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What Is a Noun?

A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing, or idea. Nouns are the building blocks of sentences because they tell us who or what the sentence is about. Nouns can be concrete, such as a person, place, or thing, or abstract, such as a feeling or idea. They can also be broken down further into common nouns and proper nouns. Common nouns do not need a capital letter; however, proper nouns do, as they name something specific.

Examples

    • Person: teacher, Sam (proper), nurse (concrete)

    • Place: park, Tauranga (proper), school (concrete)

    • Thing: book, rocket, dog (concrete)
    • Idea: freedom, courage, happiness (abstract)

 

Nouns in the Reading Rope

Scarborough’s Reading Rope has two main strands: Word Recognition and Language Comprehension. Nouns connect most strongly with the Language Comprehension side, in particular within vocabulary, background knowledge, verbal reasoning, and syntax.

    • Vocabulary: Knowing and storing nouns builds word knowledge. Learners benefit from being taught a rich bank of concrete nouns (cat, table, river) and abstract nouns (freedom, courage, justice) to understand texts.

    • Background Knowledge: Nouns carry content. For example, if a student knows the nouns satellite or ecosystem, they can more easily make sense of science or social studies texts.

    • Verbal Reasoning: Abstract nouns (like equality or innovation) are key to interpreting figurative language, arguments, and complex text structures.
    • Syntax: Understanding nouns (as sentence subjects and objects) helps readers understand sentence meaning.

 

Nouns in the Writing Rope

The Writing Rope (Joan Sedita’s model, 2019, based on Berninger’s work) has five strands: Critical Thinking, Syntax, Text Structure, Writing Craft, and Transcription. In The Writing Rope, nouns mainly sit in the Syntax strand, as this is where learners need to identify and use parts of speech to build correct sentences. Due to this, nouns also contribute to:

    • Syntax: Forming complete sentences requires a subject (usually a noun). Understanding singular/plural forms, possessives, and abstract/concrete nouns all feed into accuracy and clarity.

    • Text Structure: Choosing precise nouns strengthens topic sentences and arguments. For example: “There are problems” vs. “Inequality and poverty are the greatest problems.”

    • Writing Craft: Rich noun choice impacts style and tone. Concrete nouns create imagery (the mountain loomed), while abstract nouns build themes (justice prevailed).

  • Transcription: For younger learners, spelling nouns correctly is part of transcription.

 

Why This Matters in My Scope and Sequence

Teaching nouns early gives students anchors in both ropes: they can recognise nouns when reading (supporting comprehension) and produce them in writing (supporting syntax and clarity).

When I have new students join me, chances are they don’t understand the mechanics of writing. Just as we begin by teaching the four types of sentences, the next step is looking at the parts of writing, and starting with nouns. In actual fact, for catch-up learners identifying and writing nouns is the second writing lesson I teach.

So what else does knowing about nouns support students with? Let’s explore.

Students are going to feel more empowered with their writing if they understand the different “ingredients” that make up a sentence. For example, knowing that a sentence MUST have a noun and a verb (a who and a do). Jumping straight into paragraphs and essays bypasses the fact that good writing must be built on equally good foundational skills and knowledge.

We know now that if a learner has to hold a big writing task in their mind without basic grammar knowledge, their working memory will be overloaded (Cognitive Load Theory). Therefore, teaching nouns (and other parts of speech) provides all students, especially those with language-based learning difficulties, with a fair and equitable starting point for writing.

Identifying nouns and learning about them leads to all sorts of other fun things to do with them, like extending them with adjectives and also “upgrading” them to offer richer and more interesting vocabulary.

 

Where Do We Start? Oral First, Then Written

Oral language is the foundation of literacy, and both The Reading Rope and the Writing Rope contain strands for this. In the Reading Rope it is vocabulary, and in The Writing Rope, it is word choice.

When we start with oral language, we give learners the chance to experiment, rehearse, and build confidence orally before moving to writing. If we cannot produce a coherent, correct oral sentence, then it will be almost impossible to produce one in writing. So much of writing is verbal rehearsal. In fact, a phone call today with a prospective client was all about teaching her son how to put together sentences orally in order to practice writing.

Ideas for an early learning scenario include introducing nouns pictorially. I’m a huge fan of The Syntax Project for this very reason. They have cleverly put together oral language slides for the youngest classrooms, where all lessons are delivered first orally to build this vital foundational skill.

 

Text at the Centre

As previously written in my blog post about starting with the sentence level, one of the things I am very passionate about using is the text we are reading to support writing. As Pam Allyn (2014) reminds us, “reading is breathing in, writing is breathing out.” The two areas are interconnected.

For our youngest writers, this means using simple, authentic texts that are rich with nouns they can recognise, name, and eventually write.

