THE NOUN Presented by:

Lorna G. Ilustrisimo, MPA, MAT-English

Faculty Member, College of Agriculture
Cagayan State University
Sanchez Mira, Cagayan
[email protected]
 CONTENTS

I. Types of Noun
II. Formal Characteristics of Nouns
III. Number of Nouns
a. Singular
b. Plural

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 The traditional definition of noun is
the “name of person, place or
thing”.
In addition to this, it can be said
that a noun is a word that:
1. Can be inflected for the plural and
the possessive and;
2. Can be put in a certain position in
a sentence. 3
 The first criterion is based on
form; while the second criterion is
based on position.
It is generally not safe to identify a
word as a noun, verb, adejective or
adverb outside the context of a s
entence.
It is safer to make the
Observe the following examples:
1. She is rich; her relatives are poor.
(Adjectives)
The rich do not understand the
poor. (Nouns)
2. Writer are concerned with the
true, the good, and the beautiful.
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His writings are true, good and
beautiful. (Adjectives)
3. Her greatest pleasure is eating.
(Noun)
She is eating right now. (Verb)

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TYPES OF NOUN

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1. PROPER NOUN
It is a name of specific people
and place. They are seldom used
with noun determiners of any kind.
Example:
1. Nancy is a charming girl.
2. Luzon is the largest Philippine
island.
3. February is a flower festival in 8
2. MASS NOUN and COUNT NOUN
A mass noun is one that
cannot be preceded by a/an or a
numeral but which can be
preceded in the singular by
some, more, and certain other
expressions of quantity. Such
nouns name substances that are
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measured. Generally, mass nouns
are not used in the plural.
Examples:
1. I like rice for breakfast.
2. Pass the salt, please.
3. He drinks a lot of coffee.
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Count Nouns are nouns used in both
singular and plural and can follow
a/an or a numeral. Almost any mass
noun can be converted to a count
noun by using it in a sense of a
variety as in various soaps, these
inks, different teas, these winds, the
sands of the desert.

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Examples:
1. That is a balete tree.
2. The bird sings.
3. I’m reading his letter.

3. COLLECTIVE NOUNS
Indicate a group of persons or
things taken as a unit. They are
troublesome because sometimes 12
singulars, sometimes as plurals,
depending on the speaker’s point of
view.
Examples:
1. The audience was enthusiastic.
2. The committee has finalized the
program.
3. The Ancheta family is a happy one.
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4. COMMON NOUNS
Are names applied to any one of
a class of persons, place or things.
Examples:
1. Our country is fascinating.
2. He runs a dry goods store.
3. Clothes are a necessity.
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5. ABSTRACT or UNCOUNTABLE
NOUNS
Name ideas or qualities that are
known by their effects but have
themselves no physical form or body.
Examples:
1. Beauty is relative.
2. Loyalty is an admirable quality.15
 FORMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF
NOUNS
Nouns are identified by definite
criteria, the most important of which
are the following:

1. A noun is a word preceded by a

function word called a noun
determiner (see examples below). If
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my, your, our, few, and some are
always followed by nouns.
Examples:
1. The boy has talent.
2. His record is amazing.
3. Some students are late.
4. That team is good.
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2. A noun has two (2) inflections,
the plural form –s or –es and the
possessive or genitive ‘s.
Examples:
1. My friends are freshmen.
2. Several boxes are missing.
3. They reported their losses.
4. This car is Carla’s.
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3. A noun is a word used to name a
person, place or thing.

Proper Noun : Lorna, CSU,

English, The
Communicator
Common Noun : chair, lawyer,
church,
country 19
Mass Noun : rice, salt, sugar,
sand,
water, steel,
Abstract or
Uncountable Noun : dignity,
faith, hope,
communism
Collective Noun : congregation,
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4. A noun fills certain characteristic
positions in relation to other parts of
speech in phrases and utterances:

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A. It usually occurs before a verb in
the

N + V Pattern
Birds fly.
Vanessa can dance.
The band is playing.
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B. It follows such words as at, on, in,
to, by, from, in the
Preposition + N Pattern
The Magaddons are at home now.
I go to school in a bus.
We are in uniform.
The song is by Jose Mari Chan.
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C. It comes after the verb in a
N + V + C pattern or in an N + V
+ N pattern.

