1. Kinds of Nouns


There are four kinds of nouns:
  1. Common Nouns
  2. Proper Nouns
  3. Concrete Nouns
  4. Abstract Nouns

a) Common Noun
A common noun names a class of similar things (chair, box), and not an individual member of a specified group of people or things. We do not capitalize the first letter of a common noun unless it is the first word in a sentence.
Common nouns are names of people, things, animals and places, etc.
  • People – aunt, boy, butcher, carpenter, cousin, father, girl, lady, man, mother, tailor, woman
  • Things – bicycle, book, car, computer, dress, hammer, key, pencil,  ship, table, vase, wallet
  • Animals – armadillo, baboon, bee, caterpillar, cow, dog, eagle, fish, monkey, pig, snake, turkey,
  • Places – airport, beach, bullring, cemetery, church, country, hospital, library, mall, park, restaurant, zoo

b) Proper Noun
A proper noun is a special name of a person, place, organization, etc. We spell a proper noun with a capital letter. Proper nouns also refer to times or to dates in the calendar.
We can use plurals for proper nouns in exceptional cases.
There are three Johns in my class.
We can also use the, an, or a for a proper noun in special circumstances.
This is no longer the London I used to live in.

Proper nouns are names of people, places, organization, etc.
  • People – Ali Baba, George Bush,
  • Places –  Downing Street,  Museum of Modern Art, Sahara Desert
  • Things – Financial Times, Eiffel Tower
  • Organization – International Labour Organization, Red Brigades, United Nations,
  • Animals – King Kong, Lassie
  • Times and dates – Saturday, April

c) Concrete Noun
A concrete noun is something we see or touch. It is the opposite of an abstract noun. There are countable concrete nouns and uncountable concrete nouns.
  • Countable: teacher (people); valley (place); deer (animal); comb (thing)
  • Uncountable: water (liquid); steam (gas); copper (substance)

d) Abstract Nouns
An abstract noun is a quality or something that we can only think of rather than as something that we can see or touch, e.g. beauty, courage, friendship, intelligence, truth. We can form abstract nouns from common nouns (child – childhood); from verbs (know – knowledge); and from adjectives (happy – happiness).

Collective Nouns
A collective noun is a name used for a number of people, animals or things that we group together and speak of as a whole. For example, a bunch of bananas, a litter of puppies, a flock of sheep, etc. Viewed as a single unit, a group uses a singular verb; regarded as separate members making up the group, it takes a plural verb.
  • The family is planning an overseas trip. (The family is viewed as a single unit planning and going overseas together, so it takes a singular verb.)
  • The family are discussing about the plan. (The family members are taking part in the discussion and are no longer considered a single unit, so it uses a plural verb.)

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