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Important English Notes: Nouns

Nouns are used as subjects of the sentence. Without nouns, you can't understand what the sentence is about. So nouns (and their
substitutes) play a very important role in English sentence patterns. So let's understand nouns in this module of the series.

Grammar Scholar: Noun

A noun is a word for a person, place, or thing or idea. Everything we can see or talk about is represented by a word that names it.
That "naming" word is called a Noun. Everything we can name is a noun. It includes people (e.g., boy, Rita), animals (e.g., cat,
cockroach), places (e.g., street, Banglore), objects (e.g., Table, Wire), substances (e.g., Gold, glass), qualities (e.g., Happiness,
sorrow), and measures (e.g., inch, pound) etc.

A noun can be classified into 7 types, which are as follows :

1. Common Noun
2. Proper Noun
3. Collective Noun
4.Abstract Noun
5. Material Noun
6.Countable Noun
7. Uncountable Noun

Now let's understand each of the Noun one by one.

1. Common Noun
A common noun is also known as Generic Noun. The general name given to a person, place, item or thing is a common noun or
we can say Common Noun is the name given in common to person or thing of the same class or kind. We use common nouns
everywhere. Common nouns start from Capital word only while appearing at the beginning of a sentence

For Example :
We are planning to go to a restaurant.
Boys love to do adventures things.

As we can see, in the above examples, we are not talking about any specific restaurant or any specific boy. We have named both
these nouns as a common class. Hence these are the common nouns.

2. Proper Noun
Proper Noun is the opposite of Common Noun. A proper noun refers to the Specific name given to any person, place or thing. A
proper noun always begins with capital letters, no matter where they occur within a sentence. Go through the below examples to
get a clear idea :

Example :
We are planning to go to Pizza Hut.
Raman Loves to do adventures things.

Now, in these sentences, we are specifically naming a restaurant and a boy. Here 'Pizza Hut' and 'Raman', both are proper Noun.
Through the below table, you can depict differences between the Proper noun and common noun :

Common Noun Proper Noun

boy Raman

girl Rita

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bridge Mahatma Gandhi Setu

city Kanpur

book War and Peace

tower Eifel Tower

Jeans Levis

3. Collective Nouns
Collective nouns are the name given to a group of people of a similar kind, a collection of things of the same type. When we want
to name a group or collection of similar individuals as a whole, we use collective nouns. In simple words, A collective noun is a
word used to represent a group of people, animals, or things. For example :

• A bunch of Grapes
• A pride of Lions
• A class of students
• A flock of birds
• A series of events
• A herd of cattle

Bold words in the above examples are acting as a Collective Noun.

4.Abstract Noun
The name given to quality, action, idea, concept or feeling is termed as Abstract Noun. Something which you can’t see, taste, hear
or touch.

For example :

• Love, fear, anger, joy, excitement, and other emotions are abstract nouns.
• Courage, bravery, cowardice, and other such states are abstract nouns.
• Desire, creativity, uncertainty, and other innate feelings are abstract nouns.

5. Material Noun
The material noun is the name given to the material, substance or things made up of something. Material nouns are not generally
countable means we cannot count them because they are in the forms of liquid, semi-liquid or solid. Nouns in this class are
materials like cloth, air, metal, gold, salt, iron, silver, steel, brass, bronze, copper, aluminium, lead, coal, coral, gem, diamond, glass,
fibre etc.

For example :

• Cotton dresses are very cheap and comfortable.

• My mom purchased a gold ring for me.
• I drink milk in the silver.

6. Countable Noun
A countable noun is a noun that names the things which are countable and occur in both single and plural forms. The nouns
which can be modified by numerals are countable nouns. Simply if we can count something like one, two, three .... that comes
under Countable Noun.

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For example:
There is one chair in this room (in this example, the word 'chair' is singular and countable)
There are 10 chairs in the house. (in this example, the word 'chair' is plural and countable).

