What does a noun do in a sentence?
It acts as the subject of a sentence that performs the action of the verb. The subject has to be a noun. It cannot be a verb, an adverb, an adjective or any other part of speech. Nouns are basic to sentence structure because they, along with pronouns, provide the subject of the sentence. In addition, a noun functions as a direct object of a verb, an indirect object of a verb, object of a preposition, or a complement.
(1) Noun as subject of verb
The subject (in bold) can be a person, place, thing or idea. It performs an act or shows a state of being as expressed by the verb. The subject is easily recognized as it usually comes at the beginning of a sentence and is followed by a verb.
Examples:
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The man stepped on my toes.
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The car smashed into a wall.
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Both of them fell down the stairs.
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I
accidentally hit my head on the bookshelf.
2) Noun as direct object
The direct object (in bold) is a noun in a sentence. The object is acted upon by the subject, and It typically comes after the verb.
Examples:
- Tom bit his nail.
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I am painting the doghouse.
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Her dog followed her to the park.
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Strong wind blew their tent down.
(3) Noun as indirect object
The indirect object (in bold) is a noun in a sentence. An indirect object represents a person or thing that receives the effect of the action of the verb. It usually comes between the verb and the direct object.
Examples:
- He fed the monkeys bananas.
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The mother was cooking her family a seafood dinner.
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Jack sent a letter to his parents.
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She poured drinks for the boys.
(4) Noun as object of a preposition
The object of preposition (in bold) is a noun in a sentence. The object comes after the preposition as shown here in following examples.
Examples:
- Joe broke his nose in a fight. (Preposition: in)
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Two puppies followed behind the girl. (Preposition: behind)
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Birdwatching is a favourite hobby of the villagers. (Preposition: of)
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Everyone is complaining about the boss. (Preposition: about)
(5) Noun as object of a verbal
A verbal is a word formed from a verb but functions as a noun or an adjective. Only a noun can be an object of a verbal, which can be a gerund, an infinitive or a participle. It is shown in bold in the following example sentences. The objects are underlined.
Examples:
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Winning
the lottery jackpot was his biggest dream.
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To escape
from the
prison was all he wanted.
- Having found his father’s car keys, he demanded a reward.
Examples:
- The tribal chief is the fattest man in the tribe.
- These two apples are the only rotten ones..
- Aunt Barbie could be the biggest woman in the neighbourhood.
Examples:
- That one looks like a mountain goat.
- Dog fleas must seek out another dog when the dog dies.
- Blowing out the candles, grandmother's denture landed on the birthday cake.
- He was snoring under a big beach umbrella.
- Grandfather used to say duck eggs are better than chicken eggs.
A noun must be in the singular form when used as an adjective as shown above. There are, however, some exceptions: sports club, a goods train, a sales conference.
Nouns acting as adjectives are combined with the nouns that they modify to form a single word.
- She saw a dark figure waving to her from her doorway.
- There is a layer of fine dust on your bookcase.
- In the farmhouse, the hoots of owls were the only things they heard.
- Each night he set several mousetraps around the house and in the garage.
- He brought along his toothpaste but forgot his toothbrush.