Common And Proper Nouns Notes & Questions | Class 5 English | Drishti OS

Common And Proper Nouns

What you'll learn

A common noun names any person, place, animal, or thing in general — boy, city, river.
A proper noun names one specific person, place, animal, or thing — Ravi, Mumbai, Ganga.
Proper nouns always start with a capital letter, wherever they appear in a sentence.
To spot and use both kinds correctly in your own writing.

Key concepts

Level 1 — Naming words, general vs specific

Verbal: A common noun is a general name; a proper noun is a particular name for one of them.

Common noun	Proper noun
boy	Ravi
city	Mumbai
river	Ganga
school	DPS School
festival	Diwali

Verbal rule: If you can point to only one exact example, it is usually a proper noun.

Level 2 — Capital letters and sentence position

Verbal: Unlike common nouns, proper nouns keep their capital letter even in the middle of a sentence.

Sentence	Correct?	Why
I met ravi at the market.	No	ravi should be Ravi
I met Ravi at the Market.	No	market should stay lowercase (common noun)
I met Ravi at the market.	Yes	Proper noun capital, common noun lowercase

Real-life: Names of your friends, your school, your city, and the months (January, Monday) are all proper nouns.

Worked example

Identify: my brother visited delhi in january.

Step 1 — Find names of specific people/places/times: delhi (a city), january (a month).
Step 2 — Both are proper nouns, so both need capital letters.
Answer: My brother visited Delhi in January.

Common mistakes

Mistake	Why it happens	Fix
Writing proper nouns in lowercase	Forgetting the capital-letter rule	Capitalize every proper noun
Capitalizing common nouns	Confusing importance with proper nouns	Only capitalize specific names
Missing capital at sentence start	Habit from casual texting	Every sentence starts with a capital letter
Treating days/months as common nouns	Not realizing they are specific names	Monday, January etc. are proper nouns

Quick check

Pick the common noun: teacher / Mr. Sharma / Priya / Everest
Pick the proper noun: river / mountain / Ganga / city
Fix the capitalization: i live in mumbai.
Stretch: Write one sentence with a common noun and a proper noun together.

Revision tip: Underline every proper noun in one paragraph of your reader and check each one starts with a capital letter.

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

Common And Proper Nouns