7. Uncountable Noun
An uncountable noun is a noun that names the things which are not countable. It cannot take the plural form. An uncountable
noun is also called as mass nouns as we cannot count it.

For example

• There is no more milk in the kitchen.

• Please take good care of your furniture.
• I need some Water

Important Rules for Noun

Now let's go through some important rules of Noun through examples given below:

Rule 1:
Incorrect: He gave me very important informations.
Correct: He gave me very important information.

There are some nouns which do not take the plural form. They are always used in the Singular number. These nouns are
uncountable nouns. Following nouns are always used in Singular number :
Machinery, Information, Poetry, luggage, Jewellery, Knowledge, Percentage etc.

Rule 2:
Incorrect: My trouser is dirty.
Correct: My trousers are dirty.

There are some nouns, which are only used in Plural Form. Also, these nouns take Plural Verb with them always. Following nouns
are always used in Plural number and takes Plural verb with them :
Spectacles, Tongs, pincers, scissors, goggles, gallows, fangs, alms, amends, trousers, pants, particulars, proceeds, regards, riches,
savings, troops, thanks, braces, wages, belongings, etc.

Rule 3:
Incorrect: Mathematics are an easy subject.
Correct: Mathematics is an easy subject.

There are some forms of the noun, which look like a Plural form, but actually, they are Singular and hence take Singular verb with
them. Following words are singular and take singular verb with them :
Mathematics, Politics, News, Politics, Physics, Economics, Athletics, Innings Etc.

Rule 4:
Incorrect: Cattle is grazing in the field.
Correct: Cattle are grazing in the field.

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Some collective nouns, which are Singular in the form ( they do not take 's' or 'es' at the end), but With them always Plural verb is
used.
For example Cattle, People, Police. Poultry, gentry, peasantry. These words always take Plural verb with them.

Rule 5:
If in a sentence, if Noun+Preposition + the same noun is given, then this noun will be in the singular form. We will not take the
plural form of them.
For example :

Matches after matches were played between India and Pakistan (Incorrect)
Match after the match was played between India and Pakistan. (correct)

Rule 6:
To make compound nouns Plural, always add 's' or 'es' to the main word only.
For example :
1.Mother-in-laws (Incorrect)
Mothers-in-law (Correct)

2.Commander-in-chiefs (Incorrect)
Commanders-in-chief (correct)

Possessive Noun:
Possessive nouns are the nouns which show ownership. Possessive nouns refer to something which you own.

• In Singular Possessive nouns, Add apostrophe 's' to the singular word to show possession.
• For example :
1. Car's Engine, Here we are talking about one car.
2. Boy's Book, Here we are talking about one boy.
3. Sheetal's Dress, Here we are talking about one girl i.e. Sheetal.
• If a singular word ends in s, it is still necessary to add 's.
For example,
Bus's Tires, here we are talking about one bus only The plural form of a bus is buses.
Lens's colour, here we are talking about one lens only The plural form of the lens is lenses.

For Plural Possessive nouns,

• When a plural word ends in 's' or 'es', then do not use 's' after the apostrophe in that word. In such words, add only the
apostrophe to the end of the word.
For example,
Cars' engine, Here we are talking about more than one car.
Boys' book, Here we are talking about more than one boy.
• But if a plural word is not ending with 's' or 'es', use apostrophe 's' after the word (Just like singular words)
For example :
Children's play, Here we are talking about more than one child. Still, we are using apostrophe s.

• The apostrophe is not used with possessive pronouns.

Your's Faithfully (Incorrect)

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Yours Faithfully (Correct)

• In the case of compound nouns, the apostrophe comes only at the end of compound nouns :
Sister's-in-law birthday (Incorrect)
Sister-in-law's birthday (correct)

• The double apostrophe is not used in a sentence :

I decorated my daughter's book's page. (Incorrect)
I decorated the page of my daughter's book (Correct)