NOUNS

WHAT IS A NOUN?
▪ A noun is a part of speech that identifies a person, place, thing,
or idea.
▪ A noun is a word that names something, such as a person, place,
thing, or idea. In a sentence, nouns can play the role
of subject, direct object, indirect object, subject
complement,object complement,appositive, or modifier.
▪ Examples:
London, Sarah, Google, city, dog, teacher, family, flock, bunch,
love, freedom, wisdom, cat, tree, box
PROPER NOUNS
▪ Proper nouns name specific people, places, or organizations
and are always capitalized.

▪ Example: London, Sarah, Google

▪ More Examples: Amazon River, April, Mars

▪ Does Tina have much homework to do this evening?

Tina is the name of a specific person.
▪ I would like to visit Old Faithful.
Old Faithful is the specific name of a geological phenomenon.
COMMON NOUNS
▪ Common nouns are general names for a person, place, or thing.

▪ Example: city, dog, teacher

▪ More Examples: book, car, mountain

▪ I heard the doorbell.

▪ My keyboard is sticky.
CONCRETE NOUN
▪ A concrete noun is something that is perceived by the senses;
something that is physical or real.
▪ I heard the doorbell.
▪ My keyboard is sticky.
▪ Doorbell and keyboard name real things that can be sensed.
▪ Conversely, an abstract noun is something that cannot be
perceived by the senses.
ABSTRACT NOUNS
▪ Abstract nouns represent ideas, qualities, or states that cannot
be seen or touched.

▪ Example: love, freedom, wisdom

▪ Examples: bravery, happiness, truth

▪ We can’t imagine the courage it took to do that.

COLLECTIVE NOUNS
▪ Collective nouns refer to groups of people, animals, or things.

▪ Example: family, flock, bunch

▪ More Examples: team, choir, pack
▪ That pack of lies is disgraceful.
▪ A pride of lions roamed the savanna.
▪ Pride is also a collective noun.
 UNCOUNTABLE NOUNS

▪ Uncountable nouns, or mass nouns, are nouns that are

impossible to count, whether because they name intangible
concepts (e.g., information,animal husbandry,wealth),
collections of things that are considered as wholes
(e.g., jewelry,equipment, the working class), or homogeneous
physical substances (e.g., milk, sand, air). Although most of
these nouns are singular in form, because they refer to things
that can’t be isolated and counted on their own, they are never
used with the singular indefinite article a or an.
▪ They’d love to rent some property around here.
▪ They’d love to rent a piece of property around here.
▪ Students don’t seem to have much homework these days.
▪ Could you help me move the furniture into the other room?
COUNTABLE NOUNS

▪ Concrete and abstract common nouns can be further classified

as either countable or uncountable. Countable nouns are nouns
that can be counted, even if the resulting number would be
extraordinarily high (like the number of humans in the world).
Countable nouns can be singular or plural and can be used
with numbers and modifiers like a/an, the, some,any, a few,
and many.

▪ Here is a cat.
▪ Here are a few cats.
▪ Here are eight cats.
SINGULAR AND PLURAL NOUNS
▪ Singular nouns refer to one item, person, or concept.
▪ Example: cat, tree, box

▪ Plural nouns refer to more than one item, person, or concept.

▪ Example: cats, trees, boxes
RULES FOR CONVERTING SINGULAR
NOUNS INTO PLURAL NOUNS
▪ 1.Most nouns add 's': book - books, car - cars, apple - apples,
dog - dogs.
▪ 2. Nouns ending in 'ch', 'sh', 'x', 'ss', or 'z' add 'es': bus - buses,
church - churches, wish - wishes, box
▪ - boxes.
▪ 3. Nouns ending in a consonant + 'y' change 'y' to 'i' and add 'es',
but if a vowel is before 'y', add 's':
▪ city - cities, baby - babies, tray - trays, day - days.
▪ 4. Nouns ending in 'o' may add 's' or 'es' (e.g., hero - heroes,
potato - potatoes, piano - pianos,
▪ photo - photos).
 RULES FOR CONVERTING SINGULAR
NOUNS INTO PLURAL NOUNS
▪ 5. Some nouns change vowels, change the word, or add a
different ending:
▪ man - men, woman -women, child - children, mouse - mice.
▪ 6. Some nouns remain the same: sheep - sheep, series - series,
species - species, aircraft - aircraft.
▪ 7. Foreign nouns follow their own rules: cactus - cacti, focus -
foci, fungus - fungi, nucleus - nuclei.
▪ 8. Nouns ending in 'f' or 'fe' may change 'f' to 'v' and add 'es':
▪ leaf - leaves, wife - wives, life - lives, wolf - wolves.
EXERCISE
▪ 1.Find and list all the nouns in the sentence: "The dog chased the
ball through the park."
▪ 2.Create a short story using these nouns: "astronaut," "planet,"
"rocket."
▪ 3.Identify all nouns in the sentence: "The teacher gave the students
homework."
▪ 4.Create a sentence using these nouns: "light," "moon," "forest."
▪ 5.List the nouns in this list and categorize them as proper or
common: "Amazon, river, London, happiness."
▪ 6.Write a paragraph describing your favourite place, using at least
five nouns.
▪ 7.Circle the nouns in the following sentences: "She took her dog to
the park on Sunday."