Kinds of Nouns (Basic)
WHAT IS A NOUN?
A noun is a word that names a person, place, thing or animal in a
sentence. A noun can function as a subject, direct object, indirect object,
subject complement, object complement, appositive, adjective, or adverb.
Noun Gender
In English, many nouns are not gender-sensitive. Examples of some
non-gender-specific nouns include teacher, author, doctor, or nurse. Some nouns
can be gender specific. Examples of some gender-specific nouns include
actor/actress, waiter/waitress, or steward/ stewardess.
Noun Plurals
One would pluralize a noun to indicate a number more than one. Most
nouns change to form a plural by simply adding –s or –es to the end of a
noun.
Each grade has at least five classes because there are so many students.
My neighbor has two dogs, and both like to run back and forth
along the fence.
Note: Some nouns are pluralized in different ways.
For example, nouns that end in “f” drop the “f” and add “ves,” while
nouns that end in “y” drop the “y” and add “ies.”
In the fall, I love to watch the leaves fall from the trees.
Traveling has become Susan’s new passion, and her goal now is to
travel to as many countries as she is able.
Note: Some nouns are pluralized irregularly.
Some examples of these are Mouse > Mice Die > Dice Goose
> Geese Ox > Oxen
A. Proper Noun:
Proper nouns are those that represent the name of a specific person,
place, or thing. A proper noun is indicated by using a capital letter. Some
examples of proper nouns are names of people, cities, countries, days of the
week, months, institutions, religions and holy texts, and organizations.
Proper nouns are usually singular, not plural since they’re talking
about one specific noun.
- Have you asked Lita about the lunch order?
- I’ve never visited Ireland in the summer.
- My dog, Bart, doesn’t like thunderstorms.
- The kids ate all the Oreos.
Examples of Proper Nouns for People and Pets
The first, middle, and last names of people and
pets are always proper nouns. If you use a title in front of their name (such
as Honorable. or President,) it should also be
capitalized.
- Ben and Ted took their
dog Buck for a walk.
- I hope Mrs. Bautista is my teacher next year.
- My favorite cartoon character is SpongeBob.
- When is Dr. Peralta returning to the office?
Examples of Proper Nouns for Places
The specific names of places, such as streets,
cities, states, countries, museums, amusement parks, or zoos are proper nouns.
When you’re talking about a specific geographic landmark, that’s a proper noun
as well.
(Notice that some proper nouns use
the definite article before their name; unless it’s an official part
of their name, the isn’t capitalized.)
- Have you ever been to Davao?
- Brazil is the largest country in South
America.
- We saw Bohol on our road trip.
Examples of Proper Nouns for Days,
Months, and Holidays
The days of the week, the names of months and the official names of holidays are all proper nouns. However, the
words week, month, and holiday are not.
- I must work on Monday.
- This Sunday is the fourth.
- Come to my house in December for the party.
- Is your birthday in May?
B. Common Noun
A common noun is any noun that refers to a general
person, place, or thing in a class or group. Unlike proper nouns, a common
noun is not capitalized unless it either begins a sentence
or appears in a title. Common nouns can
be concrete (perceptible to the
senses), abstract (involving general ideas or qualities),
or collective (referring to a group or collection).
Common noun examples
Common nouns are easy to understand. Let’s quickly
look at a bunch of different types of common nouns to see how we use them to
refer to the things around us.
People and animals
Remember, common nouns refer
to generic things. The word dog is a common noun but
the word Shih Tzu is not. Here are some examples of common
nouns that refer to people and animals:
- people: woman, child, brother, wife, friend,
firefighter, magician, burglar, crook, judge, captain, boss, accountant,
hero, author, reader, teacher, actress, queen.
- animals: dog, cat, horse, bird, bug, spider,
fish, monkey, lion, tiger, elephant, alligator
Places
We still use common nouns to refer to generic
places. The word country is a common noun but the word Ireland is
not. Here are more common nouns that refer to places:
- island, city, beach, backyard, uptown, jungle, nowhere, front, end,
kitchen, bedroom, cave
Things
Common nouns can refer to many different things. We
still only use them to refer to generic items and not things with names. For
example, the word car is a common noun but the word Toyota is
not. Here are just some examples of common nouns that refer to things.
Ideas
Common nouns can also refer to emotions, ideas,
concepts, philosophies, and other intangible things that we can’t
detect with our five senses. Even in this case, we only use common nouns
to refer to generic ideas. For example, the word religion is a
common noun but the word Judaism is not. Here are some more
examples of common nouns that refer to intangible things:
- government, chaos, friendship, life, death, happiness, sadness,
anger, greed, bravery, hunger, sleep, insomnia, depression, loneliness,
hate, love, logic, reason, justice, science, crime
List of common nouns
Let’s put everything together and list a wide
variety of common nouns. As you read these words, think if you can come up with
some more common nouns related to them.
- apple, bank, chef, doubt, entertainment, farm, goal, hotel,
investigation, jury, kangaroo, library, mountain, neighbor, orangutan,
paint, question, rage, student, toaster, umpire, vampire, waitress,
xylophone, year, zoo
C. Concrete Noun
What is a concrete noun?