Examples:
Students hate assignments.
Carpenters need hammer.
The children cleaned the room.
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5. A noun may be identified by
various derivational suffixes added
either to stems or parts of speech as
verbs, adjectives or other nouns.
Examples:
-ee : payee, employee, draftee,
examinee
-er : carpenter, porter, painter,
writer 25
6. A noun is a word used in various
ways in the sentence; its position
determines its functions as follows:
a. Before the verb: as Subject
Plants grow fast here.
Father works hard.
b. after the verb: as direct object
Maricris threw the ball.
I wrote a letter.
c. after the verb : as Indirect Object
Emily threw Nena the ball.
I wrote Charito a letter.
d. After a linking verb: as Subjective
Complement
Jayson is a good child.
Anabelle is her sister.
e. After the verb: as Object Complement
We nominate Rodolfo president.
They chose Mr. Estrada adviser.
f. Side by side with another noun: as
Appositive
My sister, Marie, lives in Washington.
She stays with Nolita, her best friend.

g. Beginning or end of the sentence: as

Nominative of address 28
QUIZ
NOUN and NOUN CLUSTERS

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A noun cluster is a group of words in
which the principal word is a noun.
It consists of two parts – the noun
headword itself and the word or
words accompanying it. These
parts of the cluster, called
modifiers may be determiners,
adjectives, verbs, adverbs, other
nouns or word groups. 31
Note the following Illustrations:
A. Nouns with determiners as
modifiers
a girl a tree our town

B. Nouns with adjectives as

modifiers
shy girl tall tree quiet town 32
C. Nouns with noun modifiers
Filipino girl Acacia tree Home
town
D. Noun Clusters
1. the rather shy Filipino girl who is in
mestiza dress
2. a very tall acacia tree which was
uprooted 33
Girl, tree, and town are the noun
headwords. The words clustering
around them are the modifiers, which
may come either before or after the
noun headword.

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 Noun Clusters: Modifiers before the
Determiners Descriptive Noun
Headwords Numeral Intensifier Headwo
rd
Quality Size Color
a very handsome tall dark man
the first common problem
our most distinguished guest
his second rather silly remark
his quite heavy big grey suitcase
several ornate small gold frames
my new mini red skirt
that somewhat rubberized thick brown jacket

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Noun Clusters: Modifiers after the Headwords
Determiners Noun Adverb
Headword Modifier
A worker inside got hurt .
The children upstairs are noisy.
These clothes here are new.
The data above look accurate
Some paragraphs below have errors
A dinner afterwards will follow.

Adverbs are the simplest kind of modifiers occurring after noun headwords
as shown in the table.
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Noun Clusters: Modifiers after the Headwords
Determiners Noun Headword Preposition group
The guest during the program
Some lilies in the vase
A brochure about the school
This car with the broken windshield
His uncle from Cavite
A waste can under the table
Their cottage across the lake

Instead of the adverb modifier after the noun headword,

we may have in its place a prepositional phrase.
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A clause modifying a noun headword is
usually introduced by the subordinators
that, which, who, whose, and whom.
Determiners Noun Headword Subordinate group
The story which she assigned
An excuse that i gave
That man whom you met
Many students whose parents are poor

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Noun Determiners are a special
class of expressions in English whose
grammatical function is to signal that
a noun follows.
Traditionally included among
adjectives but treated by modern
grammarians as a separate class of
words. They precede nouns and all
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word modifiers that come before nouns
and which have meaning of their own in
addition to their grammatical function.
They are extremely important, hence there
is a need to familiarize yourselves with
them.

Observe the examples:

I have a peso. I lost my peso.
He wants a job. I got that job. 40
They bought the car. They have one car.
We met some boys. We knew each
boy.
I read the books. We wrote those
books.
She learned some words. She knew more

words. 41
 Alphabetical List of Noun
Determiners in English
a all the every
more
an another her most
a few any his much
a good deal of both its my
a great deal of each lots of
neither
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other whatever these that
our which those
several whichever what
some whose one, two, three
the your their

Also classified as noun determiners are:

Ordinal numbers : first, second, third, etc.
Cardinal numbers : one, two, three, four, etc.
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QUIZ

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THANK YOU

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