Primary School English Quiz - Spelling 4 - Nouns (Questions)

Nouns are a vital part of the English language and we have learnt their many classifications, such as collective nouns, abstract nouns and compound nouns. Spellings are almost as vital as nouns in written English and learning the spellings of nouns would be very useful.

English has a peculiarity, especially in its spellings. You know that there is no ambiguity about letters. There are twenty-six of them in the alphabet, of which five are vowels and twenty-one are consonants. It is an unwritten rule that every word must contain at least one of the five vowels. As usual, there are some exceptions with words, such as SKY and RHYTHM, which do not have any of the vowels.

Another interesting facet of English is the linking of pronunciation with spelling. While written English may not pose much of a challenge in spellings, the spoken word does so, as a large number of words do not follow the sounds of the letters contained in them. Classic examples are the words TROUGH and BOROUGH. You will notice that the last four letters of these words are the same but their pronunciations are completely different. The first word ends with an F sound and the second word ends with an O sound. When you see the words in the written form it may be all right, but when spoken these words could cause some confusion when you think of how they might be spelt!

English as a language is very accommodative and it has absorbed words from many parts of the world where it is spoken, not as a natural language but as a second language - just as in the case of India. India and other countries have contributed many new words, almost all of them being nouns. For instance India has contributed words such as BANGLE and DACOIT. Did you know the word MONEY came from France and your favourite PIZZA came from Italy. Test your knowledge of the spellings of various nouns in the quiz that follows.