Editing for Noun-related Errors | Douglas College Library

Noun Functions

Nouns are the core of the sentence. Once you understand how nouns work, you can then identify and edit for errors like articles, subject-verb agreement, singular/plurals, and gerunds.

NOUN: A person, place, thing, or idea

A noun often comes before a verb (subject)

Children play.

A noun often comes after a determiner like "a", "the", "some", 'his", "our", or "this".

The dog barked.

A noun can come after an adjective.

The angry dog barked.

A noun can come after a verb (object of the verb)

The girl gave cookies to her friend.

A noun comes after a preposition (object of preposition)

She keeps papers in boxes.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with word form.

Suffixes

Suffixes are the endings on words. For example, the underlined parts of the following words are suffixes.

tasteless
difference
categorize
sadly

The suffix controls the part of speech. For example, the following words all come from the root word "create". Notice the part of speech of each word.

create	verb
creative	adjective
creation	noun
creatively	adverb

Like the example creative, most words ending in –ive are adjectives.

Like the example creation, most words ending in –tion are nouns.

Like the example creatively, most words ending in –ly are adverbs.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with word form.

Common Noun Suffixes and Examples

Suffix	Examples of nouns
-age	advantage, average, usage
-al	funeral, ritual, animal
-ance/-ence	advance, chance, absence, evidence
-dom	boredom, fandom, wisdom
-ee	coffee, degree, employee
-er/-or	foreigner, employer, animator, advisor
-hood	sisterhood, parenthood, womanhood
-ism	criticism, activism, feminism
-ist	feminist, activist, realist
-ity/-ty	ability, activity, nationality
-ment	amusement, judgment, comment
-ness	happiness, handiness, harmlessness
-ry	rivalry, battery, eatery
-ship	friendship, citizenship, ownership
-sion/-tion	collision, ambition, connection

Types of Noun Errors

Many errors in ESL writing are caused by the challenges of using nouns correctly, so fixing noun errors often leads to fixing other errors in writing.

Can you find the errors in the following sentences?

I'll be busy doing some homeworks this weekend.
He is seven foot tall.
Children need sleep every day; sleep helps the child play.
I remember an advice my boss gave me.
I'm applying to nursing program.
The library lend laptops to students.

Exercise:

Can you fix these sentences? Use the information in the neighbouring boxes to help you.

Answers:

I'll be busy doing some homeworks this weekend.
He is seven foot feet tall.
Children need sleep every day; sleep helps ~~the child~~ children play.
I remember an the advice my boss gave me.
I'm applying to the nursing program.
The library lends laptops to students.

Noun Problems

As you edit your writing, you need to check for four noun problems:

1. Check each noun to decide if it is countable or uncountable.

2. Check if it should be plural or singular.

3. Check for consistency of plural/singular usage.

4. Check that each singular noun has a determiner.

5. Check that singular subjects agree with present tense verbs.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Plural or Singular?

If you decide a noun should be plural, make sure it has a plural form:

Add an “s” for most nouns. For example:

"books," "students," "cultures," "recipes"

Irregular nouns have irregular plural forms:

“people,” “children,” “feet,” and “women”

Useful Advice:

Plural nouns lead to fewer errors, so make your nouns plural whenever possible.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Countable or Uncountable?

ESL students often have trouble with two kinds of uncountable nouns:

“Group” or “category” words, such as equipment, furniture, grammar, research, vocabulary, garbage, and advice are difficult to learn. To learn more about these words, please check the More Resource tab to the left.

Abstract words that can be countable in some situations but uncountable in other situations (such as “culture,” “society,” and “experience”) are also difficult. Often, it is safe to treat these words as uncountable nouns.

