Noun - What is a Noun?
Noun is a word used as the name of a person place or thing OR it is a naming word.
For example, Arnold, Sybil, student, teacher, cow, dog, California, city,
pen, book. chair etc
Note: The word thing used in the definition includes:
a. All objects that we can see, hear, taste, touch or smell
b. Something we can think of, but cannot perceive by the senses.
Nouns are divided into two categories:
a. Countable Nouns. These are the names of things that can be counted.
For example: buy, teacher, door, pen, table, dog, horse
b. Uncountable Nouns. Names of things, substances, metals, materials or
abstract ideas which are not counted.
For example: wood, milk. sugar, rice, gold, silver, honesty, beauty, death,
strength, pain, truth, sickness etc.
Types of Nouns:
Nouns are of six types:
1. Proper Noun
2. Common Noun
3. Collective Noun
4. Material Noun
5. Abstract Noun
6. Compound Noun
1. Proper Noun
Proper noun is the name of a particular
person, place or thing which is given to that person or place individually. If the proper noun is name of a person or place then the first word will
always be capital. See the examples below:
Arnold, Sybil, Phillips, Suez, California, Los Angeles, Australia etc
2. Common Noun
Common noun is a name that refers commonly to a large number of persons, places or things of similar kind. It means all members of the same class share the same name. See some examples below:
boy, girl, woman, father, chair, animal, bird city, village etc.
* Most of the common nouns have plurals:
city - cities, village - villages, boy - boys, bird - birds
* Some common nouns do not have plurals:
sheep - sheep, deer - deer
* Some common nouns have one meaning in the singular form and another meaning
in their plural form:
fish - fishes, today we caught the best fishes in the sea.
Video About Nouns
3. Collective Noun
Collective noun is a word used as the name of a collection of persons or things taken together and referred to as one whole.
For example class army, crowd, team, crew, staff etc.
* A collective noun is generally used as a common noun.
However, 'police' and ;furniture' are collective nouns, are the same in the
plural form.
* Some collective nouns are used in the singular and plural with changed
meaning.
Material Noun
Material noun is the name of materials, metals and substances used in making
other things.
For example: wood iron, plastic, gold, silver, cotton etc
Meat, water, mil etc. from which foods are made are also material nouns.
* Silver, gold and platinum do not have plurals or they do not take the
indefinite article. These are uncountable nouns.
Abstract Noun
Abstract noun is the name given to feelings, ideas, actions, arts, sciences.
diseases, qualities and characteristics etc. which have no material being.
For example: love, honesty, kindness, anger, heat, wisdom, purity, pain,
knowledge, bravery etc.
* Remember
1. Truth, honesty, wisdom and knowledge etc. do not have plurals or they do not
take the indefinite article when they are used as (abstract) qualities.
2. Most abstract nouns like 'goodness' and 'shame' do not have plurals. Nouns
like 'joy', 'sorrow', 'decency', 'promise' and 'wonder' can have plurals when
used as facts.
3. Fact is countable when it means 'a thing that is true or situation that
exists or a piece of information'. It is uncountable abstract noun when it means
'what is true'. See the example below:
Most of their report is fact (uncountable)
Is it a fact? (countable) that she is still unmarried.
Compound Nouns
Compound nouns are two or more words that are used as a name of one person,
place or thing.
For example:
class-fellow, room-mate, class room, lady doctor, grand father, passer-by,
school teacher, brother-in-law, commander-in-chief
Singular & Plural Nouns
Noun Number: There are two numbers in English grammar, singular and the plural. The singular number denotes one person or thing and the plural number denotes more than one person or thing.
For Example:
List of Nouns
Quotes About Noun
To some people, power is a noun. To others, it's a verb. Andre Carson
Suffrage, noun. Expression of opinion by means of a ballot. The right of suffrage (which is held to be both a privilege and a duty) means, as commonly interpreted, the right to vote for the man of another man's choice, and is highly prized. Ambrose Bierce
But love is really more of an interactive process. It's about what we do not just what we feel. It's a verb, not a noun. bell hooks
I wanted to write rather than do anything else. But 'cause I left school at 15, I didn't know what a noun was, still don't. Nick Frost
A novel is utterly your own creation, a very private process. I think of a novel as a noun and a screenplay as a verb. In a novel, very little needs to happen; you can explore a person's memories and thoughts and fantasies. In a screenplay, it's all action; you must push the story on. Deborah Moggach
One of the glories of English simplicity is the possibility of using the same word as noun and verb. Edward Sapir
'State' can be a word that is a noun or a verb or an adverb - it's kind of why I chose that title. It's not to confound the audience but to keep me from painting myself into a cul-de-sac in the early stages of making a record by having too high concept or having some really strict set of rules I have to adhere to. Todd Rundgren
Marriage is not a noun; it's a verb. It isn't something you get. It's something you do. It's the way you love your partner every day. Barbara de Angelis
I believe in the verb, not the noun - I am not a writer, but someone compelled to write. Richard Flanagan
Leisure is not synonymous with time. Nor is it a noun. Leisure is a verb. I leisure. You leisure. Mortimer Adler
We talk about cancer as a noun, as if it's a one time event: 'I've got cancer.' David Agus
Any adjective you put before the noun 'writer' is going to be limiting in some way. Whether it's feminist writer, Jewish writer, Russian writer, or whatever. Alice McDermott
The noun phrase straw man, now used as a compound adjective as in 'straw-man device, technique or issue,' was popularized in American culture by 'The Wizard of Oz.' William Safire
Theater is a verb before it is a noun, an act before it is a place. Martha Graham
The word 'universe' is obviously not intended to have a plural, but science has evolved in such a way that we need a plural noun for something similar to what we ordinarily call our universe. Leonard Susskind
There are many, many nouns for the act of looking - a glance, a glimpse, a peep - but there's no noun for the act of listening. In general, we don't think primarily about sound. So I have a different perspective on the world; I can construct soundscapes that have an effect on people, but they don't know why. It's a sort of subterfuge. Walter Murch