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Is the word "Harbor" a common noun or a proper noun? if you say common noun than, is it possible to change a common noun into a proper noun by adding an adjective to the sentence? for example "Florida Harbor"

By hyperstone6 Asked Feb 17 2009 3:28PM
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by Miss Awesome on Feb 17, 2009 at 4:56 pm Permalink

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Just the word harbor is a common noun. Adding an identifying noun before it makes it a proper noun. Just simply adding an adjective before a noun does not make it proper. For example, "big harbor" would not be a proper noun.

Proper nouns are formed when you are talking about a *specific* person, place, or thing. They are capitalized. The word specific is the key part.

"Apple tree" is not a proper noun because you're not talking about a specific apple tree.
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Avatar hyperstone6 Feb, 18 2009 at 04:23 AM
Thanks! :) That's what I'm arguing for but my friend just won't get it lol

Answer 2 out of 2

by Suomynona on Feb 17, 2009 at 3:31 pm Permalink

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If you're pulling into a harbor, it's just a harbor. Common noun. If it's the Florida Harbor, it's proper. "Florida Harbor" is one proper noun. No adjective.
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Avatar hyperstone6 Feb, 17 2009 at 03:55 PM
Thanks again, but I still wonder, does anything even exist called "changing" a common noun into a proper noun? A friend of mine screwed up my mind by challenging me that you can!
Avatar Suomynona Feb, 17 2009 at 03:58 PM
Don't quite understand what you're going for. I suppose you could say it's like when someone is the president of a company, but if I just type the President, it's commonly taken to mean the President of the United States. There's a lot more examples, if that's what you meant.
Avatar hyperstone6 Feb, 17 2009 at 04:13 PM
Well, sorry to bother you but what my friend is arguing is for example, a tree is a common noun for all kinds of trees but when you add "apple" to the word tree as in "apple tree", the common noun "tree" will be transformed into a proper noun because the "apple tree" will be identified from within a wide range of trees, but there is not necessarily one individual tree called "The Apple Tree" hence, according to him; ("tree" = common noun) (apple "tree" = proper noun), but I'm not convinced. :(


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Is the word "Harbor" a common noun or a proper noun? if you say common noun than, is it possible to change a common noun into a proper noun by adding an adjective to the sentence? for example "Florida Harbor"

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