However, the most convenient step to take when you are not sure is to look up the word in a good learners’ dictionary (ESL dictionary) to find out when the word is used in a countable way and when it is used in an uncountable way. A good online dictionary is: www.ldoceonline.com

Another good editing step is to ask a native speaker how to use any specific abstract word you are not sure how to use. When editing, remember that uncountable nouns are treated as singular nouns for subject verb agreement and for pronoun reference.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Plural/Singular Consistency

A frequent error in ESL writing is a switch between plural and singular meanings of the same noun in sentences and paragraphs. Therefore, if there are nouns at the beginning of a sentence that are plural, make sure the same nouns later in the sentence are plural.

Example with weak plural/singular consistency:

Students should read the textbook before class. This preparation helps the student understand the lecture better.

Revised sentence with improved plural consistency:

Students should read their textbooks before their classes. This preparation helps students understand their lectures better.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Singlular Nouns Must Have Determiners

As you carefully check your nouns to decide if they are plural, singular, or uncountable, you also need to make sure each singular noun has the correct grammar in the words around it. Because plural nouns lead to fewer errors, it is safest to use plural nouns whenever possible.

With singular nouns, you need to check for two kinds of problems:

Determiners/Articles
- Missing determiners when you have singular nouns is a common problem. The articles a, an, and the are three possible determiners you can use.
- Plural and uncountable nouns sometimes have determiners and sometimes they don’t. However, all singular nouns must have determiners.
- The rule is simple: If a noun is singular, it must have a determiner. (The only exceptions are proper nouns or names, such as Vancouver, India, and Mr. Smith)
Determiners can be classified as:
- “th” specifiers (the, this, that)
- possessive specifiers (my, your, her, his, Mary’s, etc.)
- quantifiers (a/an, one, any, each, every, either, neither, no, etc.)

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Subjects Must Agree with Verbs

Another singular noun error is subject/verb agreement. This error is a concern primarily in present tense sentences because agreement errors seldom happen in other tenses (the only exception is past tense “be” verbs -> was, were).

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Noun Position in a Sentence

Understanding how a noun functions in a sentence helps understand how to use it.

Can you explain the function of the bolded nouns that are used in the following sentences?

She loves her cat.
After dinner, Kathy often has a smoke.
He gave John the key to the office.
John is a good boy.
John, Kathy's brother, is in the living room.
After the flood, people went back to their homes.

Noun Position Based on Usage

The majority of noun errors are caused by the incorrect positioning of nouns in a sentence. What influences the position of nouns? Their position changes based on the function the noun takes in a sentence.

SUBJECT
This is a noun followed by a verb.

The Learning Centre provides free tutoring.

The Learning Centre is inside the library.

DIRECT OBJECT
This is a noun that receives the action of a transitive verb.

John drank a glass of milk.

John’s room has a musky scent.

INDIRECT OBJECT
This is a noun that precedes a direct object. It can be found by asking who or what received the direct object.

We can give him a card.

John sent his friend an envelope.

OBJECT OF PREPOSITION
This is a noun that follows a preposition.

John drank a glass of milk

Kathy works at the college.

PREDICTIVE NORMATIVE
This is a noun that follows a linking verb that restates or stands for the subject.

John’s sister is the leader of the group.

It was an apple.

APPOSITIVE
This is a noun that is located directly after the noun it identifies.

Kathy, John’s sister, is ten years old.

John is finishing his business assignment, a group project,

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with noun errors.

Matching Articles with Nouns

Can you find all the errors in the following sentences?

The cows are mammals.
Cat is sleeping on our porch.
Apples came from our neighbor next door.
Joe agreed to meet Hans at Vancouver Art Gallery.

Review the explanations in the neighbouring boxes for help. Then, complete this exercise.

Exercise:

Fix the 4 sentences above.

Answers:

~~The~~ Cows are mammals.
A cat is sleeping on our porch.
The apples came from our neighbor next door.
Joe agreed to meet Hans at The Vancouver Art Gallery.

Specific Nouns

Nouns that are specific need “the”. You need to learn when a noun is being used in a general or specific way.

	Countable		Uncountable
Specific	The		The
General	Singular	Plural	Ø
General	a/an	Ø	Ø

General means that we do not identify a specific object, person, place, or idea.

