“The Cask of Amontillado” by Edgar Allan Poe Build Grammar Skills: Common and Proper Nouns Nouns can be divided into two groups: common nouns and proper nouns. A ​common noun names any one of a class of people, places, or things. A ​proper noun ​names a particular person, place, or thing, and it always begins with a capital letter. In proper nouns of more than one word, the first word, the last word, and all other important words are capitalized. The following sentence from “The Cask of Amontillado” contains both common and proper nouns. Notice that ​
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sherry, a common noun, names a class of wine; ​A​ montillado, a proper noun, names a particular wine. And as for Luchesi, he can’t distinguish sherry from Amontillado. A. Practice: ​Correct the capitalization errors in the following sentences by circling the first letter of the words that need to be capitalized. 1. In the Short Story “The cask of amontillado,” Fortunato is eager to accompany montresor into the wine vaults. 2. As they descend into the Catacombs, Montresor pretends to be concerned about fortunato’s health. 3. When fortunato hears Montresor’s Family Motto, he seems unaware of the irony in the latin words. 4. In this story, Montresor and Fortunato are the Main Characters, and Montresor is the Narrator. 5. Edgar allan poe, whose parents were both Actors, was a Poet and a Critic as well as a short­story writer. ​
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B. Writing Application: ​Write two or three sentences based on these words. Include at least one proper noun for each category. Common Nouns: team, school, athlete Example: My swim team, the Flying Fish, won a meet last night at Provincetown High School. Mike Jameson and three other swimmers qualified for the district relay team. 1. movie, actors, theater 2. holiday, family members, location 3. sporting event, participants, location 4. concert, musician, recordings