Nouns

NounsNouns

 

Common noun

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 Noun Proper Noun
state Michigan
city New York
company Samsung, Sony
month February
ocean Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean
mountain Everest, Denali

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

Proper noun

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.

 

Common Noun Proper Noun
state Michigan
city New York
company Samsung, Sony
month February
ocean Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean
mountain Everest, Denali

Concrete noun

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.

Abstract noun

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

Feelings pleasure, fear, pain, stress, satisfaction, sympathy
Emotions joy, love, hate, happiness, sadness, anger
States freedom, luxury, peace, chaos
Qualities goodness, intelligence, patience, honesty, beauty
Concepts belief, deceit, ego, liberty, culture, trust
Events birthday, future, childhood, past, death

Countable noun

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).

Singular plural
a man two men
a dog three dogs
a pen four pens
a room five rooms
a foot two feet

 

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)

Uncountable noun

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)

Singular noun

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

Plural noun

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

Collective noun

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.

Compound noun

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

Possessive noun

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

 

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