Nouns

A common noun is a word that we use to name people, places, or things in general rather than specific ones (e.g., woman, city, dog, money, month, etc.).

Common nouns can be:

• Countable: man/men, tree/trees, a dog/two dogs, two cars, three years
• Uncountable: air, gas, information, milk, snow, equipment, education
• Collective: bunch, group, team, family, herd, flock, army
• Concrete: rainbow, pen, sweetness, noise, scent
• Abstract: pain, peace, love, beauty, opportunity, friendship, life
• Verbal: meeting, swimming, smoking, arrival, decision, happiness, flight, attack
• Gender-specific: man/woman, husband/wife, king/queen, bull/cow, horse/mare, fox/vixen

A proper noun is a word that we use to name a particular person, place, or thing and always starts with a capital letter (e.g., John, New York, October).

• Paris is the capital of France.
• I saw Luis this morning.
• I’ll take a vacation in June.

A concrete noun is a word that we use to name things we can see, touch, taste, hear, or smell.

• A rainbow is a natural phenomenon.
• My pen is running out of ink.
• I don’t like pizza.
• Your voice is excellent.

Concrete nouns can be:

• Common nouns: boy, city, dog, flower, etc.
• proper nouns: John, Paris, rose, etc.)
• collective nouns: a panel of experts, a bunch of keys, a flock of sheep, etc.
• countable nouns: chair/chairs, egg/eggs, song/songs
• uncountable nouns: air, cheese, music, petrol, dust, etc.

An abstract noun is a word that we use to name things we cannot see, touch, taste, hear, or smell (e.g., pain, peace, love, beauty, opportunity, friendship, life).

• Let there be peace on earth.
• He has a fear of heights.
• It’s my 36th birthday.

Different types of abstract nouns

A countable noun is a word that we use to name things we can count and has a singular and plural form (e.g., man/men, tree/trees, a dog/two dogs, two cars, three years).

Words that you should use only with countable nouns.

“a/an, few, a few, fewer, many, several, a number of” (e.g., a boy, a few days, many children, several books)

Words that you can use with countable and uncountable nouns.

“Some, any, enough, a lot of” (e.g., some books – some milk, any spoons – any information, enough apples – enough grape juice)

An uncountable noun is a word that we use to name things we cannot count, and it is always singular.

• The glass was full of water.
• Save money for a rainy day.
• We use electricity for cooking.
• I need your advice.

Words that you should use only with uncountable nouns.

“Much, little, less, least, an amount of” (e.g., much time, a little milk, eat less)

Words that you can use with countable and uncountable nouns.

“Some, any, enough, a lot of” (e.g., some books – some milk, any spoons – any information, enough apples – enough grape juice)

A singular noun is a word that we use to name one person, place, thing, or idea.

• Give me a pen.
• I need a bicycle.
• Bring me an umbrella.

Use “a” before words beginning with consonants.

• a boy, a car, a house, a book, a cat, a question

Use “an” before words beginning with vowels (a, e, i, o, u).

• an actor, an apple, an elephant, an easy question

Use a (not an) before words pronounced with a consonant sound.

• a unit, a euro, a user, a university, a uniform

Use an (not a) before words pronounced with a vowel sound.

• an hour, an honor, an FBI agent, an honest man

A plural noun is a word that we name more than one person, place, thing, or idea.

• I spent two years in America.
• The house has three bedrooms.
• There are many stars in the sky.

Most singular nouns change to plural by adding “s” to the end of them.

• bird/birds, tree/trees, pen/pens, house/houses, idea/ideas

A singular noun ends in s, ss, x, ch, sh, or z; add es to make it plural.

• bus/buses, boss/bosses, fox/foxes, switch/switches, dish/dishes

A singular noun ends in a vowel, and then -y add an s to make it plural.

• boy/boys, day/days, key/keys, way/ways, donkey/donkeys,

A singular noun ends in a consonant, and then -y change y to i and add es to make it plural.

• lady/ladies, canary/canaries, city/cities, battery/batteries

Some nouns don’t follow a specific rule, but the word changes form.

• man/men, wife/wives life/lives foot/feet, mouse/mice, ox/oxen.

Some nouns have the same spelling as their singular form.

• advice, education, aircraft, wheat, sugar, fish, sheep, shrimp, deer

Some nouns only have a plural form.

• clothes, pants, jeans, scissors, goggles, glasses, earnings, belongings

A collective noun is a word that we use to name a group of people, animals, or things (e.g., bunch, collection, team, family, herd, flock).

• People: family, team, army, staff, class, band
• Animals: herd, pack, school, colony, nest, swarm
• Things: bundle, bunch, set, box, collection, fleet

Use a singular verb when you consider the members of the group as one unit.

• The team has changed its strategy.
• The herd was moving south.
• A bundle of clothes was on the table.

Use a plural verb when you consider the members of the group as individuals.

• People are fearful of rising crime in the area.
• The herd were running off in different directions.
• The British fleet were sailing up the Thames.

Note: Collective nouns are always singular in American English.

A compound noun is a noun we make by putting two or more words together to act as one noun (e.g., toothpaste, teapot, backpack, policeman, bus stop).

• Without spaces: policeman, seafood, sunrise, moonlight
• With spaces: swimming pool, washing machine, bottle opener
• With hyphens: mother-in-law, water bottle, six-pack, an ice-cream cone

Some common ways to form compound nouns.

• noun + noun: housewife, wallpaper, seafood, toothbrush, bedroom
• noun + adjective: handful, forceful, harmless
• adjective + noun: blackboard, greenhouse, cellphone, highway
• adjective + verb: dry-cleaning, public speaking
• noun + verb: sunrise, haircut, waterfall, heartbeat, carwash
• verb + noun: swimsuit, cookbook, breakfast, runway
• preposition + noun downstairs, underpants, bystander
• verb + preposition: check-in, check-out

A possessive noun is a noun that shows ownership or possession (e.g., Paul’s book, a car’s engine, kids’ room, a cat’s dish, a computer’s monitor, the sun’s rays, a tree’s trunk).

• I want to get on my bicycle and cycle over to Jim’s house.
• The dog’s tail wagged in delight.

Jim’s house: (Jim’s = possessive noun), (house = object of possession)

Dog’s tail: (dog’s = possessive noun), (tail = object of possession)

Add an apostrophe + s at the end of a singular noun to make it possessive.

• teacher’s college
• orange’s taste
• car’s tire
• cat’s dinner

Add an apostrophe + s at the end of a plural noun not ending in “s” to make it possessive.

• Women’s room
• children’s toys
• people’s opinions

Add an apostrophe at the end of a plural noun ending in “s” to make it possessive.

Three days’ wages

cars’ engines

parrots’ cages

leaves’ color