A noun is a word that describes a person, place, or
thing. A concrete noun is a noun that can be
physically experienced through one of the five senses: taste, touch, sight,
hearing, or smell. They are also known as proper nouns. Nouns are an
important part of a sentence, along with verbs and adjectives.
Concrete noun examples
Sight:
- Flower
- Bridge
- Sky
- Building
- Traffic Light
Smell:
- Bread
- The sea
- Burgers
- Perfume
- Sweat
Taste:
- Pizza
- Medicine
- Apple
- Sweets
- Cakes
Hearing:
- Alarm
- Rain
- Singing
- Television
- Thunder
Touch:
- Skin
- Fur
- Leather
- Chair
- Money
D. Abstract Noun
What Are Abstract Nouns?
An abstract noun is a noun that refers to
an intangible concept such as an emotion, a feeling, a quality, or an idea. In
other words, an abstract noun does not refer to a physical object.
It is sometimes helpful to think of an abstract noun as a word that names something that you cannot see, hear, touch, smell, or taste (i.e., something you cannot perceive with one of your five senses).
For example:
- consideration, parenthood, belief, anger
More Examples of Abstract Nouns
Here are some more examples of abstract nouns:
anger, anxiety, beauty, beliefs, bravery, brilliance, chaos, charity,
childhood, comfort, communication, compassion, courage, culture, curiosity,
deceit, dedication, democracy, determination, energy, failure, faith, fear,
freedom, friendship, generosity, gossip, happiness, hate, honesty, hope,
imagination, information, integrity, intelligence, joy, justice, justice,
kindness, knowledge, liberty, life, love, loyalty, luxury, misery, motivation,
opportunity, pain, patience, peace, perseverance, pleasure, pride, relaxation,
sacrifice, satisfaction, skill, strength, success, sympathy, talent, thought,
trust, truth, warmth, and wisdom
E. Collective Noun
What Are collective nouns?
A collective noun is used when naming a group of
things, animals, or persons. It is important to recognize when a collective
noun is used (versus a singular noun) to maintain the correct subject-verb
agreement.
Collective nouns are words for single things that are made up of more than one person, animal, place, thing, or idea.
You can’t have a team without individual
members; even so, we discuss a team as a single entity. Remember that nouns are
words naming people, animals, places, and things. Collective nouns are in a
class all their own.
Collective Noun Examples
Remember that nouns are words
naming people, animals, places, and things. Collective nouns are in a class all
their own. Once you’ve read these examples, you’ll find it much easier to
recognize collective nouns when you see them.
- Our class took a field trip to the natural history
museum.
- The herd of bison ran across the prairie, leaving
a massive dust cloud in its wake.
- We waited anxiously for the jury to come to a
verdict.
- This year’s basketball team includes three players
who are over six feet tall.
- Napoleon’s army was finally defeated at Waterloo.
- The town council has approved plans to create a
new park.
- He comes from a huge family: he’s the oldest of
eleven kids.
- The rock group has been on tour for months.
- Everyone in the audience applauded loudly when
Elvis appeared on stage.
List of Common Collective Nouns
This list of common collective nouns contains words
that describe groups of animals, people, or things. These words are sometimes
interchangeable, and English writers and speakers often use them to describe
different things. For example, the word swarm is usually used to discuss a
group of insects such as ants, flies, or bees, but many writers use it to talk
about a very busy crowd of people. Once you are familiar with these words,
you’ll notice that they are used in a variety of situations.
- Herd– A group of herbivore animals
- Pack– A group of canine animals such as wolves or
dogs; also used to describe playing cards and packages containing multiple
objects
- Flock– A group of birds; also used to discuss
small-hooved animals such as sheep or goats
- Swarm– A group of insects
- Shoal– A group of fish
- Group – A very general term used to describe
people, places, things, and animals
- Crowd – Usually used to describe a group of
people
- Gang – Usually used to describe a group of
criminals; also used to describe a group of workers, particularly sailors
or dock workers
- Mob – Normally used to describe an angry or
unruly group of people; also used to describe a group of kangaroos
- Staff – A group of people who work in the same
place
- Crew – Usually used to denote a group of
workers; also used to describe aircraft and ships personnel
- Choir – A large, organized group of singers
- Orchestra – A large, organized group of
instrumentalists, led by a conductor
- Panel – A group of experts
- Board – A group of people, usually
professionals, who take on an advisory role
- Troupe – A group of actors or acrobats; also
used to describe a group of monkeys
- Bunch – Usually a group of smallish objects
such as grapes, flowers, keys, or bananas
- Pile – An untidy collection of items such as
rubbish
- Heap – A mounded collection of items; used
interchangeably with “pile”
- Set – A tidy group of matched objects such
as dishes; also used to describe rules or a social group of people
- Stack – A group of items neatly laid one on
top of another, i.e., a stack of books
- Series – Used to discuss movies, books, or
events that follow one after another, i.e., Star Trek or Harry Potter
- Shower – Usually used to describe rain,
although it can be used to describe gifts or compliments
- Fall – Often used to discuss the weather, such as rain, snow, or
hail
