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Common and Proper Nouns — Answers

Answer sheet with model answers and success criteria for the Year 3 nouns worksheet.

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Year 3 · English · Nouns

Common and Proper Nouns — Answers

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Part A — Spot the noun type

A common noun names any person, place or thing (dog, city). A proper noun names a particular one and starts with a capital letter (Rex, Melbourne). Circle the correct answer.

1.Which word is a proper noun?
  1. Acity
  2. BSydney
  3. Cbuilding
  4. Driver

Answer: Sydney

Sydney names one particular city, so it is a proper noun and needs a capital letter.

2.Which word is a common noun?
  1. AMonday
  2. BEmma
  3. Cteacher
  4. DAustralia

Answer: teacher

'teacher' names a kind of person, not one particular person.

3.Which word is a proper noun?
  1. Adog
  2. Bpark
  3. CSaturday
  4. Dball

Answer: Saturday

Days of the week are proper nouns.

4.Which word is a common noun?
  1. ABrisbane
  2. BJanuary
  3. CMrs Lee
  4. Dschool

Answer: school

'school' is a general word for a kind of place.

Part B — Fix the capital letters

Rewrite each sentence with capital letters where they belong. Hint: look for names of people, places, days and months.

5.my friend liam lives in perth.

Answer: My friend Liam lives in Perth.

Liam and Perth are proper nouns. 'My' starts the sentence.

6.we visited the great barrier reef in july.

Answer: We visited the Great Barrier Reef in July.

Place names and months are proper nouns.

7.on tuesday, mr khan read us a book about egypt.

Answer: On Tuesday, Mr Khan read us a book about Egypt.

Days, titles with names, and countries are proper nouns.

8.the cat sat on the mat.

Answer: The cat sat on the mat.

No proper nouns here — only the first word needs a capital.

Part C — Match them up

9.Match each common noun to a proper noun of the same kind.
  • country
  • girl
  • day
  • city
  • month
  • Olivia
  • Adelaide
  • Australia
  • March
  • Friday

Answer: country → Australia; girl → Olivia; day → Friday; city → Adelaide; month → March

Part D — Your turn

10.Write two sentences about your weekend. Use at least one proper noun and one common noun in each sentence. Underline the proper nouns.

Model answer: On Saturday I went to the beach with Dad. (Saturday = proper noun; beach, Dad as a name = Dad is used as a name here so it is capitalised.)

Success criteria:

  • Two complete sentences
  • At least one proper noun per sentence, with a capital letter
  • At least one common noun per sentence
  • Proper nouns underlined
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Marking tips

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