For example, the following sentence uses the word dogs in a general way:

Dogs can be noisy.

In other words, we are talking about any dogs in general, not about specific dogs, so no article is used. Notice that the plural word dogs takes no article at all. General plural and uncountable nouns shouldn't have an article in front. This rule is explained in more detail further down in the section titled “When to Ignore Plural and Uncountable Nouns”.

Specific means that we know which specific object, person, place, or idea the speaker/writer is talking about.

The following sentence specifies which dogs the writer is writing about:

The dogs next door are noisy.

Because we know which dogs are being discussed (the ones that are next door), the noun dogs is being used in a specific way.

English uses words called determiners to clarify whether something is specific or general. Determiners include words like this, that, my, you, and our. Articles are one kind of determiner, and “the” is the most common determiner that shows a noun is specific.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with articles.

Ways to Identify Specific Nouns

1. Grammatical Clues that help you identify nouns that are specific:

The words “which, that, whose, who, whom” often have the job of specifying a noun. Much like the determiners “this, these, those,” words like “which” and “that” identify which item we are talking about.
- The pen that you gave me isn’t working. Could you lend me another one?
  Because we know which pen the sentence is about, pen is specific, so we put “the” before it.
Prepositional Phrases that follow a noun, such as “by the window,” or “at 3 p.m. today”, also often help identify a noun that is specific.
- The chair by the window is the best place in the living room for sun.
- The meeting at 3 p.m. today is important for students who want to know about student loans.
When only one item fits the description:
1. For example, you use "the" if there is only one president of the college or of a country, one sun in our solar system, one kitchen in a house, and for the family car.
  the sun the president the kitchen
  In each of these kinds of cases, we use the specific article “the” because the writer and the reader know which specific item is being referred to.
2. Superlatives such as worst, best, fastest, slowest, most wonderful, least able take the specific article “the” because they refer to only one thing. Only one item can be the best; only one item can be the worst, so superlatives clarify that a noun is specific.
  The best experience I have had in Vancouver is . . .
  I think that the hardest assignment I still have to do is the history paper.
3. Ordinal numbers such as first, second, and third also make a noun specific because they refer to only one item, so they use the article “the” as well: e.g. the fourth page.

2. The second mention of a noun:

A good way to identify specific nouns is to pay attention to whether a noun has been mentioned before or not. Usually, when we use a common noun for the first time, we treat it as general, but after that, the noun is specific.

For example:

James bought some shoes. The shoes are made of black leather.

In the first sentence, "shoes" is general. The reader does not know which shoes James bought. However, by the second sentence, the reader knows which shoes we are talking about, the shoes that James bought yesterday, so shoes is now specific and requires the article “the.”

Sometimes the first mention of a something is not obvious. Look at this example:

My friend rented a new apartment. It’s nice, but the kitchen is very small.

In this example, "kitchen" is specific even though it was not mentioned before. However, if we use a which question (“Which kitchen is it?"), it’s clear that we know which kitchen is being discussed – the kitchen in the new apartment.

3. Substituting articles with other specific determiners:

One strategy for checking for and fixing article errors on specific nouns is to substitute other specific determiners for the article “the.” Determiners that specify include possessives (e.g. my, his, John’s) and demonstratives (e.g. this, that, those). You can see how this works in the following examples:

He bought shoes on Tuesday. The new shoes are black.

He bought shoes on Tuesday. His new shoes are black.

He bought shoes on Tuesday. These new shoes are black.

“His” and “These” do the same job as “the” to specify whose shoes we are talking about, so if you are not sure if a noun needs an article, or which article to choose for a noun, sometimes you can simply decide not to use an article and try to use another determiner (like “his” or “these” or “this”) instead. If you can use a specific determiner, you can probably use “the”.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with articles.

Singular Nouns

All singular nouns have articles.

