Final answer:
The sentence 'The bone wars were a conflict that concerned fossils.' contains the common nouns 'conflict' and 'fossils', with no proper nouns present.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the sentence provided, the nouns can be categorized into common and proper nouns. A common noun is a generic name for a person, place, or thing within a class or group, whereas a proper noun is a specific name for a particular person, place, or thing and is always capitalized.
In the given sentence 'The bone wars were a conflict that concerned fossils.', the common nouns are 'conflict' and 'fossils', as they are general terms and not specific to a unique entity. There are no proper nouns in this sentence since none of the nouns refer to specific names and are not capitalized.
Understanding the difference between common and proper nouns is crucial when studying the English language, as it helps in proper sentence structure and grammar. In naming fossils, knowing their taxonomy can lead to using proper nouns when referring to specific classifications like genus or species names.