Proper Nouns Names and Places
A proper noun is the specific name of a particular person, place, organisation, day or month, such as 'Sarah', 'Manchester' or 'Friday', and it always begins with a capital letter. Year 2 pupils learn to tell proper nouns apart from common nouns, which name general things like 'girl' or 'city' and do not need a capital letter.
Before you start
Make sure you're comfortable with these topics first:
Method
- Ask whether the word names one particular, specific thing rather than a general type of thing.
- Check if it is the name of a person, place, day, month or organisation.
- If it is a proper noun, give it a capital letter, even in the middle of a sentence.
- Compare it with a common noun version to check the difference, e.g. 'city' (common) versus 'London' (proper).
- Read back the sentence to make sure every proper noun has a capital letter and no common nouns have been capitalised by mistake.
Worked example
Find and correct the proper nouns in this sentence: 'my friend jack lives in leeds and we go to school on monday.'
- Find the specific person's name: 'jack' should be 'Jack'.
- Find the specific place name: 'leeds' should be 'Leeds'.
- Find the specific day name: 'monday' should be 'Monday'.
- Capitalise the start of the sentence too: 'my' should be 'My'.
- Final answer: 'My friend Jack lives in Leeds and we go to school on Monday.'
Practice questions
Try each question, then tap to reveal the answer.
Exam-style questions
Written in the style of a English exam paper, with a full mark scheme.
Rewrite this sentence with the correct capital letters: 'we are visiting scotland next tuesday.'
Write a short sentence that includes at least three proper nouns (for example a person's name, a place and a day or month), making sure every proper noun has a capital letter.
Look at the sentence: 'our class went to the science museum in london with miss carter.' Identify the proper nouns that are missing capital letters, explain how you know they are proper nouns rather than common nouns, and rewrite the sentence correctly.
Free printable worksheet
Want more practice on paper? Download the proper nouns names and places worksheet pack - 8 pages of exam-style questions with a full mark scheme. No sign-up, no email wall - just the PDF, free for personal and classroom use.
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