Singular nouns are very important nouns to notice in your writing because they all have articles in front of them. When you edit your writing, look for any singular nouns that do not have articles; each of those nouns must have an article or a determiner.

If a singular noun is general, you must use “a” or “an.”

Look at the following example with the singular noun "course"

Wrong: She is taking course at Douglas College.

Correct: She is taking a course at Douglas College.

If a singular noun is specific, it must have the article “the” (or another specific determiner like this or that) in front of it, such as in the following example:

The price of the textbook for this course went up this term.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with articles.

When to Ignore Plural and Uncountable Nouns

Unlike the first two rules (that all “specific” nouns need articles and that all “singular” nouns need articles), all “general” nouns that are plural or uncountable do not take articles. These two concepts are explained briefly below.

General plural nouns do not need articles; only specific plural nouns need the article "the”.

What is the difference in the way the writer refers to “courses” in the two example below?

She is taking several courses.

The accounting courses that she is taking at Douglas College are transferable to other universities.

In the first example above, we don’t know which courses she is taking, so there is no article; however, as soon as we specify which courses she is taking in the second example, the specific article “the” must be added.

General uncountable nouns do not need articles; only specific uncountable nouns need “the”.

Uncountable nouns are materials, concepts, or categories that are not counted in English. Please see the "More Resources" tab on the left for a list of common uncountable nouns in English.

What is the difference in the way the writer refers to "water" in the two examples below?

We should drink water as part of a healthy lifestyle.

The water from all the colleges drinking fountains is filtered.

In the first example above, the author is referring to drinking water in general.

In the second example above, the author is referring to a specific water source (around the campus).

To learn to use articles correctly, it is important for you to learn to recognize the difference between countable and uncountable nouns because uncountable nouns can easily be confused with singular nouns.

If you are unsure about the difference between countable and uncountable nouns, you can use an English learners’ dictionary (https://www.ldoceonline.com) to look up any noun that you are not sure about. A tutor can show you how to do this. Instead of using a dictionary, you can also ask a native speaker.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with articles.

Articles with Proper Nouns

The distinction between common and proper nouns is important when you edit for articles because, in most cases, proper nouns do not need articles.

Common nouns are nouns that are not formal names, such as girl, school, city, and superhero.

We do not capitalize the first letter of common nouns. Many common nouns need articles.

Proper nouns are names of people, places, things, and ideas, such as Mary, Douglas College, Vancouver, and Superman.

The first letter in these names is always capitalized, so proper nouns are easy to identify.

In the following example, you can see that city names, street names and people’s names do not usually require articles.

Jennifer agreed to meet Mary at Stanley Park in Vancouver.

However, sometimes proper nouns must take the article “the”, such as in the following example:

Jennifer agreed to meet Mary at the Fraser River Park.

Below you will find some of the rules that can help you identify which proper nouns must take the article “the”.

Rule #1: If the word of is part of the name, you need to use the.

For example,

we say:

the University of British Columbia,

but we say:

Simon Fraser University.

In this example, the preposition “of” helps specify which university we are talking about (of British Columbia).

Rule #2: Place names that are plural usually use the.

For example,

we say:

the Philippines

but we say:

Canada.

We also say:

the Rocky Mountains

but we say:

Whistler Mountain.

Rule #3: When a place name includes geographical words like ocean, sea, gulf, peninsula, river and desert, we use the. However, place names with some other geographical words like lake, mountain, bay, hill, island and park do not use an article if they are singular.

For example:

Use the: No article:

The Pacific Ocean Cultus Lake

The Caspian Sea Grouse Mountain

The Persian Gulf English Bay

The Sinai Peninsula Beacon Hill

The Fraser River Vancouver Island

The Gobi Desert Stanley Park

Rule #4: When a place name is the name of a geographical region, we use the.

For example, we say:

the Middle East

the Prairies

the North

Rule #5: Names of organizations often need the.

