Singular, plural, countable, uncountable nouns

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
any thing 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.

Pronouns
What is a Pronoun?
A pronoun is defined as a word or phrase that is used as a substitution for a noun or noun
phrase, which is known as the pronoun’s antecedent. Pronouns are short words and can do
everything that nouns can do and are one of the building blocks of a sentence. Common
pronouns are he, she, you, me, I, we, us, this, them, that. A pronoun can act as a subject,
direct object, indirect object, object of the preposition, and more and takes the place of any
person, place, animal or thing. So coffee becomes it, Barbara becomes she, Jeremy becomes
he, the team becomes they, and in a sentence, Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every
afternoon could become she drinks a cup of it every afternoon, or even she drinks it every
afternoon, where the it would substitute the cup of coffee, not just the coffee.
Without pronouns, we’d constantly have to repeat nouns, and that would make our speech
and writing repetitive, not to mention cumbersome. Without pronouns, Barbara drinks a
 cup of coffee every afternoon, she likes to have it before dinner would be Barbara drinks a
cup of coffee every afternoon, Barbara likes to have the cup of coffee before dinner. Using
pronouns helps the flow of sentences and makes them more interesting
 He
 It
 You
 I
 They
 We
 Who
 Him
 Them
 Whoever
 Anyone
 Something
 Nobody

1. Billy, Caren, and I were playing poker with friends -> We were playing poker
with friends.
2. Ellie loves watching movies. -> She loves watching movies, especially
if they are comedies.
3. Will Daniel be going to the circus with Sarah? -> Will he be
going there with her?

