- Look at the following sentences:
- Jack is boy.
- Tom is a boy.
- John is a boy.
- Dick is a boy.
- The word boy occurs in all the four sentences. It is a common name used for all the boys. But all boys have special names too. Jack, Tom, John and Dick are special names of these four boys.
- Pets and places also have special names. Cat and dog are common names used for all cats and dogs. But we often give special names to our pets:
1. My cat’s name is Silky.
2. I call my dog, Naughty.
- Jackie, Jimmy, Buddy, Molly, Rover, Rustam, Rosebud, Tiger, Pussy, Snowy, Snowball, Rocky, Jumbo, Appu, are some special names of our pets.
- Places also have both common and special names. The words village, city, town, country, school, college, hospital, park, street are common names. But India, Australia, Delhi, Aton School, Sony Hospital, White Park are special names of places.
- Similarly books, newspapers, magazines, days, months, festivals, institutions, companies, products etc. also have special names .The Bible, The Gita, Great Expectations, Harry Potter, The Times, Femina, Sunday, January, Christmas, Diwali, are all special names.
- These special names are called Proper Nouns and common names are called Common Nouns.
- Special names or Proper nouns always begin with a capital letter.
- Some examples:
- Susan is a good girl.
- Peter is a smart boy.
- Bombay is a big city.
- Jackie is my dog.
- Ganga is a holy river
- Femina is a woman’s magazine.
Susan, Peter, Bombay, Jackie, Ganga and Femina are Proper Nouns and girl, boy, city, dog, river, woman, magazine are Common Nouns.
- A Proper Noun is the special name of a particular person, place or thing.
- A Common Noun is a name given in common to all persons or things of the same class or kind.