For example, we say:

the World Health Organization

the Supreme Court

the Vancouver Art Gallery

the New Westminster Public Library

the Coquitlam Chamber of Commerce

the National Hockey League

the Conservative Party

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with articles.

Matching Verb Form with Subject

Can you find all the errors in the following sentences?

She always take her textbook to class.
Soda and milk is high in calcium.
Oxidation make cut apples turn brown.
Research have the purpose of giving support to theory.
This information do not support our conclusion.

Answers:

She always takes her textbook to class.
Soda and milk are high in calcium.
Oxidation makes cut apples turn brown.
Research has the purpose of giving support to theory.
This information does not support our conclusion.

The subject of a verb affects the verb

When should you add an “s” to the end of a verb? This is a Subject-Verb Agreement issue, and errors with agreement happen most often because of this missing “s”.

Many English language learners struggle with knowing which verbs need to finish with an “s” mostly because the “s” is not needed in most verb tenses, and it’s only needed in one situation in the present tense.

However, it is important to learn where to include the “s” at the end of a verb for at least two reasons:

this one situation occurs frequently in academic English
the missing “s” quickly marks students as non-native English speakers

The only situation where a verb needs to finish with an “s” is:

present tense
3^d person singular

Simple Present Tense:

Person	Singular		Plural
1^st	I	walk	we	walk
2^nd	you	walk	you	walk
3^d	he/she/it	walks	they	walk

Notice that, when the subject is he, she or it, the verb needs a final “s”. The same is true when the subject is a singular noun such as Cathy, the mayor, poverty, or Vancouver.

The mayor chairs city hall meetings. She follows an agenda.

The research demonstrates that . . . . It adds support to . . . .

The field of anthropology studies . . . . It explore . . . .

3^d person present tense verbs appear frequently in academic writing because they give facts, and present information.

One exception to the “s” rule above is the “be” verb (am, are, is, was, were) because it has irregular spelling changes. Look at the present and past tense charts below for the verb “be” to notice that the spelling changes happen for 1^st, 2^nd, and 3^dperson in past and present tense.

Simple Past Tense:

Person	Singular		Plural
1^st	I	was	we	were
2^nd	you	were	you	were
3^d	he/she/it	was	they	were

Simple Present Tense:

Person	Singular		Plural
1^st	I	am	we	are
2^nd	you	are	you	are
3^d	he/she/it	is	they	are

You can find more information and practice with Subject-verb agreement links in the More Resources tab to the left.

Complication with Subject/Verb Agreement

Things that confuse writers about subject/verb agreement include:

The subject doesn’t look plural, but it is.
The subject is a noun we don’t count.
Words come between the subject and the verb.
The subject is a word like who, which, or that.
The verb comes before the subject.
The subject is an indefinite pronoun like each, anybody or both.

Each of these is explained here.

1. The subject doesn’t look plural, but it is

Usually plural nouns in English have an “s” or “es” on the end. However, some plural words do not end in “s”.

For example: people, children, sheep and mice.

So, the subject is treated like they.

The question to ask yourself is, “Am I talking about one thing or more than one thing?”

In the example below, you are writing about more than one child.

Most children love chocolate.

Most children can be replaced by they. Therefore, the verb does not get an “s”.

2. The subject is a noun we don’t count

In English, some nouns are not counted.

For example, we don’t count water, happiness or gold.

We might count glasses of water or litres of water, but we don’t count the water itself.

We cannot say one water or two waters.

When we use non-count nouns, we treat the subject as singular.

For example, we might say,

Water is a precious natural resource.

Water in this sentence can be replaced by it, so we treat water as a singular subject.

3. Words come between the subject and the verb

Sometimes people get confused about the subject of a verb. This often happens when other words come between the subject and the verb.

Look at these examples. Which one is correct?

a) The potatoes in the fridge are left over from last night.

b) The potatoes in the fridge is left over from last night.

To decide on the correct verb form, you need to decide which noun is the true subject. The potatoes or the fridge? Clearly, it is the potatoes.

