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What Is A Noun

Nouns are the basic building blocks of sentences and represent people, places, ideas, emotions, and almost anything that can be thought of. There are different categories of nouns including common, proper, concrete, abstract, countable, uncountable, and collective nouns. Nouns can also take different forms like singular, plural, and possessive.

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39 views4 pages

What Is A Noun

Nouns are the basic building blocks of sentences and represent people, places, ideas, emotions, and almost anything that can be thought of. There are different categories of nouns including common, proper, concrete, abstract, countable, uncountable, and collective nouns. Nouns can also take different forms like singular, plural, and possessive.

Uploaded by

hemisphereph2981
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© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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What is a Noun?

The simplest definition of a noun is a thing and nouns are the basic building blocks
of sentences. These things can represent a person, animal, place, idea, emotion –
almost anything that you can think of. Dog, Sam, love, phone, Chicago, courage and
spaceship are all nouns. The more nouns you know in a language, the better you
will be able to communicate your ideas. Here, we’ll take a closer look at what
makes a noun a noun, and we’ll provide some examples of how nouns are used.

Noun examples: respect, faith, apple, seashore, peanut, motorcycle


Noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.

1. The boy and girl were holding hands as they crossed the bridge on
the way to town.
2. I love watching my cat play with the pink yarn.
3. It is raining! Everyone, grab your umbrella and rain hat and watch out for
the puddles!

Categories of Nouns
There are several categories of nouns, and there can be an overlap across the
categories. For example, there are common and proper nouns, and concrete and
abstract nouns, yet some nouns are both concrete and common, or concrete and
proper. It will become clear as you read on.
Common Nouns are the words that refer to most general things: country, evening,
laughter, puppy, umbrella
Common noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• Cathy loves the weekends in the country.


• We enjoy swimming after breakfast.
• The cup fell and broke.

Proper Nouns are the name that identifies someone or something, a person or a
place. Proper nouns are capitalized. John is a proper noun, since the word John
represents a particular, single example of a thing, John.
Proper noun examples: Mary, Jimmy, Aunt Audrey, Honda, Philadelphia
Proper noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
• Emily loved spending time with her Aunt Nancy in Paris.
• Buick and Jeep are two important carmakers.
• We visited Lake Erie, which separates the United States and Canada.

Concrete Nouns represent a thing that is real and tangible: pig, person, rock, smell,
air, soup, Larry are all concrete nouns.
Concrete noun examples: cup, computer, diamond, rollercoaster, shampoo, Debby
Concrete noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• The person threw the rock across the yard.


• My dog, Oreo, jumped in the air and caught the ball!
• Can you smell the soup, John?

An Abstract Noun represents a thing that is more like a concept or idea: love,
integrity, democracy, friendship, beauty, knowledge are examples of abstract nouns.
Abstract noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• Love and friendship are equally important.


• Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.
• Your mind can know a million things.

Nouns can also be categorized as countable or uncountable.


A Countable Noun is a thing can be numbered or counted: airplane, sock, bowl,
noodle, teacher, as in two airplanes, three socks, 1000 noodles.
Countable noun examples: peach, horse, shirt, telescope
Countable noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• There are five dogs in the street.


• I bought three tons of coal.
• Margaret has six pairs of blue sandals.

Uncountable Nouns can have a quantity or amount but cannot be actually


counted: water, music, clothes, understanding. In the second example
above, tons is a countable noun, but coal is not. Coal is referred to as
an uncountable noun.
Uncountable noun examples: hate, confidence, attractiveness, wisdom
Uncountable noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• Love is in the air.


• The four elements are air, earth, fire and water.
• Her humor knows no bounds.

Collective Nouns refer to a group of people or things: audience, team, bunch,


family, class. When speaking of collective nouns, Americans consider them as
singular, using singular verbs with them, such as the group dances happily. When
speaking British English, both singular verbs and plural verbs might be used, as in
the group dance crazily before the Queen.
Collective noun examples: government, jury, team, bunch, school, class, and room
(the people in the room or building)
Collective noun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.

• The team threw confetti when it was over.


• Steve buys the band some sandwiches.
• Meredith told the class she was getting married.

As mentioned above, when we talk of categories of nouns, some nouns can be


described as being in more than one category. Some nouns are concrete and
countable, for example, such as raindrops and wedding rings, while some are
proper and uncountable, such as the Atlantic Ocean and Alaska.

Forms of Nouns
The same noun can appear in different forms, depending on how it is used.
A countable noun can be singular or plural. Most nouns in English form the plural
by adding -s or -es to the noun, although there are some exceptions:

• One dog, two dogs, red dog, blue dog.


• I missed not just one bus today, but two buses.
• New York City is one of the grandest cities in the world.

Uncountable nouns and proper nouns are always considered to be singular:

• The air in the countryside and in the city is clean and fresh (not the airs).
• All knowledge is a good thing (not knowledges).
• Florida has mostly warm weather in the winter.
Nouns can also indicate ownership. This form of a noun is called
a possessive noun, and is indicated by an apostrophe and the letter –s. It is
equivalent to using the word of and the noun.

• The light’s color is red. (or: The color of the light is red.)
• The country’s flag has blue stripes. (or: The flag of the country has blue
stripes.)
• The hunters’ guns were loaded. (or: The guns of the hunters were loaded.)

Note that when the noun already ends with -s, possession is indicated by adding
only an apostrophe – hunters’ guns, not hunters’s guns.
A noun can be used as the subject of a sentence, or in another capacity as
an object:

• John is nice. – John is the subject of the sentence


• I saw John – John is the simple (direct) object of the sentence.
• I gave John the phone. – John is the indirect object of the sentence.
• I gave the phone to John. – John is the object of the preposition to.

Additional Info About Nouns


Sometimes nouns are used as adjectives, which is referred to as a noun adjunct.
In fact, English is amazingly flexible in that almost any noun can also be used as an
adjective, though sometimes the use is considered comical or slangy:

• Ocean view – Ocean describes the type of view you would see outside your
window.
• Jazz concert – Jazz is specifying what kind of concert is being played.
• Cheese omelet – It’s a certain type of omelet, eggs with cheese. Using a true
adjective as in a cheesy omelet means any type of omelet (onion and peppers,
mushroom) that has a lot of cheese.
• Dog tired – Really really tired – even though dogs aren’t known to be
especially tired.
• Fear Factor – An example of using just any old word as a noun adjunct.

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