Common and Proper Nouns Quiz
Questions: 16 · 10 minutes
1. Which sentence contains only common nouns?
Rosa planted flowers in the garden.
The farmer loaded apples into baskets.
Students visited Boston in spring.
The tourists photographed Big Ben.
2. In “A dog named Pepper chased the ball,” why is “Pepper” a proper noun?
It identifies the dog’s breed.
It is the specific name given to the dog.
It describes what the dog looks like.
All words for pets are proper nouns.
3. How should the nouns be classified in “The company hired Elena”?
Both “company” and “Elena” are common nouns.
Both “company” and “Elena” are proper nouns.
“company” is proper, and “Elena” is common.
“company” is common, and “Elena” is proper.
4. The sentence “my aunt visited lake erie in july” needs editing. Which capitalization instruction is correct?
Capitalize the first word, Aunt, Erie, and July.
Capitalize the first word, Aunt, Lake, and Erie.
Capitalize the first word, Lake, and July, but leave erie lowercase.
Capitalize the first word, Lake, Erie, and July; leave aunt lowercase.
5. A family has the surname Garcia. Which rule correctly explains how to refer to the whole family in the plural?
Write “the Garcias” because a plural surname takes a plural ending without an apostrophe.
Write “the Garcia family’s” because every plural family name requires a possessive ending.
Write “the Garcia” because surnames never change when they refer to several people.
Write “the garcia group” because a surname becomes a common noun when pluralized.
6. In the sentence “The Amazon River is a vast waterway,” which choice is a common noun rather than part of a proper name?
Amazon
waterway
Amazon River
vast
7. Which common noun best describes the proper noun “New Orleans”?
river
state
city
country
8. In the sentence “Jordan adopted a beagle named Scout,” which nouns are proper nouns?
Jordan and Scout
beagle and Scout
Jordan and beagle
beagle and dog
9. The sentence “on saturday, priya baked bread” needs editing. Which instruction identifies every word that should be capitalized?
Capitalize the first word and Priya, but leave saturday lowercase.
Capitalize the first word, Saturday, and Priya.
Capitalize the first word, Saturday, Priya, and Bread.
Capitalize only the first word because the remaining nouns are common.
10. Why is “Autumn” capitalized in the sentence “Autumn brings cooler weather”?
Every season is a proper noun.
Weather terms must be capitalized.
It begins the sentence, although the season name is normally a common noun.
It is the name of a specific person.
11. The sentence “Our class toured the smithsonian institution on Tuesday” needs editing. Which instruction is correct?
Capitalize Smithsonian but leave institution lowercase because it describes a building.
Capitalize Institution but leave smithsonian lowercase because only the final word belongs to the name.
Capitalize both Smithsonian and Institution because they form the institution’s proper name.
Capitalize Tuesday only because organization names are treated as common nouns.
12. Which revision replaces the common noun “river” with a proper noun naming a specific river?
The Nile flows through the valley.
A stream flows through the valley.
The waterway flows through the valley.
The channel flows through the valley.
13. Which statement correctly explains the difference between common and proper nouns?
Proper nouns always contain more than one word.
Any capitalized word is a proper noun.
Common nouns cannot refer to people.
A proper noun names a specific person, place, organization, or thing, while a common noun names a general class.
14. Which sentence contains exactly one proper noun and two common nouns?
Birds crossed Lake Michigan.
Leo and Nina laughed.
The old bridge collapsed.
Maya carried a backpack to school.
15. In the sentence “The scientist Marie Curie worked in a laboratory,” which noun is a proper noun?
Marie Curie
scientist
laboratory
work
16. Which pair shows a common noun followed by a corresponding proper noun?
teacher — classroom
France — country
mountain — Mount Fuji
Tuesday — week