The correct answer is a)

The words in the fridge are between the subject and the verb.

The potatoes (in the fridge) are left over from last night

When you check for subject/verb agreement errors, you need to ask yourself, “What is the true subject of this verb?” It is a mistake to only look at the noun that comes before the verb.

4. The subject is a word like who, which or that

Look at the following example.

S1 V2 S2 V2
These courses are not for people who hate writing.

This sentence has two verbs. The first verb is are. The subject of are is these courses. The second verb is hate. The subject of hate is who, which refers to people.

Now look at the next example.
S1 V1 S2 V2
She met a man who works for the phone company.

5. The verb comes before the subject

When the verb comes before the subject, some people get confused about subject/verb agreement.

Look at the following sentences.

In the corner of the living room are two porcelain dogs.

There is a stain on the carpet.

Why are Paul and Simon so tired?

In each of these sentences, the verb comes before the subject. The first step in deciding on the agreement is to find the verb in each sentence. To find the subject, ask yourself a who or what question about the sentence.

For example, you might ask:

“Who or what are in the corner of the living room?”

The answer is two porcelain dogs. Therefore, two china dogs is the subject of the verb.If there was only one porcelain dog, look what would happen to the sentence.

In the corner of the living room is one porcelain dog.

6. The subject is an indefinite pronoun like each, anybody or both

Most indefinite pronouns are treated as singular nouns.

They include: one, anyone, everyone, someone, nobody, anybody, everybody, somebody, nothing, anything, everything, something, each, either and neither

For example, we say:

Everybody is coming at 6:00.

The only indefinite pronoun that we treat as plural is both.

For example, we say:

Both are late for class.

You can find more information and practice checking for subject-verb agreement errors in the More Resources tab to the left.

Proofreading for Subject-Verb Agreement

Subject-verb agreement is an issue that should not concern you while you are writing a paragraph or essay.

Instead, you should leave concerns about subject-verb agreement until the editing or proofreading stage of writing.

Even good writers have subject-verb agreement problems in their writing. After they have completed a draft, they need to go back and check their writing for subject-verb agreement problems.

You can find more information and practice with Subject-verb agreement in the More Resources tab to the left.

Verbs Used as Nouns

Can you explain the word form of these red words?

My neighbour let me use his pool.
To write is to express your thoughts physically.
Dancing is my favorite pastime.

Answers:

My neighbour let me use his pool. (bare infinitive)
To write is to express your thoughts physically. (infinitive)
Dancing is my favorite pastime. (gerund)

Infinitive

The formula

An infinitive almost always begins with to and is followed by the base form of the verb.

To + Verb = Infinitive

Examples: to dance, to jump, to run, to go, to give, to swim, to skip

Usage

The infinitive form is a verb used as a noun, adjective, or adverb.

Infinitive used as a subject noun.

To stay healthy is my goal.

What’s the subject of this sentence?

It’s to stay healthy, because to stay is functioning as a noun in the sentence above.

Infinitive used as an object noun.

John refused to remember.

What’s the function of to remember in this sentence?

It’s a noun, because to remember is the direct object of the verb refused.

Infinitive used as an adjective.

John always carries a bottle of water to drink when he’s on the road.

What’s the function of to drink in this sentence?

It’s an adjective, because to drink modifies the noun: bottle.

Infinitive used as a object adverb.

John always drinks from his water bottle to avoid thirst.

What’s the function of to avoid in this sentence?

It’s an adverb, because to avoid explains why John drinks.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with infinitives.

Bare Infinitive

Most of the time, we use "to" with an infinitive form, but in certain situations we use an infinitive form without "to". When this happens, this form is referred to as the bare infinitive form.

Bare infinitives are used in the following situations:

after let or make + object

For example: She let me go out alone.

after verbs of perception (feel, hear, notice, see) + object if the action is completed.

For example: I felt the cat's paws softly touch my face.

Click "More Resources" on the left for more information and practice with infinitives.