Common & Proper Nouns Notes & Questions | Class 3 English | Drishti OS

Common & Proper Nouns

What you'll learn

A common noun names any person, place, or thing: dog, city, teacher.
A proper noun names a specific person, place, or thing and always starts with a capital letter: India, Monday, Ravi.
Days, months, festivals, and names of people and places are proper nouns.

Key concepts

Level 1 — Core idea

Verbal: 'city' could be any city, but 'Mumbai' is one particular city.

Symbolic: common: river, festival, boy — proper: Ganga, Diwali, Ravi.

Visual: General box labelled 'city' vs a name tag labelled 'Mumbai'.

Level 2 — Going deeper

Proper nouns include: names of people, places, countries, days of the week, months, and festivals — all start with a capital letter, wherever they appear in a sentence.

NCERT anchor

NCERT Class 3 English stories name specific characters and places (Ravi, Delhi) alongside general nouns (boy, city).

Common noun	Proper noun
river	Ganga
festival	Diwali
day	Monday
country	India

Worked example

Is 'Everest' a common noun or a proper noun?

Step 1 — Does it name one specific mountain? Yes.
Step 2 — It starts with a capital letter.
Step 3 — Answer: Proper noun ✓

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why	Fix
Writing proper nouns in lowercase	Forgetting the capital-letter rule	Always capitalise names, places, days, months
Calling a common noun 'proper'	Confusing general and specific	Ask: does it name ONE particular thing?
Missing festival/day names as proper nouns	Thinking only people count	Diwali, Monday, January are proper nouns too

Quick check

Is 'teacher' a common or proper noun?
Is 'Priya' a common or proper noun?
Which needs a capital letter: monday or Monday?
Stretch: Write one common noun and one proper noun from your own life.

Revision tip: If it names one particular thing, capitalise it — that is a proper noun.

Open the Practice tab for graded questions on Common & Proper Nouns.

Common & Proper Nouns