A noun is a naming word. It is used to name a person, animal, place, thing, and abstract idea. The underlined words in the following sentences are all nouns:
-
-
- The moon moves round the earth.
- Munira dreams of a new world.
- According to Plutarch, the library at Alexandria was destroyed in 48 B.C
- Philosophy is of little comfort to the starving.
-
There are FOUR types of Nouns: the concrete noun, the abstract noun, the countable noun(also called the count noun), and the uncountable noun(also called the mass noun).
i) Concrete Nouns: A concrete noun is a noun that names anything (or anyone) that you can perceive through your physical senses: touch, sight, taste, hearing, or smell. A concrete noun is the opposite of an abstract noun.
The underlined words in the following sentences are all concrete nouns:
-
-
- Spencer lives in Ottawa.
- Toronto is the capital of Ontario.
- Read good books.
- Oil floats on water.
-
ii) Abstract Nouns: An abstract noun is a noun that names anything which you can not perceive through your five physical senses, and is the opposite of a concrete noun.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all abstract nouns:
-
-
- Honesty is the best policy.
- Poverty is a curse.
- Everybody loves beauty.
- Love is divine.
-
Concrete Nouns are also categorized into four types: the proper noun, the common noun, the collective noun, and the material noun.
Also, note that a noun will belong to more than one type: it will be proper or common, abstract or concrete, and countable or non-countable or collective.
a) Proper Nouns: This noun represents the name of a specific person, place, or thing. The names of days of the week, months, historical documents, institutions, organizations, religions, their holy texts, and their adherents are proper nouns. A proper noun is the opposite of a common noun. It is always written with a capital letter.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all proper nouns:
-
-
- Monday is the first day of the week.
- Beltane is celebrated on the first of May.
- When I used to live in the dorm, I had a Muslim, a Buddhist, and a Gardnerian Witch as roommates.
- The Muslims read the Koran.
-
b) Common Nouns: A common noun is a noun referring to a person, place, or thing in a general sense. It is usually written with a capital letter only when it begins a sentence. A common noun is the opposite of a proper noun.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all common nouns:
-
-
- The nearest town is 50 miles away.
- All the gardens in the neighborhood were invaded by beetles this summer.
- I don’t understand why some people insist on having six different kinds of mustard in their cupboards.
- The road crew was startled by the sight of three large moose crossing the road.
- Many child-care workers are underpaid.
-
Sometimes you will make proper nouns out of common nouns, as in the following examples:
-
-
- The tenants in the Garnet Apartments are appealing the large and sudden increase in their rent.
- The meals in the Bouncing Bean Restaurant are less expensive than meals in ordinary restaurants.
- Many witches refer to the Renaissance as the Burning Times.
- The Diary of Anne Frank is often a child’s first introduction to the history of the Holocaust.
-
How To know a Common Noun from a Proper Noun?
A common noun answers the question “What is it?”
A proper noun answers the question “What’s its name?”
Q: What is it? A: It is a river.
(The word “river” is a common noun.)
Q: What’s its name? A: It is the Ottawa River.
(The name “Ottawa River” is a proper noun.)
c) Collective Nouns: A collective noun is a noun naming a group of things, animals, or persons. You could count the individual members of the group, but you usually think of the group as a whole is generally as one unit. You need to be able to recognize collective nouns in order to maintain the subject-verb agreement. A collective noun is similar to a non-countable noun and is roughly the opposite of a countable noun.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all collective nouns:
-
-
- The flock of geese spends most of its time in the pasture.
-
The collective noun “flock” takes the singular verb “spends.”
-
-
- The jury is dining on take-out chicken tonight.
-
In this example, the collective noun “jury” is the subject of the singular compound verb “is dining.”
-
-
- The steering committee meets every Wednesday afternoon.
-
Here the collective noun “committee” takes a singular verb, “meets.”
-
-
- The class was startled by the bursting light bulb.
-
In this sentence the word “class” is a collective noun and takes the singular compound verb “was startled.”
Collective nouns can be treated as singular or plural. It depends on the meaning of your sentence. For example:
-
-
- The team is scheduled to arrive at 5 o’clock.
- The team are wearing different hats.
-
d) Material Nouns: A material noun is a name for something which is tangible.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all material nouns:
-
-
- There is also a pen and a diary on it.
- The pen is out of ink.
- Your shirt has a button short.
- This ring is made of gold and diamond.
-
There are also two types of nouns on the basis of countability: the countable noun and the uncountable/non-countable noun.
i. Countable Nouns: A countable noun (or count noun) is a noun with both a singular and a plural form, and it names anything (or anyone) that you can count. You can make a countable noun plural and attach it to a plural verb in a sentence. Countable nouns are the opposite of non-countable nouns and collective nouns.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all countable nouns:
-
-
- We painted the table red and the chairs blue.
- Since he inherited his aunt’s library, Jerome spends every weekend indexing his books.
- Miriam found six silver dollars in the toe of a sock.
- The oak tree lost three branches in the hurricane.
- Over the course of twenty-seven years, Martha Ballad delivered just over eight hundred babies.
-
ii. Non-countable Nouns: A non-countable noun(or mass noun) is a noun that does not have a plural form, and which refers to something that you could (or would) not usually count. A non-countable noun always takes a singular verb in a sentence. Non-countable nouns are similar to collective nouns and are the opposite of countable nouns.
The Underlined words in the following sentences are all non-countable nouns:
-
-
- Joseph Priestly discovered oxygen.
-
The word “oxygen” cannot normally be made plural.
-
-
- Oxygen is essential to human life.
-
Since “oxygen” is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb “is” rather than the plural verb “are.”
-
-
- We decided to sell the furniture rather than take it with us when we moved.
-
You cannot make the noun “furniture” plural.
-
-
- The furniture is heaped in the middle of the room.
-
Since “furniture” is a non-countable noun, it takes a singular verb, “is heaped.”
-
-
- The crew spread the gravel over the roadbed.
-
You cannot make the non-countable noun “gravel” plural.
-
-
- Gravel is more expensive than I thought.
-
Since “gravel” is a non-countable noun, it takes the singular verb form “is.”
Some Other Nouns
Compound Nouns: Compound nouns are nouns made up of more than one word. For example:
-
-
- court-martial
- pickpocket
- water bottle
-
Some compound nouns are two words (e.g., “peace pipe”), some are hyphenated (e.g., “play-off”), and some have become single words (e.g., “eyeopener”). And, many of them are currently transitioning through those stages. Therefore, spelling compound nouns can be a nightmare.
(2) Some compound nouns form their plural by adding an “s” to the principal word, not necessarily to the end (e.g., “brothers-in-law”).
Attributive Nouns: A noun can also be used as an adjective to modify another noun. For example:
-
-
- oxygen tank
- diamond ring
- car door
-
In these examples, the examples “oxygen,” “diamond,” and “car” are functioning as adjectives. When nouns are used like this, they’re called “attributive nouns.”