We always hear this word – noun. We hear it at school, we hear it at home. Perhaps even when we grow old, we will still hear this word. That stands to reason – nouns are everywhere. A noun is the word used to name a person, place, thing, event, or idea. Anything that exists that can be named is a noun.
Examples of nouns:
Nouns for people: John, Peter, Robert
Nouns for places: Germany, school, shopping mall
Nouns for things: table, chair, electric fan
Nouns for ideas: exaggeration, ideology
Nouns for actions when considered as things (“gerunds”): reading, listening, crying
Quick tip
If you can put the word the in front of a word and it sounds like a unit, the word is a noun.
For example, the girl sounds like a unit, so girl is a noun. The window sounds like a unit, so window is a noun.
There are six distinct groups of nouns: Proper Nouns, Common Nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, and compound nouns.
Proper Nouns – Refer to a specific name of a person, place, and things. These names are almost always capitalized. One particular type of proper noun which is used to address a certain person is called a noun of address.
Example:
Washington, D.C is the Capital of the USA.
Mary had a little lamb.
Halloween is a scary celebration.
Common Nouns – They can name anything, and are not usually capitalized.
Example:
The ladies are dancing.
Earth is called the living planet of the solar system.
The table is damaged.
There are also different categories of nouns.
Countable nouns – nouns which can be counted
Example:
- Four chickens
- One book
- A dozen eggs
- You should read these two books.
- My mother gave me five dolls.
- The dog barked at three bicyclists.
Non-countable nouns – are nouns which cannot be counted
Example:
- Air
- Water
- Strength
- The air is smoky in this restaurant.
- I need water to keep running.
- His strength inspired us all.
Collective Nouns – these are nouns which can appear in a singular form but can mean more than one person or items.
Example:
- Class
- Team
- Committee
- The class brought gifts for their teacher.
- The team needs a new captain.
- We voted on the committee.
Abstract Nouns – these nouns refers to things that you cannot touch.
Example:
- Justice
- Love
- He found justice at the courthouse.
- Love is a many-splendored thing.
Concrete Nouns— A concrete noun names an object that can be perceived by the senses: woman, Joan Shea, mice, cheese.
Examples:
- Put the final sauce and cheese on them just before baking.
- The results appeared in all 30 mice tested.
Compound nouns— New words can be formed by combining two or more words, thus creating a compound word.
Examples:
- tennis shoe
- bedroom
- They advertised it as the world's best tennis shoe.
- Both the bedroom and the terrace have views over South Cocoanut Bayou.
In order to identify if a noun is a noun, we need to identify what it does in a sentence.
For example:
What does it do in the sentence?
It is a noun if it comes after the words ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ in a sentence.
Example:
- A book
- An ant
- The house
If the word can be described as something good or bad, then it is a noun.
Example:
- The movie is good.
- The teacher is bad.
- The weather is bad.
Parts Of Speech
Examples of nouns:
Nouns for people: John, Peter, Robert
Nouns for places: Germany, school, shopping mall
Nouns for things: table, chair, electric fan
Nouns for ideas: exaggeration, ideology
Nouns for actions when considered as things (“gerunds”): reading, listening, crying
Quick tip
If you can put the word the in front of a word and it sounds like a unit, the word is a noun.
For example, the girl sounds like a unit, so girl is a noun. The window sounds like a unit, so window is a noun.
There are six distinct groups of nouns: Proper Nouns, Common Nouns, concrete nouns, abstract nouns, collective nouns, and compound nouns.
Proper Nouns – Refer to a specific name of a person, place, and things. These names are almost always capitalized. One particular type of proper noun which is used to address a certain person is called a noun of address.
Example:
Washington, D.C is the Capital of the USA.
Mary had a little lamb.
Halloween is a scary celebration.
Common Nouns – They can name anything, and are not usually capitalized.
Example:
The ladies are dancing.
Earth is called the living planet of the solar system.
The table is damaged.
There are also different categories of nouns.
Countable nouns – nouns which can be counted
Example:
- Four chickens
- One book
- A dozen eggs
- You should read these two books.
- My mother gave me five dolls.
- The dog barked at three bicyclists.
Non-countable nouns – are nouns which cannot be counted
Example:
- Air
- Water
- Strength
- The air is smoky in this restaurant.
- I need water to keep running.
- His strength inspired us all.
Collective Nouns – these are nouns which can appear in a singular form but can mean more than one person or items.
Example:
- Class
- Team
- Committee
- The class brought gifts for their teacher.
- The team needs a new captain.
- We voted on the committee.
Abstract Nouns – these nouns refers to things that you cannot touch.
Example:
- Justice
- Love
- He found justice at the courthouse.
- Love is a many-splendored thing.
Concrete Nouns— A concrete noun names an object that can be perceived by the senses: woman, Joan Shea, mice, cheese.
Examples:
- Put the final sauce and cheese on them just before baking.
- The results appeared in all 30 mice tested.
Compound nouns— New words can be formed by combining two or more words, thus creating a compound word.
Examples:
- tennis shoe
- bedroom
- They advertised it as the world's best tennis shoe.
- Both the bedroom and the terrace have views over South Cocoanut Bayou.
In order to identify if a noun is a noun, we need to identify what it does in a sentence.
For example:
What does it do in the sentence?
It is a noun if it comes after the words ‘a’, ‘an’, and ‘the’ in a sentence.
Example:
- A book
- An ant
- The house
If the word can be described as something good or bad, then it is a noun.
Example:
- The movie is good.
- The teacher is bad.
- The weather is bad.