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Singular, Plural, and Possessive Nouns
In Outer Space…

Reading Level 2

Part One | Noun Types 

Directions: Read each of the following sentences and determine the noun type of the italicized word. Be careful, some of them are not nouns.

1. 	What type of noun is the word Moon as it is used in the following sentence?

Scientists believe that the Moon came from an ancient planet that crashed into the Earth billions of years ago.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

2. 	What type of noun is the word Neil as it is used in the following sentence?

When Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon, took that famous stroll, he said, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

3. 	What type of noun is the word Halley's as it is used in the following sentence?

Halley's Comet passes by the Earth every 76 years, so your next chance to see it will be in middle of the year 2061.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

4. 	What type of noun is the word Pluto's as it is used in the following sentence?

Pluto's status as a planet was called into question after other large icy objects were found orbiting the Sun.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

5. 	What type of noun is the word galaxies as it is used in the following sentence?

The Milky Way is our home, but there are many other galaxies in the Universe.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

6. 	What type of noun is the word crashes as it is used in the following sentence?

When a meteor crashes into the Earth, it becomes a meteorite.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

7. 	What type of noun is the word Saturn's as it is used in the following sentence?

Saturn's rings are made almost entirely of ice.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

8. 	What type of noun is the word expanding as it is used in the following sentence?

Edwin Hubble proved that the Universe is expanding.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

9. 	What type of noun is the word night as it is used in the following sentence?

The North Star changes its position in the sky very little throughout the night.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

10. 	What type of noun is the word effects as it is used in the following sentence?

No one's ever seen a black hole, but scientists believe that they have witnessed their effects.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

11. 	What type of noun is the word visible as it is used in the following sentence?

A comet's tail only becomes visible as it approaches the Sun.	

a)	Singular noun	b)	Plural noun	
c)	Possessive noun	d)	Not a noun	

Part Two | Fill in the Blank

Directions: Choose the answer that best completes the sentences. Circle your response.

12. 	Galileo did not invent the ________, but he did improve it.	

a)	telescopes	b)	telescope's	
c)	telescope	d)	telescopes'	
13. 	The Sun is so large that over one-million planet ________ could fit in it.	

a)	Earth	b)	Earths	
c)	Earth's	d)	Earths'	

14. 	The ________ atmosphere is held in place by the force of gravity.	

a)	Earth	b)	Earths	
c)	Earth's	d)	Earths'	

15. 	Jupiter is more than two and a half times larger than all of the other planets in our Solar ________ combined.	

a)	System	b)	Systems	
c)	System's	d)	Systems'	

16. 	The rings of ________ were not discovered until 1977 because they are dark and distant.	

a)	Uranus	b)	Uranuss	
c)	Uranus's	d)	Uranus'	

17. 	The temperature on ________ surface ranges from -280 F at night to 800 F during the day.	

a)	Mercury	b)	Mercurys	
c)	Mercury's	d)	Mercurys's	

18. 	The planet Venus is named after the Roman ________ of love.	

a)	goddesses	b)	goddess's	
c)	goddess'	d)	goddess	

19. 	The surface of ________ is covered in iron oxide, or rust, which gives the planet its red appearance.	

a)	Mars'	b)	Mars	
c)	Mars's	d)	Marss	

20. 	Neptune has been the farthest planet from the Sun since 2006, when ________ status was downgraded to dwarf planet.	

a)	Pluto	b)	Plutos	
c)	Pluto's	d)	Plutos's	

21. 	NASA is an agency in the United ________ that handles space travel.	

a)	State	b)	States	
c)	State's	d)	States's	

22. 	No one really knows what causes an ________ colorful lights.	

a)	aurora	b)	auroras	
c)	aurora's	d)	auroras'	

23. 	There are millions of ________ in the Asteroid Belt.	

a)	asteroid	b)	asteroid's	
c)	asteroids'	d)	asteroids	

24. 	The second closest star to Earth is in the Alpha Centauri star system, which is only 4.37 ________ away!	

a)	light-year	b)	light-years	
c)	light-years's	d)	light-years'	

25. 	The surface of ________ is covered in liquid water, which all known life forms require.	

a)	Earth	b)	Earths	
c)	Earth's	d)	Earths'	

26. 	It would take us about 21,585 Earth ________ to travel one light-year using current technology.	

a)	year	b)	years	
c)	year's	d)	years's	

27. 	Astronauts take their breaks in the ________ break-room.	

a)	astronautss	b)	astronauts	
c)	astronauts's	d)	astronauts'	

28. 	The ________ boundaries are unknown.	

a)	Universe	b)	Universes	
c)	Universe's	d)	Universes'	

29. 	________ best theory about the origin of the Universe is that it began with the Big Bang.	

a)	Scientists's	b)	Scientists	
c)	Scientist's	d)	Scientists'	

30. 	It took almost 10 years for ________ New Horizons space probe to get to Pluto from Earth.	

a)	NASA	b)	NASAs	
c)	NASA's	d)	NASAs'