Noun

                                                 NOUN

What Is a Noun?

Nouns are a part of speech that comprise words that are used to name people, places, animals, objects and ideas. Almost every sentence will definitely have a noun, and they perform different roles in a sentence. Nouns can act as the subject, an indirect object, a direct object, a subject complement and an object complement. Nouns can also function as adjectives and verbs.

Examples of Nouns:

• People – Rahul, Sheela, Man, Person, Tommy, Women, Girl, The Prime Minister
• Places – Bangalore, India, Mexico, North Pole, South Africa, The Nile River, Classroom, Bedroom, Basketball Court, Cricket Ground, Swimming Pool
• Animals/Birds/Aquatic Animals/Reptiles – Lion, Zebra, Snake, Ostrich, Flamingo, Bear, Cat, Fish, Shark
• Ideas – Evolution, Invention, Extinction, Argument, Destruction
• Objects/Things – Bat, Cycle, Curtains, Paper, Bag, Blackboard, Cupboard

Types of Nouns

Common nouns

Common nouns are words that refer to undefined or generic people, places, or things. For example, the country is a common noun that refers to a generic place while the word Canada is not a common noun because it refers to a specific place. Common nouns are only capitalized when they begin sentences or are used in the names or titles of something, as in Grand Canyon or Iron Man.

• common nouns:
  house, cat, girl, foot, country

2) Proper nouns

Proper nouns help distinguish a specific person, place, or thing. These words should be capitalized. The names and titles of things are always proper nouns, such as the brand name Starbucks and the personal name Jenny.

• proper nouns:
  Spain, Fido, Sony

3) Singular nouns

Singular nouns are nouns that refer to only one person, place or thing. For example, a cat is one animal and a banana is one fruit.

• singular nouns:
  house, cat, girl, foot, country

4) Plural nouns

A plural noun refers to more than one of something. Many singular nouns just need an S added at the end to make them plural (e.g., bee becomes bees). For some nouns that already end with an S, you may need to add -es to the end to make their plural forms (e.g., classes and buses). Some singular nouns also change spelling when made plural (e.g. countries and babies).

• regular plural nouns:
  houses, cats, girls, countries

Not all nouns follow this pattern. Those that become plural in other ways are called irregular plural nouns. Some examples are man and men, wolf and wolves, foot and feet, and sheep and … sheep.

• irregular plural nouns:
  person and people
  life and lives
  mouse and mice
  tooth and teeth

5) Concrete nouns

A concrete noun is something that can be perceived through the five senses. If you can see, hear, touch, taste, or smell something, it uses a concrete noun.

• concrete nouns:
  table, apple, rabbit, ear

6) Abstract nouns

Abstract nouns are intangible ideas that can’t be perceived with the five senses, such as social concepts, political theories, and character traits. For example, the abstract noun anger refers to an emotion and the abstract noun courage refers to a quality a person has.

• abstract nouns:
  love, creativity, democracy

7) Collective nouns

A collective noun is a noun that functions as a singular noun while referring to a group of people or things. A collective noun refers to a group that functions as one unit or performs the same action at the same time. For example: the team plays in the main gym.

• collective nouns:
  crowd, flocks, committee, a sum of money.

A) Complete the exercise with correct forms of the given nouns. Use each noun only one time.

attorney	beach	box	cliff
discovery	laboratory	man	match
medium	ox	piano	tooth

1. The age at which the first tooth appears differs greatly from child to child.

Very occasionally, children are born with one or more .

2. I need some  to light the fire.

3. Studies are showing that  process information differently from

women.

4. Maria needed some legal advice for her businesses, so she contacted two

.

5. New scientific  are made every day in 

throughout the world.

6. The farmer loaded his cart with  of fresh vegetables to take

to market. His cart was pulled by two .

7. The north side of the island has no  for people to walk on.

There are only steep . No one can climb theses steep walls

of rock.

8. The music building at the university has 27  for students to

play on.

9. People get most of their news about the world through the mass

, that is, through radio, television, the internet, newspapers,

and magazines.