As mentioned, pronouns are usually used to replace nouns, however they can also stand in
for certain adverbs, adjectives, and other pronouns. Almost anytime you refer to a person,
animal, place or thing, you can use pronouns to add interest and make your speech or
writing flow better.
In nearly all cases, a pronoun must follow an expression called an antecedent. This basically
means that a pronoun can only really be understood in the context of prior information
about the noun. For example, if we use the pronoun she in a sentence, we will only be able
to understand it if we know who she is, thus an antecedent, perhaps giving the person’s
name, is usually supplied first. In the example above Barbara drinks a cup of coffee every
afternoon, if we had never mentioned Barbara or what she drinks, it would be unclear if we
said, She drinks it every afternoon. Your reader would be confused and wonder who she is
and what does she drink, wine, water, lemonade?
Once Barbara has been mentioned, we would use the pronouns she and her later in the
writing in order to stop repeating the proper noun Barbara and possessive proper
noun Barbara’s.
Barbara went to the restaurant for dinner with her (Barbara’s) friends. She (Barbara) was
very hungry, but her (Barbara’s) friends would not stop chatting. Eventually, Barbara decided
to take matters into her (Barbara’s) own hands and she (Barbara) demanded
that they (Barbara’s friends) stop talking.
Imagine how that sentence would read if it kept repeating Barbara and Barbara’s. Pronouns
have acted to make the writing tighter and, arguably, much more elegant. This is just a basic
example of the use of pronouns, they act in many ways to help make speech and writing
more lucid and dynamic.
Types of Pronouns
Pronouns can be divided into numerous categories including:
 Indefinite pronouns – those referring to one or more unspecified objects, beings, or
places, such as someone, anybody, nothing. Notice in the examples below that there
is no set position for where an indefinite pronoun will appear in a sentence.
Indefinite pronoun examples:
1. Anyone
2. Somebody
3. Whichever
4. Whoever
5. Other
6. Something
7. Nobody
Indefinite pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Would anyone like a coffee?
o Take whatever you like. Jamie took one cookie and Ben took the other.
o Whoever owns this is in big trouble! I want someone to move this now.
Indefinite pronouns can also be used to create sentences that are almost abstract. Examples
could include: this, all, such and something.
o All was not lost.
o Such is life.
o Something tells me this won’t end well.
  Personal pronouns – those associated with a certain person, thing, or group; all
except you have distinct forms that indicate singular or plural number. Personal
pronouns are always specific and are often used to replace a proper noun
(someone’s name) or a collective group of people or things. Personal pronouns have
two main groups, one referring to the subject of the sentence and one to the object.
The first is used to replace the subject of the sentence: I, you, he, she, it, we, you and
they. Notice that you is repeated as you can be singular, addressing one person, or
plural, addressing a group of people.
Personal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Jack and David are friends. They play basketball together.
o I have more money than he
o We will be late if you don’t hurry up.
The second group of pronouns replaces the object of the sentence: me, you, him, her, it, us,
you, them. Consider the sentence again:
We will be late if you don’t hurry up.
In the above example, we is the subject of the sentence, but you is the object. Other
examples of pronouns replacing the object:
o Peter sang the song to me.
o Missing the train will cause us to be late.
She packed them tightly in the suitcase.
 Reflexive pronouns – those preceded by the adverb, adjective, pronoun, or noun to
which they refer, and ending in –self or –selves. Reflexive pronouns are used to refer
back to the subject or clause of a sentence. The list of reflexive pronouns
includes: Myself, yourself, himself, herself, itself, ourselves, yourselves, themselves.
Reflexive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
o Count yourselves
o Annie only had herself to blame.
Peter and Paul had baked themselves cakes.
 Demonstrative pronouns – those used to point to something specific within a
sentence. There are only four demonstrative pronouns – this, that, these, those – but
the usage can be a bit tricky at times. This and that are singular,
whereas these and those are plural. As you may have noticed, there can be some
crossover with indefinite pronouns when using this and that.
Demonstrative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
 o I prefer this.
o These are beautiful, but those belong to Danny.
o Did you see that?
While it can be confusing, this, that, these and those can sometimes be used as
demonstrative adjectives. The difference between the two is that a demonstrative pronoun
replaces the noun and a demonstrative adjective qualifies the noun.
I prefer this photo. These flowers are beautiful, but those vases belong to Danny. Did you see
that rainbow?
It should be clear that this, that, these and those in the example above are not pronouns
because they are being used to qualify the noun, but not replace it. A good trick for
remembering the difference is that a demonstrative pronoun would still make sense if the
word one or ones followed it in the sentence.
I prefer this (one). These (ones) are beautiful. Did you see that (one)? Those (ones) belong to
Danny.
 Possessive pronouns – those designating possession or ownership. Examples
include: mine, its, hers, his, yours, ours, theirs, whose. Consider the example:
o This cat is mine.
Mine is indicating possession, that the cat belongs to me. Incidentally, this in the sentence is
not a pronoun but demonstrative adjective as it qualifies the noun cat. You will find that
possessive pronouns often follow phrases that contain demonstrative adjectives.
Possessive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o Are these bananas yours?
o This money is ours.
Is the fault theirs or yours?
 Relative pronouns –those which refer to nouns mentioned previously, acting to
introduce an adjective (relative) clause. They will usually appear after a noun to help
clarify the sentence or give extra information. Examples include: who, which, that,
whom, whose. Consider the following sentence:
The man who stole the car went to jail. The relative pronoun who acts to refer back
to the noun man. It acts to open a clause by identifying the man as not just any man,
but the one who stole the car.Relative pronoun examples in the following sentences
are in bold for easy identification.
o The table, which sits in the hallway, is used for correspondence.
o The car that crashed into the wall was blue.
o This is the woman, whose key you found.
  Interrogative pronouns –Those which introduce a question. Examples include: who,
whom, whose, what, which. We can usually identify an interrogative pronoun by the
fact that they often appear at the beginning of a question.
Interrogative pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
o Who will come to the party?
o Which do you prefer?
o What do you need?
o Whose clothes are on the floor?
o Whom did you tell?
Whom and who are often confused, and even native speakers will use them
incorrectly. Who will replace the subject of a sentence, whereas whom will replace the direct
or indirect object. A good tip for deciding which to use is that you can replace who in the
sentence with a personal pronoun and it will still make sense. Who will come to the party? I
will come to the party. The same system would not work for Whom did you tell? I did you
tell.
 Reciprocal pronouns –Those expressing mutual actions or relationship; i.e. one
another.
There are just two reciprocal pronouns in English: one another and each other. They
are mainly used to stop unnecessary repetition in a sentence, but also to reinforce
the idea that collective and reciprocal actions are happening to more than one
person or thing.John and Mary gave each other gifts. Using each other allows us the
sentence to be more efficient than: John gave Mary a gift and Mary gave a gift to
John. The countries worked with one another on national security. In this
example, one another works to suggest that the action of working is being
reciprocated back and forth by more than one country.
Reciprocal pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy identification.
o The boxers punched each other
The couple love one another deeply
 Intensive pronouns – those ending in –self or –selves and that serve to emphasize
their antecedents. These are almost identical to reflexive pronouns, but rather than
just referring back to the subject of the sentence they work to reinforce the action. In
many cases, the sentence would still make sense without the intensive pronoun.
Intensive pronoun examples in the following sentences are in bold for easy
identification.
o I will do it myself.
o We made this pie ourselves.
 o A nation speaks for itself through elections.
Notice how the intensive pronoun is working to emphasize the statement. The sentence
would still technically be correct without the intensive pronoun, but it adds some important
context to its meaning.
Pronoun Rules
There are a few important rules for using pronouns. As you read through these rules and the
examples in the next section, notice how the pronoun rules are followed. Soon you’ll see
that pronouns are easy to work with.
 Subject pronouns may be used to begin sentences. For example: We did a great job.
 Subject pronouns may also be used to rename the subject. For example: It was she
who decided we should go to Hawaii.
 Indefinite pronouns don’t have antecedents. They are capable of standing on their
own. For example: No one likes the sound of fingernails on a chalkboard.
 Object pronouns are used as direct objects, indirect objects, and objects of
prepositions. These include: you, me, him, her, us, them, and it. For example: David
talked to her about the mistake.
 Possessive pronouns show ownership. They do not need apostrophes. For example:
The cat washed its