Noun definition, Examples and types

Noun is the name of person, place, things or any idea.
We can say that Nouns are words, that describe the things around us, both the concrete
things and the abstract things. A noun can function in a sentence as subjects and
objects.

Types of nouns  with examples:

  1. Common nouns and Proper nouns

  2. Countable noun
  3. Uncountable noun
  4. Abstract noun
  5. Concrete nouns
  6. Collective noun
  7. Compound Nouns
  8. Possessive Nouns.
  9. Singular nouns
  10. Plural Nouns
  11. Gerunds

NounsProper Nouns:

These are names of people, places, organisations businesses, schools universities etc. They are always written with a capital letter, even if they are in the middle of a sentence.

Examples: London, Paris, Michael, Angela, Mercedes Benz, Honda, Oxfam, King Edward VII, Cambridge University.

Names of months: July, August, …
Weekdays: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday …
Nationalities: English, German, Spanish …..

Common Nouns:

These are words that are used to refer to common and non-specific things.

Examples: girl, boy, camera, computer, keyboard

, boy, pencil, cow, school

Plural Nouns

Formation of Plural nouns

Usually the plural form by adding ‘ S’.

Examples:

apple – apple s
flower – flower s
shop – shop s

If a word ends in-y (after a consonant), ‘y’changes in to – ies to make it plural.
Examples:

party – part ies
family – famil ies
fly – fl ies

However, it ends in vowel +-y, only one – s is appended.

Examples:

boy – boy s
toy – toy s
day-day s

Example of nouns ending in-o

photo – photo s
disco – disco’s
Video – video s

Nouns ending in -f or-fe get in the plural ending – ves.

Examples:

life – lives
wife – wives
knife – knives
helped – halves
thief – thieves

There are exceptions to this rule

Examples:

roof – roof s
chief – chief s

If the word ends with-ff- only s is appended.

Example:

cliff – cliff s

Some nouns have an irregular plural form

man – m e n
woman – wom e n
child – child ren
foot – f ee t
tooth – t ee th
goose – g ee se
mouse – m ice
sheep – sheep
fish – fish
fruit – fruit

Some nouns are used only in the plural form.

Examples:

clothes
trousers
scissors

while others although they have the outer form of the plural, however, be used in the
singular.

Examples:

news
The news does not sound very positive.

Sciences
eg: politics
statistics
economics

There are some nouns, but are always in the singular with plural verbs.

police
Already the police are informed about the incident.

people
People are aware of the Consequences of Their decision.

Countable and uncountable nouns – countable and uncountable nouns

Distinction between countable and uncountable nouns.

Countable Noun

Countable nouns are those that have an indefinite article (a / an) or may be in the
plural. They can be (ab-) count.

Examples:

apple
– An apple (one apple, two apples, three apples …)

dog
– A dog (one dog, two dogs, three dogs …)

girl
– A girl (one girl, two girls, three girls …)

friend
– A friend (one friend, two friends, three friends)

etc.

Uncountable nouns

Uncountable nouns can stand only in the singular. We can not count them (at least not
without aids).

Examples:

Milk, water,money, music, butter, homework, information, tea, ect.

Abstract and concrete nouns

These are words used to name non-physical things. These include feelings, states of mind, concepts etc.

Examples: love, hatred, ambition, cynicism, reluctance, mathematics, sociology

Abstract noun”Abstract” is something that can only be perceived in thought or
imagination.

Example: You could not see what his painting represented.
It was indeed “abstract”.

“Abstract nouns” are names of qualities, emotions, conditions or events.

Examples of abstract nouns:
Goodness, love, happiness, work rest, news, culture, debate, Lesson

Concrete nouns”Concrete” is something that can be directly perceived by sight, hearing, touch, taste or
smell.

“Concrete nouns” are names of people, animals, plants and things.

Examples of concrete nouns:
female, children, cat, student, horse, fly, fern, birch, lamp, air, Journal

Collective Nouns:

These are words that are used to describe groups of things.

Examples: platoon, class, band, cast

Note: Some collective nouns can only be used to refer to specific groups.

Examples: herd (of cattle), flock (of sheep), gaggle (of geese), caravan (of camels)

IMPORTANT

A singular collective noun refers to one group, but a collective noun in plural form refers to two or more groups of the same thing.
Example: herd / herds

singular: A herd of cattle is grazing in the field.

plural: Many herds of cattle can be seen while driving through farm lands.

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