abstract nouns name ideas, as opposed to concrete nouns, which name tangible things.

abstract: courage, intelligence, vitality, theme, cost

concrete: lemon, snow, sand, telephone, puppy

proper nouns name particular persons, things, or ideas, and are always capitalized. common nouns are general, not particular, and are not capitalized. 

proper: Osric Chau, Tower of Babel, Italy

common: building, clock, judge

name a group of people or things.

family, cast, group, committee, herd

take the place of a noun or other pronouns.

personal: I went with him to the movies.

possessive: My cat licks her chops at their parakeet.

express an amount, or refer to an unspecified person or thing.

Most of us studied.

Somebody sneezed.

Anything you can do, I can do better.

point to specific people or things. 

That is Ivan's cousin. 

Those are mine. 

This will go down in history.

begin a question.

Who has the key?

What is the problem?

end in -self or -selves and refer to an earlier noun or pronoun in the sentence. 

Tricia cut herself slicing a bagel. 

I myself don't believe the story. 

words that express an action or state of being. every sentence has at least one.

George Lucas wrote and directed Star Wars. His ideas for the plot came from Hollywood Westerns and the myths of many cultures. 

join (or link) the subject of a sentence with a word that identifies or describes it. 

For 123 years Mt. St. Helens remained dormant.

some verbs can be both linking and action verbs - but not at the same time. they're only linking verbs when they are followed by a word that identifies or describes the subject.

linking: The milk tastes sour. He grew quiet.

action: Jill tasted the milk. The farmer grew corn.

a verb phrase contains a main verb plus one or more helping verbs. 

They may have gone home.

"may" and "have" are the helping verbs, and "gone" is the main verb.

Doesn't anyone here speak Spanish?

"does" is the helping verb, and "speak" is the main verb. "not" (or n't in a contraction) is never part of a verb phrase.

indefinite articles refer to any one member of a group and so are indefinite. definite articles point out particular nouns.

indefinite: A puppy makes a good pet.

definite: The puppy chewed her shoe.

these come from proper nouns. they are always capitalized.

Shakespearean sonnet

Mexican fiesta

African mask

Democratic candidate

follow a linking verb to modify the subject of a sentence.

The tulips are purple. 

The ocean looks blue and clear.

it's worth noting that when a noun modifies another noun, it functions as an adjective. 

kitchen table

church music

Romeo's sword

porch swing