Example Text (Year 1–2 level)

The cat sits on the mat. The dog runs in the park. The sun shines on the tree.

Teaching Nouns with the Text

From this passage, we can highlight the nouns:

    • People/animals: cat, dog

    • Places: mat, park

    • Things: sun, tree

Oral Practice

    • Teacher: “Who is in this sentence?”

    • Student: “The cat.”

    • Teacher: “What is the place?”

    • Student: “The mat.”

Students can also sort picture cards or objects into person, place, or thing. The Syntax Project has slides that support this activity.

Writing Practice
 Once confident orally, students can practise recording nouns from the text:
cat, dog, park, sun, tree

Build into short sentences: The cat sits. The dog runs. The sun shines.

For older students, and in this example, we will look at Years 9–10 learners, nouns go beyond naming simple people, places, and things. At this level, we explore the difference between concrete nouns (things we can see, touch, or measure) and abstract nouns (ideas, emotions, or concepts). This gives students greater control over tone, argument, and meaning in their writing.

Example Text (Year 9–10 level)

Excerpt from a news-style text:

Climate change is one of the greatest challenges facing humanity today. Rising sea levels threaten communities, while droughts and floods damage crops. Scientists warn that urgent action is needed, but political division often slows progress. Despite these obstacles, innovation and cooperation can bring hope for the future.

Teaching Nouns with the Text

From this passage, we can highlight and categorise nouns:

    • Concrete nouns: sea levels, communities, droughts, floods, crops

    • Abstract nouns: climate change, challenges, humanity, progress, obstacles, innovation, cooperation, hope, future

Writing Practice
 We can then guide students to build sentences, showing how their noun choices shape meaning:

    • Base sentence: Climate change affects people.

    • Expanded with concrete nouns: Rising sea levels affect Pacific Island communities.

    • Expanded with abstract nouns: Political division prevents meaningful progress.

We might also contrast weak vs. strong noun use:

    • Weak: There are problems in the world.

  • Strong: Inequality and poverty remain two of the greatest problems facing our world.

Conclusion

We start with learning about nouns because they give students something solid to hold onto. By teaching nouns through simple, familiar texts, we make the abstract idea of “parts of speech” concrete for young learners. Oral identification leads naturally into writing, and over time, students begin to see that every sentence has a “who” or a “what” at its heart. This lays the foundation for more complex writing later. For older learners, by teaching nouns through authentic texts, students see how writers use both concrete and abstract nouns to build arguments, add precision, and convey ideas. This approach moves them from simply spotting nouns to deliberately choosing them — a powerful step in developing mature, confident writing at the secondary level.

Examples Across Year Levels

Year 1

    • Oral activities: “Point to a noun in the picture. Is it a person, place, or thing?”

    • Practice:

        • Teacher: “Say a sentence about the dog.”

        • Student: “The dog runs.” (underline “dog” as the noun).

    • Writing: Give picture prompts with sentence starters: “I see a ___.”

Year 9

    • Oral activities: Sort nouns into concrete (can touch/see) vs. abstract (ideas, feelings).

        • Concrete: mountain, phone, whistle

        • Abstract: justice, fear, freedom

    • Practice: Ask students to expand a base sentence by varying the nouns.

        • Base: The boy ran.

        • Expanded: The athlete sprinted. The rebel escaped.

    • Writing: Connect to essay work. Show how powerful nouns sharpen meaning in topic sentences:

      • Weak: There are problems in society.

    • Strong: Inequality and poverty are the greatest challenges facing society today.
 

Further Reading

    • The Syntax Project – strongly supports starting with explicit sentence-level work, then systematically teaching parts of speech.

    • Hochman, J., & Wexler, N. (2017). The Writing Revolution. – Explicitly teaches grammar and syntax as the foundation of writing.

    • Graham, S., & Perin, D. (2007). Writing Next: Effective Strategies to Improve Writing of Adolescents in Middle and High Schools. Carnegie Corporation. – Highlights the importance of explicit grammar teaching in context.

    • Myhill, D. (2012). Grammar for Writing? – Shows how teaching grammar purposefully, not as worksheets, improves writing.

    • Sweller, J. (1988). Cognitive Load During Problem Solving: Effects on Learning. Cognitive Science, 12(2), 257–285. – Why we don’t jump straight into long prose.

    • Scarborough, H. S. (2001). Connecting early language and literacy to later reading (dis)abilities: Evidence, theory, and practice. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of early literacy research (pp. 97–110). New York, NY: Guilford Press.

    • Sedita, J. (2019). The Writing Rope: A framework for evidence-based writing instruction. Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 34(4), 262–272. https://doi.org/10.1111/ldrp.12193