Common and Proper Nouns — Answer Key
Part A: Multiple Choice
Circle the best answer for each question.
1. Which group of words are ALL proper nouns?
A) dog, cat, fish
B) Monday, Texas, Sarah
C) school, park, lake
D) happy, tall, fast
Monday, Texas, and Sarah are all proper nouns because they name specific things.
2. Which sentence has a capitalization mistake?
A) I love my dog Rover.
B) We went to the store.
C) My friend lives on maple Street.
D) She visited New York City.
The word 'maple' should be capitalized as 'Maple' because Maple Street is a proper noun.
3. The word "hospital" is a common noun. Which of these is its proper noun form?
A) Hospitals
B) A Hospital
C) St. Mary Hospital
D) the big hospital
St. Mary Hospital is a proper noun because it is the specific name of one hospital.
4. Which pair shows a common noun and its matching proper noun?
A) run — running
B) ocean — Pacific
C) big — bigger
D) happy — sad
Ocean is a common noun and Pacific is its matching proper noun because it names one specific ocean.
Part B: Fill in the Blank
Write the correct answer on each line.
1. "Maple Street" is a proper noun, but "street" alone is a common noun.
Street by itself is a common noun because it names any street, not a specific one.
2. The proper noun for the common noun "state" could be Texas.
Texas is a proper noun because it is the name of one specific state.
3. When writing a person's name, the first letter must be capitalized.
A person's name is a proper noun, so the first letter must be capitalized.
4. The word "Pacific" is a proper noun that names a specific ocean.
Pacific is a proper noun that names one specific ocean.
5. Proper nouns for days include Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday.
Wednesday is a proper noun because it is the specific name of a day of the week.