must be able to take any sentence, identify all nouns in the sentence, and specify the function each noun serves.

As you can see, the noun does some heavy lifting in our language. In fact, when coupled with the verb, the noun reveals our main idea to our readers. It makes a great deal of sense to use the noun to communicate noun-like information, doesn’t it?

But would it make much sense to use the noun to communicate verb-like information? Especially when we have the verb sitting there—ready, willing, and able to do the job?

In the Grammar eBook Developing a Powerful Writing Style, we’ll learn about the superiority of the verb form and see how verb-based prose becomes the style of choice of writing pros.

Now let’s move on to the most important word in the English language, the verb.

Hard Copy

You may download our entire discussion of the Parts of Speech. Simply download the Grammar eBook Understanding the Parts of Speech.

 

Previous: Noun Function 10 - Noun Absolutes

Next: Verbs - Definition, Overview, and Lists of Examples

Rate this article:

Have a discussion about this article with the community:

1 Comment
  • blackfrom22
    An awesome explanation of noun functions is provided by grammar.com
    LikeReply1 month ago

Citation

Use the citation below to add this article to your bibliography:

Style:MLAChicagoAPA

"A Summary of the 10 Functions of Nouns." Grammar.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 29 Mar. 2024. <https://www.grammar.com/a-summary-of-the-10-functions-of-nouns>.

Free, no signup required:

Add to Chrome

Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

Free, no signup required:

Add to Firefox

Check your text and writing for style, spelling and grammar problems everywhere on the web!

Browse Grammar.com

Free Writing Tool:

Instant
Grammar Checker

Improve your grammar, vocabulary, and writing -- and it's FREE!


Quiz

Are you a grammar master?

»
Identify the sentence with correct use of the future perfect tense:
A We will be finishing our meal by the time they arrive.
B They have been working on the project for weeks.
C By next year, she will have completed her degree.
D She finished her book before the movie started.

Improve your writing now:

Download Grammar eBooks

It’s now more important than ever to develop a powerful writing style. After all, most communication takes place in reports, emails, and instant messages.